PERMANENT WATERHOLES ALONG THE RIVER, 1990
JANANGGOO BUTCHER CHEREL
synthetic polymer paint on linen
136.0 x 101.5 cm
signed verso: BUTCHER / CHEREL / JANANGU
bears inscription verso: size, cat. 088/90, commissioned by Duncan Kentish
Commissioned by Duncan Kentish in 1990
Mangkaja Arts, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia
Collection of the late Duncan Kentish, Adelaide
Jananggoo Butcher Cherel was always a worker and often talked about the importance of the work that he undertook both as a young man on Fossil Downs Station, establishing the community at Muludja, and later in life, as an artist. He was also a minaji or porcupine. His spirit was ‘found’ by his mother at a place called Janiwa in spring country close to Jalngajoowa, the place of his birth, on the banks of the Margaret River. Thus, his painted works express his deep connection to the rivers and the limestone country stretching throughout his ‘run’, an area that he called Yiminara.
One of Jananggoo’s signature motifs, this work features his use of a prominent central panel, dividing the picture plane along the central axis, just as the Margaret River cuts through his country. Encased in this panel are three permanent pools along a stretch of the river, remnant pools that are found at the end of the dry season. Knowledge of these permanent water sources has its foundation in the artist’s youth during which he spent considerable time out hunting with his parents.
Along each side of the work, Jananggoo has indicated the paths where water will flow, through the ridges and fissures of the limestone outcrops when the rain comes. Embedded within these lines is another of his mark-making styles – repetition. Each of the horizontal bands follows the same format as the curved lines mirrored on the opposite side. Shifts in the actual curves create space, thereby avoiding the potential stiffness of such repetition.
A third element of note is Jananggoo’s ordering of dots in which he employs quite deliberately, patterning achieved through overlapping and shifting directions of a line of dots. Note for example, the V formations at either end of the central panel and the merging of tight lines into a curved format as the dots progress towards the centre – a feature that the artist worked and reworked many times. An important early work, Permanent Waterholes Along the River, 1990 embodies well several significant aspects that characterise Janangoo’s oeuvre.
KAREN DAYMAN