Melbourne Art Fair 2026

There are always anecdotes of artists that gave me the hunch there are painters like Marcus Camphoo spread out across the desert; larger-than-life characters who manage to channel that into their arts practice, usually one that stands out from other with its singular, possessive vision. In growing more familiar of Maisie Petyarre Bundey and her work, I’ve started to get that hunch. Her work is fluid and loose, a colourful haze that stands alone among the tightly dotted landscapes and traditional medicine depictions that make up the renowned Ampilatwatja style. These works drew acclaim for Maisie almost 50 years since her participation as an original member of the famed Utopia Women’s Batik Group; that same year her painting Boundary Bore Bush Tucker was acquired by the National Gallery of Australia.

Maisie’s work struck me as sharing with Marcus’ a deceptive simplicity which conceals something more; a depth that is simultaneously gripping and hard to pin down.This apparent conversation between the artists was confirmed late last year in Anhelengkw, Maisie’s debut solo exhibition at 8 Hele Gallery. The work, eleven Emu Dreaming paintings, three on paper and eight on paper-like primed-white canvas, share atemperamental and gestural affinity with a body of gouache on paper works that Marcus had been amassing throughout the year. The pairing of Maisie and Marcus at Melbourne Art Fair begun to bear a sense of kismet.

Given their vastly different subject matter, it is fascinating that so much should link the two artists. Masie’s work is decisive and traditional, rooted in the cultural practice of Awelye, an Alyawarre women’s ceremony and song performed in the symbiotic act of caring for Country while nourishing women’s health and wellbeing. Within Awelye, sits Anhelengkw, a Dreaming story passed down through Maisie’s family, of a mother emu who runs away and leaves the father to look after the eggs until they hatch, and raise the chicks. There is less to be sure about in Marcus’ work. The grid-and-band style minimalism seems to have always flowed compulsively from Marcus, a trademark which stamps his places in the world. Moreover, both artists bear the indelible marks of their vastly different introductions to artmaking. Maisie’s looseness stems directly from the fluidity of batik dyeing, while Marcus’ is born from the grimy, punkish materiality of the Tennant Creek Brio.

Paramount to both artists is the matter-of-factness in which they are able to work, focussed on the act of creation rather than its perception beyond the act. Both confidently take to paper or canvas with swift, decisive brushstrokes and repetitive motifs before turning away from the finished work and towards the new. They are outsider artists with the envious ability to paint from a place of complete immersion, resulting in works whose honesty forces an intimacy with the viewer. Despite their persistent repetition, neither artist’s work ever feels recycled or made to order. Any combination of two or three hues could be endlessly reused and turned out into an array of unique works by either artist. If according to the misattributed Einsteinism, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” then Maisey and Marcus’ ability to do the same thing over and over and yield different results seems more akin to alchemy.

Taken from Harry Price's catalogue essay.

Exhibition Catalogue (PDF)