Yondee Shane Hansen - Master of Black and White Aboriginal Artwork

Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery is delighted to announce to the Australian indigenous art community that we have acquired some brilliant new aboriginal artworks directly from artist Yondee Shane Hansen which will be displayed in our aboriginal art gallery in Melbourne. We are excited to share this platform with Yondee, with his series of aboriginal art Fire and Rain dreamings. Having spent much time on the phone with him, it is clear he is a proud indigenous man whose connection to his land, his people and his dreamtime stories will resonate strongly with those who are taken aback by his works. We believe Yondee will certainly capture the attention of art collectors and those looking to incorporate indigenous art into their home or business.

Yondee is a Noongar man and an indigenous artist born in 1964 in the south-west of Western Australia at Dumbleyung located 270km south of Perth.

As a highly skilled and talented aboriginal artist, Yondee has developed an individual style of working with sand and ochres to illustrate the aboriginal sand art stories and legends of his people.

Yondee uses sand and ochres to illustrate the stories and legends of his people which generally refer to the country and the effects of the elements on the land. “I make sand paintings, collecting sand from the creeks. You have to wash it to get the salt out, but the sand is different out of the creeks, its smoother. When you have washed it a few times and sieved it, then mixed with paint, it’s good to use. When I make sand paintings using black and white, it’s that simple strong message.”

His early years were spent around the Narrogin with his father and later moved to the Swan River close to Guildford located on the outskirts of Perth. His initial upbringing and how his attraction to paintings exposes how his own life testimony reinforces his role as an Aboriginal artist.

Yondee learnt to paint from several mediums – His own father first taught him to hunt and also introduced him to sand drawings. Secondly, as a ten year old he would often visit his aunties whom lived on the Swan River and assist them in collecting paper bark and help them with their art work. The knowledge that Yondee gained from both his father and later his aunties who are renowned for their paintings on paper bark has been invaluable in shaping his career.

 His works can be interpreted as abstract in their presentation however his vision of his dreaming is powerful enough to see. As a young boy, Yondee learnt his grandfather’s ground paintings and wishes to continue these and feels the translation of them to sand paintings does them justice and brings them to new audiences.

Looking for a variety of  contemporary indigenous artists profile or  Australian contemporary art for sale? Take your pick at The Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery and see what more we have to offer! Call us at 0394975111 for more information.