Gordon Barney was born at Alice Downs Station in the East Kimberley in 1944. He now lives at Norton Bore Community, Via Turkey Creek with his wife, the well know and extremely talented International artist Shirley Purdie. Gordon and Shirley are both joint Chairpersons there.
Gordon is well known throughout the region as a stockman, and worked on many stations, including Springvale, Chinaman’s Garden country and Alice Downs, which form a great deal of the content of his paintings.
He commenced painting in 1998 with Shirley and like his wife, favours the thick, crusty ochre medium. His depictions of the hills and rugged country he worked quickly became noticed by collectors, and his relatively short painting career has been extremely successful.
Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions
1999
– Aboriginal Art, IHK Wurzburg, Germany (in co-operation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer)
– Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
– Hale School Annual Art Exhibition, Perth
– Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
– Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
– Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
– Short Street Gallery, Broome
2000
– Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra
– Bett Gallery, Hobart
– Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
– Melbourne Art Fair 2000, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
– Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney
– State of My Country, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
– The Collection. Aboriginal Fine Art & Weavings, Gallerie Australis
– This Earth for Us, Commonwealth Institute, London; Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh
2001
– Gordon Barney, Bett Gallery, Hobart
– In Celebration, Peter Baillie Acquisitive Exhibition, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
– Ochre Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome
– Painting Country, Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne
– Thornquest Gallery, Southport
– Beyond Wings, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
2002
– Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
– Shirley Purdie and Gordon Barney, Framed Gallery, Darwin
– Land is Life. Art from Australia, Jagdschloss Granitz, Binz, Rügen, German (in co-operation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer)
– Images and Identity, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer)
– Span Galleries, Melbourne
2003
– Garmerrun: All Our Country, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
– Ngarrgoorroon, Yiyili and Yarrunga – Four Artists from Warmun, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
– The World Luxury Cruise Ship, Australasis (in cooperation with Thornquest Gallery, Southport)
2004
– Gallery Bamberg Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany (in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer)
– Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2005
– Gadfly Gallery, Perth
– Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2006
– Gentlemen of Warmun, Seva Frangos Art, Perth
2007
– Greetings From Turkey Creek, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
– Back To The Board, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney
– From The Ground Up: Ochre Work From The Kimberley, Chapman Gallery
– Ten Warmun Works, Balmain Art & Craft Show, Father John Therry School, Sydney
Selected Collections
– Artbank, Sydney
– Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
– Prominent Private and Corporate Collections Worldwide
Literature
– The Unseen in Scene. Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer, Bayer Australia, Sydney, Speyer 2000, Aust. Cat., ISBN 3980707202
– The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Kleinert and Neale(Hrsg.). Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne 2000, ISBN 0195506599
– From The Ground Up: Ochre Work From The Kimberley, Chapman Gallery
– Ten Warmun Works, Balmain Art & Craft Show, Father John Therry School, Sydney