SKU: 87664700334

"Bush Plum" by Polly Ngale

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Description

"Bush Plum" by Polly NgaleDOB: c. 1940 BORN: Utopia, NT LANGUAGE GROUP:: Anmatyerre COMMUNITY:: Utopia, NT Polly Ngale is one of the most senior custodians of her country Alparra, in the heart of Utopia, located in the north west corner of the Simpson desert and roughly 350km northeast of Alice Springs, along the Sandover Highway. Polly belongs to the oldest living generation of Utopia women and her artistic career began in the late 1970s when she, like many of the women in

DOB: c. 1940
BORN: Utopia, NT
LANGUAGE GROUP:: Anmatyerre
COMMUNITY:: Utopia, NT

Polly Ngale is one of the most senior custodians of her country Alparra, in the heart of Utopia, located in the north-west corner of the Simpson desert and roughly 350km northeast of Alice Springs, along the Sandover Highway. Polly belongs to the oldest living generation of Utopia women and her artistic career began in the late 1970s when she, like many of the women in Utopia, began working with silk batik before venturing into works on canvas.

Polly is considered one of the most accomplished painters from the Utopia region and is inspired by the Arnwetky (conkerberry) - a green tangled, spiny shrub that produces fragrant white flowers. After the summer rains, tiny green berries begin to grow and ripen, changing colour over the weeks from light green to pinks and browns to yellow, to shades of red and purple when they finally ripen. The fruits very much resemble a plum and are often referred to in English by Polly as a 'bush plum'. The Arnwetky is a popular variety of bush tucker for the people of Utopia, as well as possessing medicinal properties.

During the Dreamtime, winds came from all directions, carrying the Arnwetky seed all over Polly's ancestors' Anmatyerre land. To ensure the continued fruiting of the Arnwetky, the Anmatyerre people pay homage to the spirit of the bush plum by recreating it in their ceremonies through song and dance, and in recent years, through painting. The patterns in the paintings can represent the fruit of the plant, its leaves and flowers, and also the body paint designs that are associated with it during the ceremony.

Polly shares this country and the Bush Plum (Arnwetky) Dreaming with her sisters Kathleen Ngale and Angeline Pwerle Ngale. Like Kathleen, Polly creates her paintings by building up layer upon layer of colour to create multi-dimensional images. The two have often collaborated and painted together.

Polly's paintings are borne from traditional knowledge and her confident approach to painting can be seen in the way she assembles streams of seeds, piling dots upon each other to create rich thick fields employing glowing palettes of colour. Pollys works range from extremely fine dotting techniques with either interspersed colours or areas of varying colours and depth all blending together across the canvas. Through extensive overdotting, she builds up layers of colour, blending or separate, to give a wealth of different and very attractive paint effects.

Her subject matter is drawn from acute observation and memory. Intimate knowledge of the country, personal history and ancestral journey. Seamless in her portrayal of these elements her paintings are sensory mind maps that reveal the artist's place, and her sense of self all within one framework. Polly's work has been increasingly exhibited since 1999 and in recent years, Polly has undergone a renaissance in her work - by all accounts producing some of the finest paintings of her career to date.

Her work has appeared in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award since 2003. Her honourable mention as a 2004 finalist was followed by representation at the Contemporary Art Fair in Paris at the Grand Palais Champs Elysees. Polly was also represented in the exhibition Emily Kngwarreye and her Legacy at the Hillside Forum Daikanyama Tokyo in 2008.

Polly's work has been exhibited extensively both in Australia and overseas.

Collections

  • Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
  • The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
  • The World Bank, Washington
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • The Holt Collection

Awards and Recognition

2003 20th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist


Selected Solo Exhibitions

2019 Poly Ngale - Arnwetky, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney


Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2020 Polly Ngale & Kathleen Ngale: Bush Plum Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2019 Summer Show & Art Parade, Salt, Queenscliff, VIC
  • 2019 International Women's Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2019 Defining Tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2018 Painting on Country - Utopia Artists, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2018 Beyond the Veil, Olsen Gruin, New York
  • 2018 Indigenous Australia: Masterworks from the National Gallery of Australia, me Collectors Room, Berlin
  • 2018 Art Paris Art Fair, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Grand-Palais, Paris
  • 2015 Sixteen Artists 16 x 2, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2014 Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2014 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2012 Lineart, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Gent, Belgium
  • 2011 Thinking outside the square, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2010 Stories from the Centre, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2010 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2010 Parcours Nomad's en Australie, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2010 Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2009 JGM Gallery, London
  • 2009 Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
  • 2009 Utopia - Bush Plum & Other delicacies, Honey Ant Gallery, Noosa
  • 2008 Emily Kame Kngwarreye and her Legacy: Visions of Utopia that Penetrate the Soul of the Eastern Desert, Art Front Gallery Hillside Forum, Tokyo
  • 2008 Utopia Revisited, NG Art Gallery, Sydney
  • 2008 Dreamings the Land, Outback Aboriginal Art, Caulfield, VIC
  • 2009 Utopia - Bush Plum & Other delicacies, Honey Ant Gallery, Noosa
  • 2007 Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2007 Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome
  • 2007 Visions of Utopia, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney
  • 2007 Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome
  • 2005 Neville Keating Gallery, London
  • 2003 Telstra Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
  • 2002 Two Sisters: Kathleen and Polly Ngale, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne.
  • 2000 Arts d'Australie Stephane Jacob / Espace Mezzo - Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris
  • 1992 Modern Art Ancient Icon, The World Bank, Washington
  • 1990 Utopia A Picture Story, batik from the Holmes A Court Collection by Utopia artists which toured Ireland and Scotland
  • 1990 Art of the Eastern Desert, Eastern Desert Art, Brisbane
  • 1989 Utopia Women's Paintings, A Summer Project, S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney
  • 1989 Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

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SKU: 87664700334

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Paul Andreini
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★★★★★ 5
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I have lusted after this watch for four months. I first tried on a similar model (stainless steel band with a green face) in a local jewelry shop (Spitz Jewlers, Walnut Creek, CA, USA). It was "love at first sight," even if I didn't love the white lines on the face from 12-6 and 3-9. At the time, the MSRP was $775. The MSRP has since increased to $795. But I bought this beauty on Amazon.com for only $524.99; after applying the cash-back from my Prime credit card, this watch costs only $498.75. This was "the offer that I could not refuse," to quote from "The Godfather." Accuracy could be better: after only a few days, it is now 7 seconds behind my phone (to which I set my new watch). But I don't really care about that all that much. This is why I rated "accuracy" at 4 stars, but my overall review is 5 stars. My video shows the date changing suddenly at 11:59:59pm, just how I want it; in another photo, you can see that my Seiko changes the date more slowly, which I do not like. This watch is absolutely phenomenally beautiful. If you're on the fence over whether to make this purchase, then I would say "go for it!" You will not find a prettier, more accurate watch at a lower price in ANY store in the entire USA.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2023
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pradeepkanth
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★★★★★ 4
Classy and sporty. Great value!
Color: Grey, Color: Grey
Excellent watch for the price. Looks sporty and dressy. More towards dress watch. Blue is dynamic. Strongly recommend blue for sporty feel. I was thinking of aqua terra. This come close to it with a price less than what i would have paid my state tax for omega aqua terra. My only concern is bracelet which i feel kind of OK. Better bracelet design would have made this watch much superior. 21 lug width is awful. Other than that, nothing to complain.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2020
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Tim Shepherd
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★★★★★ 5
Stunning Gentleman's Watch
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This is my second Tissot watch. It's quite stunning in person. The online photos don't do it justice. It has the look and feel of a much more expensive gentleman's watch which makes this purchase a great bargain. Tissot is a great reliable Swiss made watch brand. My first Tissot watch which is probably more than 20 years old still runs great. Very pleased with this purchase.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2025
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L.Lopez
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Good Tissot Watch
Color: Grey
Arrived on time, in its original box, include a 2 year international warranty, into the box include a book with the Tissot brand history in Switzerland. Algo a second book with a whole catalog of Tissot watches men and women. The watch looks better when you put in on your wrist. The “naval” blue really gives the clock a classy look. The stainless steel workmanship is really good, the metal is bright and perfectly polished. The metal wristband quality is very good, did not have any problem to adjust the size , I went to my preferred clock workshop for this job, they extracted a few pieces of the band to fit to my small wrist size. Have to get used to the butterfly latch, but after a few days, now I learned to open and close it without any effort. The clock it’s very accurate, I’ve been using my Tissot for near a month and it just increased a few seconds per week. I do the setup and check accuracy with my pc clock. In short, It”s a good value watch, nice, good looking, accurate.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2021
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My man loves it. He works construction and it has held up well so far. Carhartt does good work. Looks exactly like the picture, well made.
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