The exhibition presents the work of Rusty Peters, a Gija man from the Kimberley WA, who paints with an ancient and sacred tradition of inherited knowledge, and Peter Adsett, originally from NZ, who works within the discipline of Geometric Abstractionism.
Responding to one another’s work with periods of conversation and contemplation, while drinking only tea and eating kangaroo, they built a rhythm of rest, sustenance and work. Neither intruded upon the others style or language.
As Rusty said, I can’t paint that (pointing to Peter’s painting) he can’t paint my country. Seven pairs of works with a predetermined palette of black, red and white were produced in sequence over 14 days, with each artist producing a painting on alternate days.
What becomes apparent is the way Rusty Peters’ works inside the conventions of his own symbolic language, ‘his law’. He may not step outside the boundaries of what he is allowed to paint, but within those conventions he makes the remarkable conceptual leap towards the notion of two separate and self-contained systems sharing a common creative source.
It was Rusty who articulated the concept of the ‘two laws’ having their origins in the ‘big spirit’, and that these laws could co-exist without compromising each other, and without necessarily understanding each other.
The exhibition is accompanied by tactile reproductions of the paintings through a braille catalogue for the vision impaired.
Two Laws…One Big Spirit Western Australian tour is managed by Art on The Move, presented by Artback NT Arts Touring in partnership with NETS Australia (National Exhibition Touring Support). Support by Visions and Healthway for Asthma WA.
