Abie was born in 1972. She developed her wonderful artistic skills at a young age by working closely with her famous grandmother, Kathleen Petyarre. Kathleen taught Abie the techniques to create paintings where the delicate dotting created a moving surface of colour that highlighted the structure of her paintings. Abie concentrated on the Bush Hen Dreaming story that she had inherited from her grandfather.
Abie Loy Kemarre is related to a number of the famous Utopia artists including Gloria Petyarre, Ada Bird Petyarre and Emily Kngwarreye.
Abie belongs to the Eastern Anmatyerre language group and identifies with her traditional country at Iylenty or Mosquito Bore.
Abie’s Bush Hen Dreaming paintings further developed and she began work on bolder, more abstract style around motifs of body painting and sandhills. The skill and finesse shown in her work brought her widespread critical acclaim. Abie has been exhibiting for thirty years both within Australia and internationally.
Abie’s work is held in Australian public collections including National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Adelaide University Art Collection. She is represented in major private collections including Kelton Foundation, Levi-Kaplan Collection, Kerry Stokes Collection, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission Collection and Festival of Arts Foundation Collection.
Selected Group Exhibitions
1997 Schilderijen uit Utopia, Songlines Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1997 Dreampower, Art of Contemporary Aboriginal Australia
1997 14th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Touring Art Exhibition
1997 Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Desert Designs, Fremantle WA
1997 Documenta, Kasel, Germany
1997 The Alice Prize Exhibition, Alice Springs NT
1997 Japingka Gallery, Desert Designs, Fremantle WA
1998 Our Country Then and Now, Gallerie Australis
1998 Raiki Wara: Long cloth from Aboriginal Australia & Torres Strait, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
1998 15th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Exhibition Darwin, NT
1998 Utopia Dreamings, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
1999 Joint Indonesian – Utopia Batik Workshop for Third Pacific Arts
1999 Utopia Recent Works, King Street Gallery, Perth WA
1999 North by North East, Landscape & Ceremonial Paintings from Utopia, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1999 SALA Week, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide SA
2000 Utopia, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2000 The Collection, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide SA
2001 15th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Exhibition, Darwin NT
2001 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002 Kimberly, Central Desert & Utopia, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002 Abie Loy & Violet Petyarre, Recent Paintings, Mary Place Gallery, Paddington NSW
2002 Generations Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2003 Abie Loy – Recent Paintings, Fire-works Gallery, Brisbane Qld
2004 Arrnkerthe, New Paintings, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney NSW
2004 Group Show Gadfly Gallery, Perth WA
2005 Dreamings, Gadfly Gallery, Perth WA
2005 Utopia & Beyond, Maunsell Wicks, Paddington NSW
2006 Abie Loy & Kathleen Petyarre, New Paintings, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
2006 Recent Painting, Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2006 Luminaries of the Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006 Balmain Art & Craft show, Indigenous Gallery, Sydney NSW
2008 Utopia Collection, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2011 In Black and white, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Sandover River Country, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Recent Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Desert Gold, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2014 Desert Song, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
AWARDS:
2001 finalist in 18th Telstra NATSIAA
1997 finalist in 14th Telstra NATSIAA