"Every time I talk about him, I have a smile on my face. Every time I look at his art in my home, I smile." - Artist Sarrita King, September 2014
Kudditji is one of the first established male artists from Utopia and is known for his large dynamic paintings, saturated with colour and paint.
As a painter Kudditji mixed his colours directly onto the canvas, layering his paint into a patchwork formation. Where from a distance his work appears to be of uniform coloured blocks, up close a wide range of colors. Often the intensity of his works will change throughout the day as different light sources draw out different colours and elements, while others recede. Kudditji began painting his Emu Dreamings in a precise ‘dot painting’ style. Later he switched to the more abstract My Country style, consisting of coarse blocks with saturated colors in different tones. The My Country paintings can be seen as a representation of Kudditji’s birthplace, whose land and sky throughout changes of day and season are conveyed in shape and color. Kudditji’s more abstract My Country style is reminiscent of the later work of Emily Kam Kngwarray. It is not sure who first started painting in this style.
Ever since Kudditji began to exhibit his abstract work in 2003, his star steadily rises in the international art world. Kudditji's work is represented in major national and international collections and Kudditji has gained worldwide recognition for his powerful interpretations of his ancestral Dreamings.
Kudditji Kngwarray passed away in January 2017.