Pukara shows confident brushstrokes using a bold palette of red, blue, pink and white on a black background to depict a significant place in Spinifex country in south-east Western Australia. The composition is reduced to a mere few marks, sparse but wildly expressive, signifying the most important features of Pukara.
Lawrence Pennington’s works all deal with similar subject matter that convey important places and aspects of Spinifex country, and his compositions are predominantly pared-back lines and circles framed by tracks of dotting. He typically uses vibrant jewel colours against a black background, a unifying feature of the men painters at Spinifex Arts Project.
Born c. 1934 at Urlu just north of Spinifex country in south-east Western Australia, Pennington lived a traditional nomadic life with his family before settling at Cundeelee Mission in the late 1950s. He was an initiated man when he arrived at the Mission and later married and had a son. He has been painting at Tjuntjuntjara for many years and his works have been included in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally since at least 2000, including Tarnanthi and DesertMob. A finalist in the NATSIAA three times (2016, 2018, 2019), Pennington has also had two solo exhibitions; in 2017 at Aboriginal and Pacific Arts in Sydney and in 2016 at Redot Fine Art Gallery in Singapore. A senior artist and law man, Lawrence Pennington’s works are held in many public and private collections.
