Skin: Pwerle or Pula

Language Group: Anmetty

Region: Mulga Bore, Utopia

Dreaming: Bush Turkey, Lizard, Snake

Cowboy Louie Pwerl was a highly respected Anmattyerr Elder of the Utopia community and a an important leader for his people. He was a close friend of the Chalmers family like his father who was especially close to Charles Chalmers who first settled among the Anmattyerr and Alyawarr people a century ago in 1926. Cowboy Louie was born in 1941 on Old McDonald Station in central Australia. Cowboy’s traditional country stretched from the Sandover River on Utopia through to the west on to Mt Skinner Station. He lived at Mosquito Bore, Utopia central Australia with both his partners Carol and Elizabeth Kngwarrey and extended family. 

Cowboy was a fine painter and senior custodian of a series of dreaming sites many of which are depicted in his paintings. The Bush Turkey Ancestor was a major influence in his work as well as the Emu (Ankerr) and Lizard (Arlewatyerr).

His intricate work is characterised by his use of dark earthy colours and geometric shapes outlined in dots. These represent the tracks of the Bush Turkey roaming across the bushland as it searches for tucker. Viewed from a topographical point of view his works have a dark intensity and depth, recalling the relief and colours of his country. His works can be viewed as an Indigenous atlas mapping the route of the Bush Turkey, Lizard and Emu Ancestors as they travel over the land to their final resting place.

His work has been exhibited in galleries all over the world. He had the lead role in Utopia Generations, Sandover Films directed by Viviana Petyarre.

• Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne

• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 

• National Gallery of Victoria 

• Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 

• The Coventry Collection, Sydney 

• Art Gallery of South Australia 

• Benalla Art Gallery

• Stichting Sint-Jan, Brugge, Netherlands 

• Major private collectors in Australia and internationally

• 2017  The Golden Age of Utopia, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin gallery, Brussels, Belgium 

• 2016  Camel Camp & Beyond, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

• 2015  Aboriginal art, Wimbledon Fine Arts, London

• 2014  Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

• 2014  Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

• 2012  Belongings, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore

• 2011  Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne

• 2010  Aboriginal Artists UK Spring Show, London 

• 2010  Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW 

• 2010  59th Blake Prize, National Art School Gallery, Sydney, NSW

• 2010  The Utopia Story, Australasian Arts Project, Singapore 
  2009  An Individual Perspective: From the Collection of Lauraine Diggins, Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood, VIC

• 2009  Blake Prize, The Blake Society, National Art School Gallery, Sydney (finalist) 

• 2008  Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc, Adelaide 

• 2008  Annual Collectors’ Exhibition, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, VIC

• 2008  Sydney Art & Antiques Fair 2008, Sydney NSW

• 2008  Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Manege, Moscow, Russia

• 2008  Impulse to Paint: The Artists of Iylenty, Utopia, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne

• 2007  Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane 

• 2007  Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney

• 2007  ArtParis 2007, Grand Palais, Paris FRANCE 

• 2007  Visions of Utopia, Cooee Aboriginal Art, Sydney NSW

• 2007  Memory As Landscape, Masterpiece @ IXL, Hobart TAS

• 2007  Utopia Today, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, VIC

• 2006  ArtParis 2006, Grand Palais, Paris FRANCE

• 1997  William Mora Gallery

• 1993  Aptos Cruz Gallery, Adelaide 

• 1993  Hogarth Galleries, Sydney 

• 1992  Aptos Cruz Gallery, Adelaide 

• 1992  Hogarth Galleries, Sydney 

• 1992  Aptoz Cruz Gallery, Adelaide 

• 1991  Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 

• 1991  Eastern Desert Art, Brisbane 

• 1990  Deutscher Gallery, Melbourne