Lin Onus - Fine Art Limited Edition Collection from Etching House

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Lin Onus

Lin Onus at Etching House.

Lin Onus' Stingrays Also Dream of Flying.

"Best-kept secret in the hills" is open for business, writes Louise Bellamy.

Up Upwey way, a 20-day festival, launched tomorrow signifies a new beginning for a Dandenong's arts complex that had wearied of the label "the best-kept secret in the hills".

A significant part of the festival is Gili Bigi, a show that includes previously UN exhibited paintings, on loan from the family of the late indigenous artist Lin Onus.

Behind the centre, to be known as Burrinja - the Yorta Yorta name meaning "star", given to Onus as a child - lies a wonderful tale about the acclaimed artist, his son and the artist's best mate.

Originally the Shire of Sherbrooke's offices, Onus' long-time friend, well-known photographer and local resident Neil McLeod, an avid indigenous and Oceanic art collector, funded the transformation of the shire offices' engineering department into a gallery. He donated an art collection with an estimated value of $1 million in Onus' honour and, in 1998; the Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Centre (DRCCC) was born.

For the past six years the DRCCC has been the hub of cultural activity in the region, with art exhibitions, school and amateur theatre productions, and performances by the likes of Archie Roach, Mark Seymour and Paul Kelly attracting full houses.

But its executive officer of five years, Ross Farnell, says its relaunch as Burrinja, buoyed by the Onus estate's loan and abetted by a $55,000 facelift for its performance space, "will finally quash the centre's reputation as 'the best-kept secret in the hills', and put it on the map".

Onus' son, Tiriki Onus, 24, explains his father's past was rooted in the Dandenong's, where his grandfather ran a souvenir shop in Belgrave, and where, as a boy, the renowned artist collected bent wood for his father to make boomerangs.

The last public sale of Onus' work in 2003 at Melbourne's Seville Galleries - which was sold out in four days and saw paintings sell for $50,000-plus - was, Tiriki Onus says, the last. "We don't want to part with any more of my father's work. We want to have him around."

The Burrinja show, Gili Bigi, has 14 major Onus works; including some previously unexhibited Jandamarra (photo-realist) paintings.

There are also surrealist works, including Stingrays Also Dream of Flying - a reminder of the Onus style that first captivated indigenous art pioneer Gabrielle Pizzi.

 

 

Born 1948 in Victoria, Lin was the only child of Scottish mother, Mary, and Aboriginal father, Bill (from the Yorta Yorta language group).

His passion for art developed early. Working with his father in the family business making boomerangs and other Aboriginal artefacts, and growing up surrounded by classical art and music in a home built by his maternal grandmother, Lin absorbed influences from both cultural traditions.

Lin Onus began painting in 1974, after initially training as a mechanic. His visits to Arnhem Land, which began in 1986, deeply influenced his life and art, and enabled him to forge a unique friendship with artist and elder, Jack Wunuwun (his mentor).

Onus incorporated a diverse range of mediums, methods and styles in his work: the illustrative qualities of his work being derived from Western culture and the added layered images evolving from his Aboriginal heritage. Distinctive is his use of rarrking, traditional Aboriginal cross-hatching, which was often incorporated into his super-real landscapes.

Onus' first solo exhibition in 1975 was held at the Aborigines Advancement League in Melbourne. Over the following years he held 18 more solo exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. His work has featured in many exhibitions, both in Australia, the U.K., Europe, U.S.A., Canada, and Asia.

A retrospective of his work, the first for an urban-based Indigenous artist, was held as the Queensland Art Gallery's major contribution towards reconciliation in the year 2000.

Among the many awards Lin received are the National Aboriginal Art Award in 1988, and the Member of the Order of Australia, A.M., in 1993. In 1994 Lin had his first solo exhibition in Brisbane at Fire-Works Gallery, arranged by Michael Eather, fellow artist, lifelong friend and collaborator; Director of the Fire-Works Gallery.

Works by Lin Onus are held in many public, corporate and private collections in Australia and overseas. One of the most successful and accessible indigenous artists of his generation, Lin Onus died prematurely at the age of 47 in 1996.