Andrew Blake
1958
Andrew Blake
b 1958 Adelaide
Arts manager – curator – artist - consultant
Currently resides King Island, Bass Strait with Dianne
Career
Stock and station agent, livestock auctioneer – mid 70’s – early 80’s -SA
Owner manager mini supermarket – mid 80’s – Adelaide
Owner - Art Connection Gallery – ’88 ’89 - Como Complex – South Yarra Vic
Exhibitions manager – Framed Gallery – ’89 – ’93 – Darwin, NT
Co-ordinator – Buku-Larrnggay Mulka ’93 – 2000 – Yirrkala, NT
Artist – 2000 – ’02 – Launceston, Tas
Manager – Marrawuddi Gallery 2002 – 2006
Co-ordinator – Buku-Larrnggay Mulka 2006 – 2011 – Yirrkala, NT
Artist/Consultant – King Island, Tasmania 2011 –
Curatorial Highlights
1995 Miny’tji Buku-Larrngay, Paintings from the East, National Gallery of Victoria
1996 Big Bark, Annandale Gallery, Sydney.
1997 Native Title, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
1998 Hollow Logs from Yirrkala, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.
1999 – 2000 Saltwater Country, Bark Paintings from Yirrkala - a National Tour;
Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra; John Curtin gallery, Curtin University, Perth: National Australian Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney; Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Melbourne, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT; QUT, Brisbane.
2000 Gapu Minytji, Crafts Museum, New Delhi, India
2003 Kabulwarnamyo Kunred Ngarduk, Paintings by Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO, Annandale gallery, Sydney.
2005 Late Works, Bark paintings by Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO, Annandale Gallery, Sydney
2006 Stella by Starlight, Gulumbu Yunupungu, Alcaston House gallery, Melbourne
2007 Cross Currents- Contemporary Australian Art, (a group show) inc Djirrirra Wunungmurra, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
2008 Garrimala Bark paintings and Hollow Logs, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.
2009 Larrakitj from the Kerry Stokes Collection, Artt Gallery of WA, Perth
2009 Once Upon a Time – Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Roslyn Oxley9 Galleries, Sydney
2009 Gunybi, New Innovations Gunybi Ganambarr, Annadale Galleries, Sydney
2009 Buyku , Bark paintings and Hollow Logs by Djirrirra Wunungmurra, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2009 a participating curator – Against Exclusion, 3rd Moscow Biennale, Djambawa Marawili and Nawurapu Wunungmurra, Moscow, Russia.
2010 Art from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land Australia, Shanghai Chun Shen Culture Square, as an official event of the Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai, China.
2010 Dhuwarrwarr marika & Djirrirra Wunungmurra, Bark paintings, Chairoscuro Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
2016 – Owen Yalanda with Jack Nawilil and Bob Burruwal at Annandale Galleries, May
Solo Exhibition
2006 From the Mud, Ironwood Sculpture, Annandale Galleries , Sydney, as part of the 25th Sydney Biennale.
2016
I was always aware of Andrew’s practice as an artist, in 2000 he moved to Tasmania to concentrate on his art. Upon his return in late 2002 to take up a position at Marawuddi Gallery in Kakadu National Park I had occasion to visit and see the results of his work in Tasmania. Nothing could have prepared me for the quality and integrity of the budding body of sculpture that I saw on that visit and I offered him a show on the spot.
Andrew Blake has an extraordinary vision contained in his ironwood sculptures. The wood comes from The Arnhemland area and is a solid hardwood that is highly labour intensive to carve. His influences come from the land in NE Arnhemland, what he has learned about nature and the land from Aboriginal elders and his own observations. He looks for natural motifs such as stems or flowers ‘within’ the existing wood and works with what already exists to set free the image within the material. There is an element of randomness in his choice of material, which passes through the filter of his own consciousness to produce works of great beauty and emotional impact.
Bill Gregory – Annandale Galleries 2006
Publications / Essays
Saltwater: Yirrkala bark paintings of Sea Country ISBN 0 646 37702 7 author/photographer
Beyond Sacred: Australian Aboriginal Art ISBN 9780646544908, essay Wukun Wanambi from Yirrkala.
Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial 07 NGA, ISBN 9780642541338, essay Bardayal Lofty Nadjamerrek AO
Nyapanyapa in Sydney Again & Barrupu Shows Up in the Desert, ISBN 9780980849202, author and concept design.
One Clan Three Hands, ISBN 1920857818, Landscape photography.
Yirrkala Drawings, published by AGNSW – essays a Brief History of Yirrkala and A Painting Continuum photographs.
Consultancies & Caretaking
2011 Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, Jabiru, NT. Issues with Kakaudu Youth and Cultural programs. A revamping of the Marrawuddi Gallery precinct at the Bowali Visitor Centre, Kakadu National Park. Ongoing
2011-2012 Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Acting Director of Maningrida Arts and Culture, Maningrida, the Djomi Museum and Maningrida Arts and Culture, Darwin. Ongoing.
2012 Buku-Larrnggay Mulka – The digitisation of the Yirrkala Museum Collection and entry to the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka database.
2012 - 2014 Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, Jabiru, NT – Print workshops with the youth of Kakadu in conjunction with the Jabiru Area School.
2013 Co-Curator Yirrkala Drawings, Art Gallery of New South wales, Art Gallery of Queensland, Fine Arts Gallery – Charles Darwin University, Darwin
2015 – 2016 Children’s Ground, Jabiru, NT – Art workshops/Arts Centre Management consultant.
2015 Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, Jabiru, NT – Designer/writer, project management of three publications – ‘Some Work’, ‘A Reader of Prints’, ‘Mirarr Rock Art of the Jabiluku Mining Lease’.
2015 – Artwork and Design for the Bininj Kunwok Language Project – Educational publications of the Bininj alphabet – readers, flash cards and ‘alphabet’ strips.
2015 – Buku-larrggay Mulka in April and August.
2016 – Caretaker manager at Maningrida Arts and Culture – Jan – April 2016.
2016 – Buku-Larrngay Mulka, Yirrkala in August.
