|
Background (source and About Goanna Breeding sister painting )
Daniel Goodwin was born at Kenmore Park Station Ernabella, South Australia in 1947. He was taken away from his family at the age of 5 and sent to a home in Port Augusta where he went to school until he was 15 years old.
He then came back to the Centre to look for his mother, and it took him 4 years to find her.
He had two brothers and one sister, but never saw or met his father.
Both of Dannys children, Dana son and Norisha (daughter) who live in Dubbo, also paint.
Moving to Alice Springs, Danny lived with the Namatjira family for 3 years, where he was taught to paint by the sons of Albert Namatjira, Enos, Keith and Ewald.
Danny then went on to develop his own unique style.
Danny went to work on a number of cattle stations in South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, where his closeness to the land and the spectacular scenery saw him capture the essence of the outback in a number of evocative and wonderful paintings. In his own words, I wanted to show others how beautiful it was.
One of his first awards was the 1968 Adelaide Aboriginal Artist Award for his water colour Paterson Ranges, Western Australia. Danny has had numerous exhibitions in NSW and won a number of awards, including the Best Aboriginal Painter of the Year.
In 1991 he also won the Red Ochre Award. Included among his award winning paintings were a number of landscape works and Goanna Laying Eggs - a painting depicted in the Aboriginal dot-style. The sister painting to this painting, Goanna Breeding, is featured here.
Appreciation of Danny’s work has grown enormously since 1992, when an exhibition was held in Alice Springs where Danny’s paintings were sold by auction to raise funds to send school children on holiday, indicative of his care for his community involvement.
Over the years Danny has traveled widely about Australia, selling his paintings and spreading the knowledge of his artwork. Danny’s paintings have been sold to people from all around the world, with one large painting that was sold in 2001 to an overseas buyer for $125,000.
An exhibition of Danny’s works was held in Melbourne in 2004. The exhibition was opened by the Governor General, Major General Michael Jeffrey.
Danny was also one of the guests at the opening of the Yankirri Aboriginal Art Exhibition on the 8 November 2006.
|
