Barney Ellaga is a senior custodian and law-man of the Alawa community of Arnhem Land. His work is intimately connected to the Dreamings related to his country, and his paintings are saturated with detail and colour.
Biography Born in 1941, Barney Ellaga is a senior custodian and law-man of the Alawa community, which is situated on the upper reaches of the Cox and Arnold rivers, south of the Roper River and west of the Gulf of Carpentaria. His work is intimately connected to the Dreamings related to his country, and for several sacred sites he is the Jungai or policeman, as he puts it, restricting entry and taking on the responsibility for maintenance of the area.
Barney's work has been related to that of Rover Thomas of the Ngukurr community on the Roper River, and there are some similarities in the work, particularly in the scale of the landscapes covered in the paintings. But where Thomas would paint gigantic monolithic forms with a strictly limited ochre palette, Barney's work is often as saturated with detail as it is with colour. The visual, tactile impact of his paintings is enhanced by an inventive use of brush pressure - stippling, dotting and strong strokes combine with broad areas of flat paint - and details such as the kolarong (digderidoo) or a cave or specific rock will be rendered carefully for narrative effect. Some of the work is said to draw attention to the cave rock art of the Minyerri country, the "chalky and textured lines" created from painting on rough surfaces. Another important theme in his work is the King Brown (snake) Dreaming of his mother's country at Hamilton Lagoon near Hodgeson Downs, the paintings of this subject sinuous and startling for their striking use of a rainbow of colours.
Barney's work has been widely exhibited since 1989, with many paintings going into prominent museums and public collections, including the acquisition of nine pictures by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Collections National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., SA
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Laverty Collection, Sydney
Exhibitions 1989 Utopia & Ngukurr, Alcastopn House Gallery, Melbourne
1991 Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne
1992 Tandanya Aboriginal River Calender, South Australia, Gulf country Christine Abrahams Gallery in conjunction with Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne. Ngundungunya Artists, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney in conjunction with Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne
1993 Alcaston House, Gallery, Melbourne
1994 Gallery Australia, Adelaide in conjunction with Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne. Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne. Australian Heritage Commission Art Award and Exhibition, Canberra.
1995 The 12th National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin. Hogarth Gallery, Sydney in conjunction with Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne. Australian Heritage Commission Art Award and Exhibition, Canberra.
1996 All About Art, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Ngundungunya, Art for Everyone, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Australian Heritage Commission Art Award and Exhibition, Canberra.
1996 All About Art, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Ngundungunya, Art for Everyone, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Bent Strit-Art of South East Arnhem Land, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne.
1998 Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne
1999 Alawa Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2000 All Alawa, Alcaston Gallery Melbourne. All about Art Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne.
2001 Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art, Department of Culture, Madrid, Spain.
2002 Mia Mia Gallery, Melbourne. "The Contempories", Contemporary Artspace, Brisbane
2003 "Bush Gardens of Roper River", Japinka Gallery, Perth
2004 "Two Senior Men" Gallery, Tasmania. Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Sofitel Wentworth Hotel Exhibition, Sydney.
2005 Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Danks Street, Sydney.
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