Dibirdibi Country 2010

Sally Gabori made this painting of Dibirdibi Country, perhaps in the early 2000s, with what looks like acrylic on canvas, giving us a direct route into her Country. The brushstrokes are so confident, thick and juicy, moving and describing the forms and surfaces. It's like you can feel the land, the weight of it, the light hitting it. See how the white and pale pink sweep across the bottom? They give the sense of looking into a reflection, as if this land is both solid and somehow permeable. I love the way the purple mass seems to hover, defying gravity, yet it is solid and present. Look at the top corner of the black, it's like an opening into another space. It reminds me of work by Joan Mitchell or even Helen Frankenthaler, artists who similarly allow the paint to describe a world, without ever losing touch with the material of its making. Art is such a conversation, isn't it?