Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 1, 1 January 1990 — Academy exhibit features aboriginal artist Pike [ARTICLE]

Academy exhibit features aboriginal artist Pike

Australian Aboriginal artist Jimmy Pike has had a colorful life and artistic career. His works eombine traditional Aboriginal themes blended with the artist's own unique style and vision. They eome to the Graphic Arts Gallery at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Jan. 4 through Feb. 1 1 in an exhibition, "Jimmy Pike: Graphics," featuring 37 of the artist's prints from Australia's Christensen Fund Collection. Born in Australia's Great Sandy Desert, Jimmy Pike was brought up in the traditional nomadic Walmajarri tribal ways, hunting, gathering and moving from waterhole to waterhole. It was not until Pike's teenage years that his family joined the great migration out of the desert.

Upon reaching adulthood, Pike was involved in a tribal killing that resulted in a prison stint. It proved to be a turning point in his life. In prison, through the help of English prison psychologist Patricia Lowe (who eventually became his wife) Pike began to produce art. Today, the artist and his wife eamp and work in a remote desert region near Fitzroy Crossing. Most of Jimmy Pike's works are inspired by aboriginal stories, dreamings, and myths. Particularly striking are the stark linear contrasts in Pike's black and white linocuts and the brilliant colors of his silkscreens. The artist has exhibited his works across Australia and in Paris. Thisexhibition is the first time his works are on view in Hawaii.