Abie Loy Kemarre

Abie Loy Kemarre developed her fine skills as an artist at an early age working closely with her famous grandmother Kathleen Petyarre. Kathleen taught Abie the techniques to create paintings where the delicate dotting created a moving surface of colour that highlighted the structure of her paintings. Abie concentrated on the Bush Hen Dreaming story that she had inherited from her grandfather.

Abie is related to a number of the famous Utopia artists including Gloria Petyarre, Ada Bird Petyarre and Emily Kngwarreye. Born in 1972, Abie belongs to the Eastern Anmatyerre language group and identifies with her traditional country at Iylenty or Mosquito Bore.

Abie Loy Kemarre’s Bush Hen Dreaming paintings further evolved and she began work on bolder, more abstract style around motifs of Sandhills and Body Painting.  The expertise shown in her work brought her critical acclaim. Abie has been exhibiting for thirty years both within Australia and internationally.

Abie’s work is held in Australian public collections including National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Adelaide University Art Collection. She is represented in major private collections including Kelton Foundation, Levi-Kaplan Collection, Kerry Stokes Collection, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission Collection and Festival of Arts Foundation Collection.

A selection of paintings by Abie Loy Kemarre is available from Japingka Gallery, where collectors can buy Aboriginal art online with certainty of quality, authenticity and provenance of art works.

Aboriginal art status – Highly regarded artist.

Selected Group Exhibitions

1997   Schilderijen uit Utopia, Songlines Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1997   Dreampower, Art of Contemporary Aboriginal Australia

• Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
• Galeri Ardiyanto, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• The National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia

1997   14th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Touring Art Exhibition
1997   Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Desert Designs, Fremantle WA
1997   Documenta, Kasel, Germany
1997   The Alice Prize Exhibition, Alice Springs NT
1997   Japingka Gallery, Desert Designs, Fremantle WA
1998   Our Country Then and Now, Gallerie Australis
1998   Raiki Wara: Long cloth from Aboriginal Australia & Torres Strait, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
1998   15th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Exhibition Darwin, NT
1998   Utopia Dreamings, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
1999   Joint Indonesian – Utopia Batik Workshop for Third Pacific Arts
1999   Utopia Recent Works, King Street Gallery, Perth WA
1999   North by North East, Landscape & Ceremonial Paintings from Utopia, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1999   SALA Week, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide SA
2000   Utopia, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2000   The Collection, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide SA
2001   15th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Exhibition, Darwin NT
2001   Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002   Kimberly, Central Desert & Utopia, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002   Abie Loy & Violet Petyarre, Recent Paintings, Mary Place Gallery, Paddington NSW
2002   Generations Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2003   Abie Loy – Recent Paintings, Fire-works Gallery, Brisbane Qld
2004   Arrnkerthe, New Paintings, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney NSW
2004   Group Show Gadfly Gallery, Perth WA
2005   Dreamings, Gadfly Gallery, Perth WA
2005   Utopia & Beyond, Maunsell Wicks, Paddington NSW
2006   Abie Loy & Kathleen Petyarre, New Paintings, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
2006   Recent Painting, Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2006   Luminaries of the Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006   Balmain Art & Craft show, Indigenous Gallery, Sydney NSW
2008   Utopia Collection, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2011   In Black and white, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012   Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012   Sandover River Country, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012   Recent Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012   Desert Gold, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2014   Desert Song, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

Selected External Collections

• The Met Museum, New  York
• Art Gallery of South Australia
• Seattle Art Museum

Examples of Abie’s Work