Dan Kyle reflects on his time spent visiting Candy Nelson Nakamarra's studio with Edwina Corlette and Miranda Skoczek in preparation for 'On Common Ground' Exhibition. The show is current at Edwina Corlette Gallery 28 June – 16 July, 2022.
Candy’s style is completely unique within her community of artists in Papunya. You can see links with her fellow artists and definitely some direct influence from her father, the renowned Papunya Tula artist Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, but she has created her own visual language. She’s doing something I haven’t seen before, and everyone in the group acknowledges it. “No one is painting like this!” we say, like five times each.
If you look closely at the work, through the layers of intricate motifs, you can see the initial process that Candy uses to start each painting. This is actually what excited me about her in the first place, as this part of her process really sets her apart. Candy starts each work by splashing and pouring watered-down paint over the canvases. She turns them around and around, forcing the drips to run freely. They crisscross and intersect each other over the surface. It’s the landscape from above: watercourses, waterholes, sand dunes.
Dan Kyle, June 2022
IMAGE:
Candy Nelson Nakamarra at Papunya Tjupi Arts, 2022, photographed by Charlie Perry