Kurun Warun / Waiting for the Rains (18779)

Kurun Warun is a contemporary Aboriginal artist of Gunditjmara heritage, with strong family connections to the Framlingham community in south-west Victoria. Born in 1966, Kurun began painting at a remarkably young age, encouraged and taught by his mother, who was also an artist and had studied under three-time Archibald Prize winner Clifton Pugh. Kurun held his first exhibition alongside his mother when he was just eight years old.

His mother’s family came from Framlingham near Warrnambool, a place of great significance within Kurun’s family history and cultural identity. Kurun has spoken proudly of his family’s direct connection to Truganini, describing himself as a fifth-generation descendant. He is also related to renowned Gunditjmara and Bundjalung singer and songwriter Archie Roach, whose own story was closely connected with Framlingham.

Although introduced to painting as a child, Kurun developed his distinctive contemporary style later in life, drawing inspiration from Aboriginal culture, personal memories, family and the natural environment. Slow-moving rivers, stones beneath the water, eels, dry riverbeds, waterholes, earth, sea and the creatures that inhabit these places have all become recurring elements within his work.

Kurun describes his paintings as traditional Aboriginal stories presented in a contemporary form. The meaning of a work may not always be immediately apparent, with its story gradually revealing itself through colour, line, pattern and space. Strong contrasts are often balanced with areas of quietness, creating paintings that can be visually striking while retaining a sense of harmony and calm.

Water and the landscape are particularly important within Kurun’s practice. His paintings explore flowing rivers and waterfalls, dry riverbeds, waterholes and the life sustained by these environments. Other works relate to hunting and gathering, fire, body painting and ceremony. Family is equally central to his practice, with Kurun drawing upon memories of his own childhood as well as experiences shared with his children.

His distinctive visual language moves freely between landscape and abstraction. Intricate dotting, repeated lines, bands of colour and open areas of space create rhythm and movement across the canvas. Kurun’s paintings do not simply depict the physical landscape, but evoke the movement, memory and cultural connections held within Country.

Kurun’s creative practice extends well beyond painting. He is an accomplished didgeridoo musician and dancer and was leader of the Aboriginal dance troupe Toolumby Waddama, which toured internationally presenting Aboriginal dance and culture. He has performed in Rome, Milan and Korea and was a featured traditional artist during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

His performances have also taken him before international audiences and guests. Kurun has appeared on NBC television in the United States, performed his distinctive didgeridoo music for Chelsea Clinton and later performed for Oprah Winfrey at the Sydney Opera House.

Today Kurun lives with his family in the Noosa Hinterland in Queensland. Painting remains at the centre of his creative life, bringing together his appreciation of family, culture, Country and the natural world. His work has attracted collectors throughout Australia and internationally and is represented in significant institutional, corporate and private collections.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

• Vatican Museum Collection
• Netherlands Embassy
• Cambridge University, United Kingdom
• ABN AMRO Bank
• Woodside
• The Edge, Auckland
• Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
• Oprah Winfrey, Private Collection
• Pierce Brosnan, Private Collection
• Michael Schumacher, Private Collection
• Prince of Saudi Arabia, Private Collection
• Prime Minister of Turkey, Private Collection
• Sultan Idris of Selangor, Private Collection

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• 2025–2026 – Thirty Years, A Thousand Stories, ArtX Contemporary, Seattle, USA
• 2024 – Fire and Water, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
• 2024 – How We Paint: Eight Artists, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
• 2023 – This Land Is Me: Australian Aboriginal Art, ArtX Contemporary, Seattle, USA
• 2022–2023 – Gallery Collection, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
• 2021 – Kurun Warun Paintings 2021, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
• 2017 – Kurun Warun Exhibition, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
• 2015 – Cooee Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales
• 2004 – ABN AMRO Tower, Sydney, New South Wales
• 2003 – Volvo Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales
• 2001 – Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland
• 2000 – Parliament House, Brisbane, Queensland
• 2000 – Exhibitions and presentations in Rome, Italy; South Korea; and Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland
• 1974 – Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

IN HIS OWN WORDS

“I had my first exhibition alongside my mother when I was eight years old.

In my later years, I developed my own style using the inspiration of the natural elements that surrounded me. Elements such as slow-moving rivers, the stones underneath them and the eels that swim through them. The dust of the earth. The sea and the creatures that swim in it.

My paintings have a traditional meaning which is not always immediately noticed, but within the colours, lines and space you can see an underlying story. My use of contrast is done so that the overall piece is left striking but peaceful.

Being a family man, my paintings tell stories of my childhood and of my own children.

Overall, I love and appreciate my family and the natural world around me. This is shared in my artwork.”

Kurun Warun

In Waiting for the Rains, Kurun Warun depicts waterholes within a landscape at the height of the dry season. The surface water has disappeared, exposing the colours, stones and contours of the land, while water remains hidden below ground.

The painting captures a landscape in a period of waiting. The waterholes may be dry, but this is not an ending. The first rains will eventually return, replenishing the earth and filling the river systems once again.

Through the repeated curves and layers of the work, Kurun reflects the changing rhythms of water and Country and the constant cycle between dryness and renewal.