Kudditji Kngwarreye (or "Goob") (1938 – 23 January 2017) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. He was the brother (through kinship) of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye and like his skin sister Emily, was one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary indigenous Australian art. Life Kngwarreye was born and lived in the Anmatyerre language group at Alhalkere in the Utopia community, about north east of Alice Springs. His country was given the name Utopia by German settlers, who transformed the land into cattle stations. He became a skilled stockman. In recent years the Australian nation has begun to recognise the key role Aboriginal people played in the development of the cattle industry in Australia. Kudditji witnessed the success of Albert Namatjira, and experienced the 1967 referendum. Kudditji and his countrymen had their land claim approved in 1979 and throughout the years he has felt the effects of different government policies on Indigenous people of the Northern Territory. Kngwarreye took up painting around 1986; his highly intuitive and gestural method of painting was not welcomed by galleries, and he was encouraged to paint in the fashionable style of the time, executing works with detailed infill. After seeing Emily Kame Kngwarreye catapult onto the Australian and international art scene, Kudditji resumed his exploration into the abstract, which he continued until he "put down the brush" in 2015. Kudditji participated in many international exhibitions and became known for his depictions of his Dreamings; their abstract imagery, bold colour use and intuitive interplay with space and form has cemented his name in the Aboriginal art scene. He had a traditional bush upbringing and worked as a stockman and mine worker for many years. He was also a traditional custodian of many important Dreamings, of the land and men's business ceremonial sites located in his country at Utopia Station, about north east of Alice Springs. Over the years his Dreamings have profoundly evolved into extraordinary juxtaposed colour fields, startling in both composition and hue. Harsh or soft and often surprising to the Western eye, his painterly style maps out the creation, his country, and his traditional Dreamings. While his spatial, painterly compositions have a Rothko-esque quality to them, the work of this Anmatyerre elder from the Northern Territory is clearly a unique Australian voice. In 2006 Kudditji was named as one of