- 56
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri circa 1932-2002 CHEEKY SNAKE
Description
- Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
- CHEEKY SNAKE
- signed Clifford Possum and dated
- carved beanwood, synthetic polymer paint
- HEIGHT: 62.8CM
Provenance
Private collection
Exhibited
Literature
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Comments on this work in the retrospective catalogue by the artist and the exhibition's curator, Dr Vivien Johnson, read as follows: 'We got a lot of different snakes in Australia. This one red and black - really red, and some brown and white - he got white [markings]. This snake he start 16 mile from Alice Springs up north this time that snake. He stop there and after that he take off to Napperby Lakes' (Clifford Possum, 1999). The artist also commented that the snake looked 'just like live one' and that it was not a carpet snake but a 'cheeky' (ie.poisonous) one. The artist recalled that he had carved the work about a year after Geoffrey Bardon's departure from Papunya in July 1972, making its date of production mid-1973. In the midst of the remarkable development of his painting on flat surfaces over the first two years of working in the medium, Clifford Possum had not lost either his love or skill for carving. His abandonment of the medium soon after this was a practical decision based on the perception that there were too many others competing for the not very lucrative tourist market in carvings and that he would be better off concentrating on painting'. (ibid.p.250).
This lot is sold with a copy of Vivien Johnson, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2004 and photos of the artist signing the work