Forty years ago Kaapa, Tim Leura, Clifford Possum and Johnny Warangula were central to the formulation of contemporary desert art at Papunya. Standing out among an exceptional cohort, they deployed their inherited iconography while exploring poetic possibilities offered by paint on canvas.

The Perera-Picco Fund is proud to announce a collaboration with curator and writer John Kean to bring his work on these formative artists to publication.

Kean’s book, To reveal and conceal: the art of Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Johnny Warangula Tjupurrula, will assess works by the selected artists (1971 – 1981) drawing on social history, visual anthropology, and formal and technical art analysis. The book will contribute to a deeper understanding of this critical juncture in Australian art history.

John Kean is an independent curator and writer who has published extensively on Aboriginal art and on the representation of nature in Australian museums. John was the Art Advisor at Papunya Tula from 1977–79, and is an Honorary Associate of Museum Victoria. John is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, and his current research is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award.

Related Media:
The Wire – Community & Indigenous Radio | 8 December 2016
Awaye – Radio National | 10 December 2016