Lot 37

Fireworks Gallery, Queensland
Private collection, Queensland

RELATED:
Urban Dingo: The Art of Lin Onus (Burrinja) 1948-1996 A retrospective exhibition of Melbourne-based artist Lin Onus, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 11 August – 29 October 2000

Neale. M., Urban Dingo: The Art and Life of Lin Onus 1949-1996, Craftsman House 2000, illustrated front cover (another impression)
"This image was part of the series of works entitled 'Ongoing adventures of X and Ray'. This was begun in 1992 and like all good myths, has continued its adventures after Onus's death under the custodianship of his collaborator Michael Eather, and into the next generation with Onus's son Tiriki.
In this scenario the two totemic animals perform social, moral, and political roles as they travel the places where Lin has been, or inhabit fictionalised landscapes. This work was inspired by a residency in Yokohama in 1989.
This seminal work reveals both a kinship between these two travellers and the importance of the narrative and humour.
Ray (the female Stingray) becomes a kind of surfboard for X (the male dingo), and they are seen riding the crest of one of art history's greatest waves, taken from the eighteenth century Japanese woodcut by Hokusai."
(pp.19, 20)