Walala TJAPALTJARRI - Tingari Cycle Njami
Walala TJAPALTJARRI - Tingari Cycle Njami

Walala TJAPALTJARRI - Tingari Cycle Njami

2007, 140 x 60cm ADG:3870

ADG: 3870

Description

Tingari Cycle, 2007

140 x 60cm

During the creation era, the Tingari Ancestors gathered at a series of sites for Initiation Ceremonies. They travelled across the country, performing rituals at specific sites, creating the natural features of the landscape. These creation stories and rituals are still portrayed in song cycles, paintings and ceremonies, and are part of the continuous teaching to the next generation.

In painting Tingari stories, the artist is retelling the Song Cycle associated with the artist's many ancestral dreaming sites, and the locations of these significant natural sites in the Gibson Desert.

Walala TJAPALTJARRI - Biography

Born c. 1960-

Language Pintupi

Country Kiwirrkurra WA, Kintore NT

Region Gibson Desert

Subjects Tingari Cycle associated with dreaming sites - Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu.

Walala Tjapaltjarri was born in the early 1960s at Marua to the east of Kiwirrkurra in the Gibson Desert.

In late 1984, Walala and eight other relatives of the Pintupi Tribe walked out of the desert in Western Australia and made contact for the first time with European society. The group had been following their traditional lifestyle in the country west of Lake Mackay, until forced out of the desert by severe drought. Described as 'The Lost Tribe', he and his family created international headlines. Until this time Walala and his family lived the traditional and nomadic life of a hunter-gatherer society. Their intimate knowledge of the land, its flora and fauna and waterholes allowed them to survive, as their ancestors had for thousands of years. It is this sacred landscape with its significant sites that Walala so strikingly describes in his paintings.

Walala Tjapaltjarri was first introduced to painting by his brother Warlimpirrnga, also a painter of international acclaim. Walala's first paintings were in the classical Tingari style, a series of sacred and secret mythological songs which is associated with his Dreaming sites . In 1996 he developed his own style of work. He began abstracting the classical Pintupi designs, creating a highly graphic language to speak of his country and ceremonial sites. The rectangles so prominent in his paintings form both a physical and spiritual map.

His style is strongly gestural and boldly graphic, one that is generally highlighted by a series of rectangles set against a monochrome background. He paints the Tingari Cycle a series of sacred and secret ancestral and mythological song cycles which are associated with the artist's many dreaming sites - Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, to name a few. These Dreamings are the locations of significant rockholes, sandhills, sacred mountains and water soakages in the Gibson Desert.

Walala has gained worldwide recognition, participating in national and international solo and group exhibitions. His paintings are represented in private and public collections.

Collections

AMP Investments Australia, Sydney, NSW

Axiom Funds Management, Sydney, NSW

CNC International Corporation Sydney

Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Perth, WA

El Paso Energy International Co, Houston, Texas, USA

Epic Energy Australia, Brisbane, QLD

Flinders University, Adelaide, SA

Gantner Myer Aboriginal Art Collection

Hastings Funds Management, Melbourne, VIC

Kaplan & Levi Collection, Seattle, USA

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW

The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA

Commissions

2003 Tingari Sculpture Crown Casino, Melbourne, VIC

Solo Exhibitions

2000 Walala Tjapaltjarri, Aboriginal Dreamings Gallery, Canberra, ACT

1998 Tingari - Men's Business, Coo-ee Gallery, Sydney, NSW

1998 Walala Tjapaltjarri Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC; Tingari Cycle an exhibition of works by Walala Tjapaltjarri, Fire-Works Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

Group Exhibitions

2005 Smoke: Campfire Group and other commissioned works, Fire-Works Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

2004 Papunya: Painters of the Western Desert, Addison Galleries, NSW; Peintres Pintupi, Galerie DAD, Mantes-la-Jolie, France

2000-01 The Art of Place Exhibition, Australian Heritage Commission, National Tour

2000 Walala Tjapatjarri and Dr George Tjapaltjarri, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2000 Songlines: Walala Tjapaltjarri & Dorothy Napangardi, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, UK

2000 My Country - Journeys of our Ancestors Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns, QLD

2000 Lines, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

2000 Landmarks Exhibition, Dar Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, QLD

Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra

2000 17th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

2000 Melbourne ArtFair 2000', Melbourne, VIC

1999 Tingari Cycle, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

1999 Spirit Country The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, USA

1999 Recent Works by Walala Tjapaltjarri and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, UK

1999 Painting the Desert Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy. Canberra, ACT

1999 16th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

1998 Tingari-My Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

15th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

1997 14th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

Bibliography

Nangara - The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, The Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1996

Painting the Desert Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the French Embassy, 1999, Maud Girard-Geslan and Luc Chailleu

Spirit Country The California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco, USA 1999, Jennifer Isaacs

Ranking - Most Important Aboriginal Artists

2011 - Rank amongst Living Artists: 60

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