Artist: Timothy Cook

D Lan Galleries presents Timothy Cook’s first international exhibition — in collaboration with Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association — and a new body of bark paintings and works on linen.

Widely regarded as the modern master of Tiwi painting, Cook works exclusively with ochres and oxides drawn from the geological make-up of his Country surrounding Milikapiti on Melville Island, ground and prepared before being applied in bold, sumptuous fields of colour to seasoned stringybark — itself harvested and prepared communally at Jilamara. The result is painting that is inseparable from Country, its seasons, and the Tiwi identity. Whether working beneath the downpours of the wet season or the heat of the dry, Cook’s practice is rooted in the living landscape of the Tiwi Islands.