DOB: 1972
Born: Utopia
Language: Eastern Anmatyerre

Abie Loy Kemarre is an exciting and dynamic young artist who dramatically entered the art world with her early success in Europe and the USA.

Born in 1972, Abie is an Eastern Anmatyerre speaker from Mosquito bore country, Utopia, Northern Territory. She is the eldest of five children raised by their mother, Margaret Loy, who is a also painter of note, and her father, Ray Loy Pwerle at Mosquito bore on Utopia.

Abie grew up in a family of artists, her mother, Margaret, and her grandmother, Kathleen Petyarre, were often busy producing batik and the township was regularly festooned with wildly coloured silk blowing in the wind. When Kathleen Petyarre and her sisters Gloria, Violet and Ada Bird Petyarre began,Abie was there, avidly learning the stories and watching her family members begin to produce the works of art that would soon make them famous. Emily Kngwarreye was there, she had been married to Kathleen and Gloria’s uncle – she was the first to put Utopia on the map with her name becoming synonymous with contemporary aboriginal art throughout Australia. Within ten years most people in the art world in Australia also knew of the Petyarre sisters and many people were looking for a “Gloria” or a “Kathleen” to hang with their “Emily”.

A very innovative mid-career artist, she began painting at the age of 19. She was mentored by her grandmother Kathleen Petyarre, who taught her the methodology of using details and tiny shimmering dotting to create complex optical effects.

Abie is a custodian of the Bush Hen Dreaming which she inherited from her Grandfather. At the simplest level, her Bush Hen Paintings represent the bush hen travelling in search of bush seeds scattered across the country. Other themes in Abie’s paintings are the Bush Medicine Leaf Dreaming, Emu Dreaming, and Sandhills and Body Paint Designs including Awelye.

Abie Loy’s artworks are held in major collections worldwide. Her Batik works were exhibited in Bali, and her works on canvas have been exhibited widely in galleries in Australia and Overseas.

Abie is one of the most successful of the younger, mid career artists at Utopia and we are proud to have Abie Loy Kemarre art for sale.

COLLECTIONS

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA
Musee de Confluences, Lyon, France
Foundation Colas, Paris, France
The Ishibashi Foundation, Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo, Japan
The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Festival of Arts Foundation Collection, Adelaide
The Adelaide University Art Collection, Adelaide
The Levi-Kaplan Collection, Seattle, USA
The Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission Collection
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2006  Bush Leaf & Other Dreaming’s, Gadfly Gallery, Perth
2005  New Paintings, Gadfly Gallery, Perth
2005  Solo Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2004  Solo Exhibition, Gadfly Gallery, Perth
2004  Solo Exhibition, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
2003  First Solo Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015  Parcours des Mondes, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2015  Art Elysées, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2015  Territoires, Galerie Lionelle Courbet/ Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2015  Au cœur de l’art aborigène australien, Société Générale Private Banking/ Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Monaco
2015  Art Paris Art Fair, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2015  VIBRATIONS : au cœur de l’art aborigène, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob / ACABAS, Paris, France
2014  Art Elysées, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2014  Parcours des Mondes, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2014  Les Flâneries d’Art Contemporain en jardin aixois, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Aix-en-Provence, France
2014  Art d’Australie, Arts d’Australie • Stéphane Jacob / Barclays, Paris, France
2013  Art Elysées, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2013  Parcours des Mondes, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2013  Arts d’Australie, Galerie 49/ Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Saumur, France
2013  Art Paris Art Fair, Arts d’Australie • Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2012  J.I.M.A.B.E., Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Cape Town
2012  Art Paris Art Fair, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2012  Parcours des Mondes, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2012  Art Elysées, Arts d’Australie • Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2012  Art Gent, Arts d’Australie • Stéphane Jacob, Gent, Belgium
2012  Ancestral Modern Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2011  Parcours des Mondes, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2011  Pavillon des Arts et du Design, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2011  Art Elysées, Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Paris, France
2011  Galerie AROA & Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Neuilly sur Seine, France
2011  Art Contemporain, galerie Clarus & Arts d’Australie – Stéphane Jacob, Ligny le Ribault, France
2010  Tradition to Modernity, Tasmania, Central Art
2008  Utopia Modern Women’s Collection 1999 – 2002, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
2008   Light & Space, The Chicho Museum, Naoshima, Japan
2008  Jewels of the Desert, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2007  Parcours des Mondes, Galerie Anne & Just Jaeckin, Arts d’Australie Stephane Jacob, Paris, France
2007  The Best of the Best, Jewels of the Desert, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2007  Treasures of the Spirit, Creative Returns: Investing in Aboriginal Art, Tandanya, Adelaide
2007  Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Sydney
2007  Aboriginal Art, 2007, Scott Livesy Galleries, Armadale
2007  Utopia & Beyond 2007, Aboriginal art from East to West, Coo-ee Gallery, Avalon Recreation Centre, Avalon, NSW
2006  Prism, Contemporary Australian Art, Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2006  Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA

ARTFAIRS

2006  Melbourne Art Fair, 3- 6th August Melbourne
2004  Melbourne Art Fair, 29 Sept – 3 Oct, Melbourne
2003  Art Miami 2003, January 10 – 14, Miami, Florida, USA
2003  ARCO Art Fair Madrid, February 13 – 17th, Madrid, Spain
2003  Aboriginal Art Fair, Sydney

AWARDS:

2001 finalist in 18th Telstra NATSIAA
1997 finalist in 14th Telstra NATSIAA