9 October - 13 October 2024
PADDY BEDFORD: SPIRIT & TRUTH | Frieze Masters, London
Need to get details about exhibition custom fields via API.
Paddy Bedford: Spirit + Truth comprises a curated selection of sixteen significant paintings, from 1998 to 2004, that span Bedford’s short yet remarkable career as an artist and reflect his most important themes, alongside a gallery of twenty gouache works on paper, direct from Paddy Bedford’s estate. Bedford was introduced to the gouache medium in 1998, and frequently returned to it as part of his daily practice.
The presentation of this exhibition coincides with the launch of a new book dedicated to the gouache practice of Paddy Bedford, edited by Vanessa Merlino, Head of Research at D’Lan Contemporary, and published by D’Lan Contemporary in association with the artist’s estate, which we now represent. This representation is a continuation of the work of our late dear friend and colleague William Mora, who was entrusted with managing the Estate of Paddy Bedford following the artist’s death in 2007.
As one of the first Australian gallerists to present solo exhibitions by First Nations artists – with an exhibition of works by Paddy Bedford in 1998, and later exhibitions showcasing the work of Ginger Riley Munduwalawala and Queenie McKenzie – William pushed the art and culture of the first peoples of Australia into view.
D’Lan Contemporary is honoured to continue the work of William Mora, and to celebrate the important legacy of Paddy Bedford by presenting his work to an international audience at Frieze Masters.
We look forward to welcoming audiences to our Stand, B12.
Installation Views
Paddy Bedford
Paddy Bedford stands as one of the most influential figures to emerge from the East Kimberley’s late-20th-century artistic renaissance. A senior Gija cultural leader, Bedford carried deep knowledge of Country shaped by a lifetime spent working cattle across the stations of his homelands and participating in ceremonial life. Though he painted bodies and ceremonial objects throughout his youth, his public career as an artist began unexpectedly late, when modest experiments on found timber revealed a strikingly original visual voice. Joining the newly formed Jirrawun Arts collective in the late 1990s, Bedford rapidly became recognised for his spare, elemental compositions. Broad sweeps of ochre bisected by rhythmic lines that chart place, memory and ancestral presence with quiet authority.
Far from abstraction, his paintings map story, law and lived history, often referencing sites marked by conflict as well as spiritual continuity. Today Bedford’s work is held in major national and international collections, celebrated for its restraint, gravitas and profound connection to Gija Country.
There is no provenenace field for artists in AG, shoudl we add a custom field for this? Has it been scoped out sufficeiently
Need to define the interactive map functionality, we can add lat/long values as custom fields TBD.
