Listing Details
1932 – 2018
Australian Willy Tjungurrayi is a highly regarded First Nation artist.
He was born around 1932 at Patjantja, southwest of Lake Mackay in the Northern Territory. He was the son of Pulpapulpalnga Tjapaltjarri and had two brothers, Yala Yala Gibbs (founding member of the Papunya art movement and senior custodian of secret/sacred men business) and George Ward Tjungurrayi. The extended family moved to Papunya in 1959.
Willy began painting for the Papunya Tula Artists in 1976 and by the 80s was recognised as a senior Pintupi painter. His work is described as being inspired by the Tingari Dreaming Song cycle and the land around Haast’s Bluff Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay) and Kaakuratintja (Lake MacDonald). In some works many dotted roundels are linked by parallel lines with the spaces between filled with bright colours. This rhythmic repetition with pain also occurs songs associated with the Tjukurpa (Creation Era).
In later works Tjungarrayi’s used an ochre monochrome palette, painting endless wavy lines across the canvas . These paintings are described as illustrating the sand hills and hail storms that killed ancestral Tingari Men in the Dreamtime.
His work is held in major Australian gallery collections.
Work Dimensions: 960 mm W x 1420 mm H
Unframed
