A 96-page exhibition catalogue from a show of Paddy Bedford’s artwork at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York
Paddy Bedford (ca. 1922 — 2007) was born in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, in a property that gave him his surname–Bedford Downs Station.
Like many of the indigenous men in the Kimberley, Bedford worked as a stockman, but was paid in rations. In 1969, when the law required equal pay for blacks and whites alike, station owners responded by laying off their indigenous workforce, including Bedford. He worked for a while on road building, but ended up forced on to welfare by injury.
Bedford was involved in painting as part of ceremony throughout his life, but he only began painting on canvas for exhibition after the establishment of the Jirrawun Aboriginal Art Corporation in 1997 (formed to assist the development and sale of works by Indigenous artists from parts of the Kimberley). In a remarkable career as a painter that spanned less than ten years, Bedford achieved great critical acclaim in Australia and abroad and has been recognized as one of Australia’s most important artists.
