Skin: Pwerle or Pula
Language Group: Anmetty
Region: Mulga Bore, Utopia
Dreaming: Bush Turkey, Lizard, Snake
Cowboy Louie Pwerl was a highly respected Anmattyerr Elder of the Utopia community and a an important leader for his people. He was a close friend of the Chalmers family like his father who was especially close to Charles Chalmers who first settled among the Anmattyerr and Alyawarr people a century ago in 1926. Cowboy Louie was born in 1941 on Old McDonald Station in central Australia. Cowboy’s traditional country stretched from the Sandover River on Utopia through to the west on to Mt Skinner Station. He lived at Mosquito Bore, Utopia central Australia with both his partners Carol and Elizabeth Kngwarrey and extended family.
Cowboy was a fine painter and senior custodian of a series of dreaming sites many of which are depicted in his paintings. The Bush Turkey Ancestor was a major influence in his work as well as the Emu (Ankerr) and Lizard (Arlewatyerr).
His intricate work is characterised by his use of dark earthy colours and geometric shapes outlined in dots. These represent the tracks of the Bush Turkey roaming across the bushland as it searches for tucker. Viewed from a topographical point of view his works have a dark intensity and depth, recalling the relief and colours of his country. His works can be viewed as an Indigenous atlas mapping the route of the Bush Turkey, Lizard and Emu Ancestors as they travel over the land to their final resting place.
His work has been exhibited in galleries all over the world. He had the lead role in Utopia Generations, Sandover Films directed by Viviana Petyarre.
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne
The Coventry Collection, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia
Benalla Art Gallery
Stichting Sint-Jan, Brugge, Netherlands
Major private collectors in Australia and internationally
2017 The Golden Age of Utopia, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2016 Camel Camp & Beyond, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2015 Aboriginal art, Wimbledon Fine Arts, London
2014 Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2014 Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2012 Belongings, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2011 Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2010 Aboriginal Artists UK Spring Show, London
2010 Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2010 59th Blake Prize, National Art School Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2010 The Utopia Story, Australasian Arts Project, Singapore
2009 An Individual Perspective: From the Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood, VIC
2009 Blake Prize, The Blake Society, National Art School Gallery, Sydney (finalist)
2008 Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc, Adelaide
2008 Annual Collectors’ Exhibition, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, VIC
2008 Sydney Art & Antiques Fair 2008, Sydney NSW
2008 Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Manege, Moscow, Russia
2008 Impulse to Paint: The Artists of Iylenty, Utopia, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne
2007 Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
2007 Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney
2007 ArtParis 2007, Grand Palais, Paris FRANCE
2007 Visions of Utopia, Cooee Aboriginal Art, Sydney NSW
2007 Memory As Landscape, Masterpiece @ IXL, Hobart TAS
2007 Utopia Today, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, VIC
2006 ArtParis 2006, Grand Palais, Paris FRANCE
1997 William Mora Gallery
1993 Aptos Cruz Gallery, Adelaide
1993 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1992 Aptos Cruz Gallery, Adelaide
1992 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1992 Aptoz Cruz Gallery, Adelaide
1991 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1991 Eastern Desert Art, Brisbane
1990 Deutscher Gallery, Melbourne
