Lin Onus, a Yorta Yorta artist of Aboriginal and Scottish descent, represents a singular voice in Australia’s cultural life. Esteemed for his wit, talent and panache, Onus’s work is a negotiation of cultural identity, using both Aboriginal and Western techniques to unsettle easy categorisation.

‘Green and Red Pattern with Frog Pattern’ is a unique screenprint, the fruit of a collaboration between Onus and master printmaker Shaike Snir. The two met at Port Jackson Press Australia in 1989 and over the subsequent years built an intimate rapport, spending their lunch breaks producing experimental works like this.

While Onus’s work traverses the border between figurative and abstract, he was rarely as abstract as is here. Across a black ground, symbolic of his cultural heritage, Onus runs an intricate lattice of green dots and red veins. Clusters of pattern evoke the silhouettes of frogs, a totem animal of his. What can be recognised in these patterns, what associations are drawn? Like ripples, the frogs in this work are traces, a reminder that everything leaves an imprint.

This screenprint is not just beautiful, it is culturally significant – a vestige of artistic collaboration, experimentation and Onus’s sensitive yet compelling eye. He was an artist whose vision was only matched by his activism, writing in 1990 that he hoped to be remembered as a “bridge between cultures, technology and ideas”. With representation across public collections and an OBE, it is undoubtable that he has.

For collectors of important Australian, Aboriginal and contemporary art, ‘Green and Red Pattern with Frog Pattern’ is a unique opportunity. It has an unbroken chain of provenance and is embossed with the Lin Onus Estate Stamp.

Lin ONUS (1948 - 1996) & Tiriki ONUS
'Green and Red Pattern with Frog Pattern' 1994
screenprint on paper
Edition of 1
Image Size: 50 x 75 cm
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm
Signed: Embossed with Lin Onus Estate stamp in lower right hand corner
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Unique experimental print produced by Lin's son Tiriki Onus from Lin Onus original plates. Excellent provenance, direct from the master printmaker Shaike Snir.

Condition: Excellent.

(c) Lin Onus / Copyright Agency