Art Scavenger Hunt Analysis - Essay Example

The contemporary aboriginal people believe that these rock paintings were made by their ancient spirit ancestors, who are primarily credited with configuring the sacred laws as per which the aboriginal societies have been running and managing their affairs since centuries (Buehler 56). The ancient aborigines used a variety of natural media like water and red ochre to make these rock paintings (Buehler 56). They made these paintings either by blowing the natural pigments from their mouth on a variety of objects or by using brushes made by chewing twigs (Buehler 56).

On the basis of whatever information that can be solicited from the contemporary Australian aboriginal people and can be drawn from the research undertaken by the historians and anthropologists, it would be quiet true to say that the painting under consideration and many of the other aboriginal rock paintings like it were primarily made to fulfill some important spiritual and religious purpose in the ancient aboriginal societies (Buehler 57). These paintings were not merely works of art but also carried ample spiritual and religious significance. . This painting and the other rock paintings like it included within their ambit varied levels of associated with the aboriginal spirituality.

Perhaps, just as it is in the later day art galleries, the aborigines drew these paintings on the cave rocks to protect them from the ravages of time, so as to pass them safely to the future generations. The particular rock painting is a worthy example of the prehistoric aboriginal art and depicts apt usage of the principle and elements of design. This rock painting is well balanced in the sense that the artist has used a somewhat leaner figure placed at the edge of the rock surface to balance albeit rotund figure placed at the centre.

The painting is evidently that of a couple and the artist has specifically introduced variation in the delineation of two figures in the painting to generate interest and attention. The gradation of the ocher color, being dark in the centre, to being lighter on the peripheral parts gives way to an aerial perspective, which must have got accentuated by the natural light falling on the painting. The discernable horizontal direction of the brush strokes in the painting conveys an aura of calmness and stability.

The size of the two figures in the painting is suitably proportionate to the rock surface constituting the background. The corrugated texture of the figures in stark contrast to the smooth rock background is noteworthy. The subject of the painting most probably picked up from the daily life of the ancient aborigines is suitably depicted using horizontal lines and soft tonal contrasts. This painting certainly qualifies to be classified as a masterpiece of the