Cowboy Louie Pwerle
Language:Eastern Anmatyerre
Area:Mosquito Bore,Utopia,Northern Territory
Cowboy Louie Pwerle was born around 1941 at a sheep camp on Old McDonald Station, in the Northern Territory, Australia.
He worked many years as a stockman on Central Australian properties where his reputation as a stockman and his western style dress earned him the name Cowboy.
He was taught to paint by his elder brother Louie (now deceased) an important traditional leader and he shared a series of dreamings with him.
He is a custodian over a number of dreaming sites many of which can be seen in his paintings.
His traditional country lies on the Western side of the Sandover River on Utopia station and stretches west on to Mt Skinner.
Utopia is an Aboriginal Homeland formed in 1978 covering 3,500 sq kilometers and is the home of two language groups the Alyawarra and the Anmatjrra people.
Utopia is located in central Australia 250 km NE of Alice Springs.
Cowboy lives at Mosquito Bore with his two wives, sisters Carol and Elizabeth Kngwarreye.
Cowboy Louie depicts his Turkey Dreaming over various traditional sites on Utopia.
He also paints Emu (Ankerr) Tucker Dreaming and Lizard (Arlewatyerr) Dreaming.
Cowboy Louie Pwerle's intricate traditional artworks have great movement & depth & depict the contours & colours of his Country
Johnson V. 1994, Dictionary of Western Desert Artists.
He has had exhibitions at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia;
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia;
1996 “Nangara”, 2007 – Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert,Simmer on the Bay, Sydney;
2007 – Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, Gallery G, Brisbane;
2008 – Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc, Adelaide; Collections: National Gallery of Victoria and Holmes a Court collections. State Gallery of South Australia Bibliography: Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales
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Address : Michael Moriarty, PO Box 14, Berry Springs, NT, 0838, Australia