Freddie Timms / Dewariny (Devil-Devil) – Bow River (N-0701-FT)

Artwork is accompanied by Narrangunny Art Traders Certificate of Authenticity

1944 – 2017

Freddie Timms (Ngarrmaliny) was born at Police Hole, Bedford Downs Station in 1944. He was a stockman and worked on many stations in the East Kimberley, in particular Bow River Station which was granted by the Government to the Timms Family, with Freddie’s uncle the late Timmy Timms as Chairperson.

Freddie commenced painting in the late 1980’s with the best – Rover Thomas, Jack Britten, Paddy Jampinji, Henry Wambini. He participated in numerous Group and Solo Exhibitions and his paintings have been collected and acquired by the most notable Galleries and Collectors both in Australia and overseas. For many years he travelled frequently to attend Exhibitions within Australia but home was always the East Kimberley where he lived at Frog Hollow Community to the south of the Kununurra with his wife Beryline Mung, his two sons and grandchildren.

The measure of Freddie’s status in the Art World is that his works have been included in prestigious exhibitions such as “Great Masters: From Tradition to Contemporary Art”, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands along with only 9 other aboriginal artists including Emily Kngwarreye and Rover Thomas.

Freddie passed away in early 2017; a strong, proud and quiet man, he was highly respected in both the art world and as a Senior Gija elder. An authority on the area, topography and seasonal conditions of the East Kimberley he was also one of the first Indigenous painters to exhibit alongside European artists, a long term board member of the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (AANKA) and one of the most highly respected Aboriginal Artists in Australia.

Artlandish was honoured to have both a working relationship and a treasured friendship with this man for over 17 years and he is greatly missed by us all.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 2023 Freddie Timms, Ngarrmaliny, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney
• 2022 Freddie Timms, Paintings, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney
• 2004 Freddie Timms, Melbourne Art Fair (Gould Galleries), Melbourne
• 2003 Freddie Timms, Gould Galleries, Sydney
• 2002 Freddie Timms, Gould Galleries, Melbourne
• 1999 Freddie Timms, Recent Paintings, Gow Langford Gallery, Auckland, NZ
• 1999 Freddie Timms, Recent Paintings, Watters Gallery, Sydney
• 1998 Freddie Timms, My Country, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 1997 Freddie Timms, Recent Paintings, Watters Gallery, Sydney

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2025 Reverence 2025, D’Lan Contemporary, Melbourne
• 2023 Inspired | The Collectors Edition: Artists from the Kimberley Region, Coo-ee Art, Sydney
• 2023 Ochre Painters of the Kimberley + Andrew Highfold – On the Lands, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2021 Gillian and Watson McAllister Collection, Cooee Art, Bondi
• 2021 Reverence, D’Lan Contemporary, Melbourne
• 2021 Rover Thomas & Kimberley Ochre Painters, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2021 Significant, D’Lan Contemporary, Melbourne
• 2021 Voyage across Aboriginal Australia – Founders’ Favourites, Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Moitiers, Switzerland
• 2021 Rover Thomas and Kimberley Ochre Painters, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2021 Of the Land, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2019 Earthworks, JGM Gallery, London
• 2017 JGM Gallery, London
• 2008 Last Tango at Wyndham, Raft Artspace, Darwin
• 2007 New Legend: Recent works from the Kimberley, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 2006 Prism: Contemporary Aust. Art, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
• 2006 Great Masters, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• 2005 Interesting Times, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
• 2005 Beyond the Frontier, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
• 2004 Terra Alterius: Land of Another, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of NSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney
• 2003 True Stories: Art of the East Kimberley, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• 2003 Kelly Culture: Reconstructing Ned Kelly, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
• 2003 Jirrawun Jazz, Raft Artspace, Darwin
• 2002 Blood on the Spinifex, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
• 2002 Rhapsodies in Country, GrantPirrie at Art Miami, FL, USA
• 2002 Jirrawun Artists, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 2002 My Country, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 2001 Four Men, Four Paintings, Raft Space, Darwin
• 2001 A Century of Collecting 1901-2001, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine Arts, University of NSW, Sydney
• 2000 Landmark: Mirror Mark: Mal Nairn Auditorium, Northern Territory University, Darwin; Columbus State University, Georgia, USA; The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
• 2000 Opening 2000, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 1999 Painting Country, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 1999 My Country, Northern Territory University Gallery, Darwin
• 1998 Thousand Journeys: Aboriginal Art from North WA, touring galleries in Tamworth, Newcastle, Albury, Mornington Peninsula, Ballarat, Mildura
• 1998 The Laverty Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
• 1998 Freddie Timms, Ken Whisson, Watters Gallery, Sydney
• 1998 Jirrawun Aboriginal Artists, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney
• 1998 Jirrawun Artists from Crocodile Hole, Jemma Stowe, Perth
• 1998 Summer Exhibitions No 13, Watters Gallery, Sydney
• 1997 Summer Exhibition, Watters Gallery, Sydney
• 1997 Pallingjang-Saltwater, Wollogong City Gallery, Wollongong
• 1996 Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
• 1996 Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris FIAC, Paris, France
• 1996 Utopia Art, Sydney
• 1995 Turkey Creek Artists, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
• 1993 Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1993 Aratjarra: Art of the first Australians, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Koeln-Duesseldorf, Germany; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Louisiana Museum; Humlebaek, Denmark
• 1991 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
• 1991 Lindsay Street Gallery, Darwin
• 1990 Dreamtime Gallery, Perth
• 1989 Turkey Creek Recent Work, Deutscher, Melbourne

Selected Collections

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
• Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
• Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Melbourne
• The Kelton Collection, Santa Monica, USA
• Artbank, Sydney
• Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong
• The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
• The Laverty Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
• Aboriginal Art Collection, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• Gillian & Watson McAllister Collection, Sydney
• Jacqui McPhee Collection, Perth
• Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland

Painted in 1996, this striking work by the late Freddie Timms depicts Dewariny — sometimes spelt Juwarri or Jewaring. Also known as Devil-Devil and one of the most feared Ngarrankarni (Dreamtime) spirits in the Gija/Kija world, he is said to inhabit caves at Bow River and other shadowed places.

Freddie was a close friend of renowned artist Rover Thomas and took part in his Kurrirr-Kurrirr ceremonies (sometimes spelt Krill Krill, Kuril Kuril or Gurrir Gurrir), helping to paint boards and perform in the early dances. Dewariny featured prominently in the ceremony.

In this painting, Freddie distils that ceremonial intensity into a stark, minimal composition — natural ochres and charcoal — evoking the enduring spiritual presence within Gija Country.