Frame-work: Borders and the Limits of Representation in Recent Paintings by Peter Adsett

Abstract

almost monochrome. As a former assistant to another lawman, Rover Thomas, Dirrji painted flat passages of red, black, and white pigment (omitting the yellow on this occasion). In the seventh painting, All Different Languages for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal People, seventeen red or black ovoid shapes are surrounded by white pigment. Beyond that, a red and black border follows the canvas edge. This has an important dual function: it not only frames the white ‘ground’ but it also sinks below it to suggest a subterranean layer (see fig. 4). Figure 4. Two Laws, One Big Spirit series: Dirrji (Rusty Peters), All Different Languages for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal People (left), 2000, natural ochre on linen, 135 122 cm; and Peter Adsett, Number Eight (right), 2000, acrylic on linen, 135 122 cm. Grantpirrie Collection, NSW. Photo: courtesy of Grantpirrie Collection. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, vol. 21, no. 2