Paddy Bedford is a Gija elder from Warmun in the north east Kimberley region of Western Australia. As a senior law man he has been involved in painting as part of ceremony all his life. He began painting on canvas for exhibition, after Freddie Timms set up the Jirrawun Aboriginal Art group at Rugun (Crocodile Hole) in 1997 and is represented in several major collections including the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery of Australia. The first major solo exhibition of Bedford’s work, this project will include major paintings drawn from public and private collections across the country. A significant publication on Bedford’s work will be launched to coincide with it.
Bedford works in the 'Turkey Creek' style, with expanses of plain ochre and sparse lines punctuated by white dots, depicting the landscape in which he has spent a lifetime. His paintings combine important family Dreamings such as emu, turkey and cockatoo with roads, rivers, the living areas for traditional life and stock camp life, stock yards and country visited while mustering. Paddy Bedford is one of the artists commissioned to make work for the new Musée du Quai Branly in Paris which profiles art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
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