Ginger Riley by Grace and Tamara
|
Born in 1938, Ginger Riley [Munduwalawala] began painting at a mature age of 49, depicting culturally important areas of his country in the Gulf of Carpentaria region. Ginger's paintings hang in most Australian state and many overseas
galleries. A highlight of his
career was when he won the John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize in 1993 and
went on to celebrate a decade of painting with a retrospective at the
National Gallery of Victoria in 1997. His
commercial successes has made him a target of art fraud, last year
paintings were being passed of as Ginger Riley originals until an
aboriginal leader uncovered the plot and the fake artist’s were
arrested. |
Today
Ginger is regarded as one of
the top aboriginal artist’s in Australia. His paintings fetch between
$17,000 and $45,000.
illustration
by Tamara |
| A traditional Aboriginal artist's work is based on representations that
are often culturally owned by other close family members. Should those
representations be stolen by outsiders, it can challenge the artist's
ability to survive. He
then traveled to Queensland where he completed a series of works on
paper. Ginger produced no other work that year. The
paintings are now being sold as having been painted by Ginger late last
year and early this year. |
|
