Billy Benn Purrurle

Throughout his youth, Billy Benn worked in a number of positions for mining companies and cattle stations in the Eastern Arrente region of Central Australia. Benn went through some dark and difficult times eventually he came to work at Bindi Inc in Alice Springs in the 1980s, by the late 1990s he had taken the opportunity to retell through painting his knowledge of country. With a lack of resources and a modest aim, Billy Benn began to paint on discarded boards provided by the Alice Springs Timber Mill. Billy Benn’s work displays a sophisticated knowledge of light and space. The rolling ranges of his country, painted in deep reds, thick with gloss, are reminiscent of the work of Albert Namitjira in its powerfully concise rendition of the Australian desert landscape. Billy Benn’s stroy became a remarkable story of redemption through painting. Source: Bindi Arts Alice Springs & Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi