I Had To Go And Have A Look...

Yari Country 1989

xxRoad Crossed

xx
Uluru

The thing is... I'm an Aussie and I love the desert and have great empathy for this land and the people that live(d) here before me and mine... but I've never been particularly, especially moved by our indigenous art. Before now. But I've been sitting in court, listening and looking at the amateurish, greedily executed forgeries made to rip-off the great Aussie artist Rover Thomas, the Rothco of Oz (so called by someone very very famous), who's work I saw for real today at the Ian Potter (Fed Square) gallery just so I would know the difference.

The images have snuggled in under my skin and I love them. LUFF. Today I got it for the first time and for that, I thank those forgers. They stole them but because they did I was introduced.

I mean, it's obvious the forgeries are just that, but how anyone in the know could ever have mistaken them is beyond me. Maybe they were more interested in their cut of the action to look too closely (although I must add that it was a guy from Sotherby's that finally called the cops).

Thomas's work has a texture that makes my little heart go pitter-patter. The paints are made with natural earth pigments, mixed with natural (tree?) resins and are rich and warm and luscious. The other's are student quality, scumbled, acrylic, crap!! With pretend dust on the back... oops, conte, not dust!

So all I can say is... Go Rover!

P.S. The Uluru image is very similar to a dream I had of a Wagga design.