John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new

The old ways of doing things have changed into the new ways. The new generation does things differently. But me, I have two ways. I am the old and the new. John Mawurndjul

John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new presents the masterful fusion of traditional and contemporary art from the sedge-grass brush of one of Australia’s greatest living artists. John Mawurndjul has been celebrated internationally for his groundbreaking approach to bark painting and for the dazzling radiance of his meticulously painted rarrk (cross-hatching).

This first major Australian survey of his innovative work assembles more than 160 paintings and sculptures from Australian and overseas collections, made in a prolific creative career that spans four decades and deep ancestral time.

The artist himself has led the selection of the works in a collaboration with AGSA and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia.

Presented bilingually in Kuninjku and English, the exhibition illuminates Kuninjku culture and the dynamic connections between land and ancestral power in Mawurndjul’s home in western Arnhem Land. It also reveals the mastery of an artist who vividly provides a narrative thread linking the past to the present and beyond. John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new is rightly described by curator-writer Hetti Perkins as ‘a self-portrait … the embodiment of the contemporary spirit of an old soul’.

Visit the exhibition guide - a dedicated website with artist biography, Kuninjku glossary, 160-plus artworks and more.

John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new is touring nationally. Click here to view dates and venues.