Context (CMS Context)
Mick Kubarkku (c. 1925- 2008, active from 1960). The artist's biography notes 'Kubarkku has spent his life on small outstations close to waterholes
and billabongs, moving camp seasonally to hunt. In recent years he has settled at Kubumi, a community in northern Arnhem Land. Kubarkku has painted for most of his adult life, initially learning from his father, Ngindjalakku, to make paintings for sacred ceremonies and later selling his works through the government settlement of Maningrida.

He has a rugged and individual painting style that has changed very
little in over twenty years. As an artist he chooses not to adorn his figures with meticulous geometric rarrk, the cross-hatching painting
technique common throughout Arnhem Land, but prefers a barer, uneven form of crosshatching similar to rock markings found in the country near Kubumi where he lives. Large, uneven dots are often applied to the heads, hands and feet of the artist's figures as well as the internal division which suggests the backbone. Kubarkku's crosshatching comprises horizontal, vertical or sloping bands of red ochre, relieved by patches of black dots on white. His Mimi figures are shown as substantial spirits emerging from the rock country. His more recent astronomical paintings are in accord with Kunwinjku iconic conventions.

He is one of the few men who remember the old artists of the caves and can give detailed interpretations of the figures and content of the cave paintings. His subject matter and stories are a direct continuation of the cave-art tradition, although his style of image-making is distinctive, particularly the rendition of his figures and crosshatching. His work has a raw, rough, and direct quality, in which the use of white dotted areas on black is a stylistic marker. His cross-hatching is open and unlabored.

Kubarkku is recognised as being one of the great living Kunwinjku artists.

Common subjects are Ngalyod, Rainbow Serpent, Namarrkon, Lightning Spirit, Namanjwarre, estuarine crocodile, Lorrkon, hollow log coffin, Namorrodo Spirit, Kodjok Bamdjelk pandanus spirit, Bird Moon Dreaming, Yawk Yawk fresh water female spirits, assorted freshwater fish species, lambalk sugar glider. ' Taken from http://www.aboriginalartprints.com.au/indigenous_artists_details.php?artist_id=58
Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (CMS Context)
Presented by The Art Fund and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. An acquisition project to build a collection of modern and contemporary work on paper from Australia, Canada and South Africa was undertaken over 2011-13 with the support of a grant under The Art Fund's RENEW programme. The collection was developed with the expert advice and generous assistance of Annie Coombes and Norman Vorano in relation to South African and Inuit artists respectively. Khadija Carroll, Anita Herle and Diana Wood Conroy also contributed to the selection process. Obtained from The Australian Art Print Network (Sydney Gallery, 68 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia).

The print is described as 'Yawk Yawk are female water spirits that closely resemble the European idea of mermaids. Half spirit, half fish, they entice unwary fishermen beneath the water of the lagoons that are their domain throughout Arnhem Land. They may have long hair like reeds of trailing water weed and can take on the features of fish or body of a snake. When fully grown Yawk Yawk spirits can leave their water hole to forage for food by changing their fishtails into legs to walk on dry land or assume the shape of a dragonfly to fly. Yawk Yawk figures are also closely associated with Ngaloyd, the Rainbow Serpent and can be associated with sorcery'. Taken from http://www.aboriginalartprints.com.au/works_enlargement.php?work_id=521
Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Screen print by Mick Kubarkku titled 'Yawk Yawk', 2000. Unnumbered -edition size 99. Printed on Magnani Incisioni paper 300gsm. Condition: Generally excellent. However, a piece of tissue paper adheres to the 'hair' of the figure and this needs to be removed.
Event Date 7/3/2014
Author: maa