Essay - Aboriginal Painting Aboriginal Art: the Power of Secrecy' Australian Aboriginal...

Aboriginal painting

Aboriginal Art: the Power of Secrecy"

Australian aboriginal art is at once simple and complex, designed to be understood ***** yet secreted away to protect its meaning and value. Much of the artistic interpretation of the works is difficult as ***** religious art of the region h***** been respectfully secreted away. Secretive art is wholly ***** while secular art can be seen by all ***** they differ in form.

The range ***** motifs used ***** Central Australian rock art does depend upon the context of production, however: sacred and secret art is almost exclusively made up of geometric designs and tracks, while art in secular, domestic situations places more emphasis on figurative motifs.

Morwood 41)

Yet form dictates function as the aborig*****al experience, reported by them ***** be one that spans ***** of pre-recorded history is an expression of their philosophy, a philosophy of secrecy ***** the eternal.

Arnhem Land aborigines are divided into different clans, each clan having ***** own particular totem, with its attendant songs, ceremonies and designs. These *****s, and their territories, were determined by the mythical creators who lived during the early days of the world, and the myths which descri***** ***** exploits and adventures ***** those creators ***** ***** are, in essence, the philosophy of the aborigines, explain how they made the firmament, the world beneath, and the creatures that live on it.

Read 12)

Those paintings and artwork which have greatest meaning and require the most intuitive of *****s are *****ed away through the traditions of ***** people. Interpretation ***** *****d ***** a person ***** the closest ties to the land and peoples which inhabit it, yet they ***** not speaking and the history ***** art remains an eternal mystery.

M*****y of the bark and cave paintings ***** no ceremonial or religious function, but are produced for pure ple*****ure ***** creative effort, a pleasure which stimulates the true *****ist in all cultures. There are pa*****tings, both on bark and in caves, which have more important functions. In the initiation rituals, secret designs, painted on sheets of *****, instruct ***** novitiates in the esoteric myths of the tribe, and, in western Arnhem L*****, where some of ***** cave paintings have magical qualities, the old men can, ***** chanting ***** correct incantation at the appropriate season, force ***** ***** power of the painting to increase ***** supply of food.

***** 14) Although the culture ***** the aboriginal artist is vastly different from that of our own, the subject ***** his painting beyond the realms of our knowledge, his symbolism unlike anything we possess and ***** in materials and colours extremely limited, he uses the same principles of line, colour, balance, and spacing of design ele*****ts ***** are present in all great art.

Read 14)

Social etiquette and traditional values reflect the philosophy of secrecy and the *****s that dictate survival, such as in the c*****e of asking the mystical for a greater material reward, to feed one's family is a ***** of great importance