Abie Kemarre Loy
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 Loy Kemarre belongs to the Eastern Anmatyerre language group and identifies with her traditional country at Iylenty or Mosquito Bore.
Her 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 and she has been exhibiting for thirty years both within Australia and internationally.
Abie Loy Kemarre’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.
Born in 1972, of the Eastern Arnmatyerre language group, at Utopia Station approximately 250 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. She lives with her husband at Iylenty (Mosquito Bore) near Utopia Station along with her family including Margaret Loy and when she was alive, her grandmother, world renowned artist Kathleen Petyarre. The eldest of five children, Abie has one sister, Genevieve, a promising painter in her own right, and three brothers.
Abie began painting in 1994 under the tutelage of her grandmother, Kathleen Petyarre who taught Abie the techniques to create paintings where the delicate dotting created a moving surface of colour that highlighted the structure of her paintings. Her work evolved and became bolder with a more abstract style, bringing her critical acclaim.
Abie Loy Kemarre has custodial rights of the Bush Hen Dreaming
story (that she had inherited from her grandfather), which she depicts as a metonymic device in her Bush Hen Dreaming
and associated Sand-hills
and Body
Painting
series of works. Other works that she has rights to paint include Bush Medicine Leaf Dreaming
(father’s story), Emu Dreaming story
(Grandfather’s story) and the Body Paint Designs that include the Awelye
(Women’s Business) designs.
Abie demonstrates through her painting a fascinating portrayal of the country in which she lives. She has a wonderful, liberated style that is constantly evolving and an astonishing ability with colour. Each painting for Abie is an exploration of both the styles that have been passed down to her from her immediate family and of her own vision. Through her powerful and beautiful paintings, Abie is able to convey to the viewer the sensitivity and strength she derives from her Dreaming … and her Country …
As well as work in acrylic, Abie has also worked with batik and limited edition prints.
