|
 George (Hairbrush) Tjungurrayi   Officially opened in 1960 Papunya, the Government settlement for Aboriginal people some 250 dirt kilometres west of Alice Springs, was not a welcome situation for those (mainly Anmatyerre, Arrernte, Luritja, Pintupi and Warlpiri residents) fenced in its bounds. Yet it was here that one of the most significant art movements in Australian history emerged – its genesis made all the more remarkable by its humble origins. It was the early events at Papunya and the later exodus to their ancestral homelands which heralded the beginnings of what was later referred to as Western Desert art - utilizing the imagery of linked concentric circles and dotted backgrounds. 
In the late 1980s George’s works employed a typically Western Desert image, magnified on the canvas in subtly shaded lines of colour. Daphne Williams (the field officer who then ran the Papunya Tula painting company) recalls the change of colours appearing quite suddenly and that George, when mixing them, would occasionally seek an opinion as to whether or not they were ‘pretty’.  During this time the market for Aboriginal paintings was driven by the growing national and international reputation of the Papunya Tula company and the artists. While more recent paintings may have become distanced stylistically from their ceremonial origins, one feature has remained constant - the Tingari. Symbolizing the ancestral journeys of men and women, the sacred geometry refers to ceremonial body paint designs, the cartography of country and narratives of ancestors. George Tjungurrayi paints the Tingari stories of his ancestral country covering the sites around Wala Wala, Kiwirrkura, Lake Mackay, Kulkuta, Karku, Ngaluwinyamana, and Kilpinya to the north-west of Kintore across the Western Australa border. In recent times George’s development of a distinctive style based on optical stripes has brought his work to prominence. His work was exhibited in ‘Friendly Country - Friendly People’ at the Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs (1990). He held his first solo exhibition in 1997 at Utopia Art Sydney and has since been considered the “most collectable artist” by Australian Art Collector magazine. He is represented in many galleries and collections, including Holmes à Court.  Selected Exhibitions: 1990 – Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Australia 1992 – Dreamtime Gallery, Broadbeach, Australia 1993 – Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australia 1995 – Groninger Museum, Groninger, Netherlands Utopia Art, Sydney, Australia Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Australia 1996 - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd. 1998, 1999 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 1997 Utopia Art, Sydney, 2004 redrock gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2004 – redrock gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2007 June, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Gallery Grand Opening Beijing, P.R China
2007 July, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition China World Exhibition Centre, Beijing P.R China
2007 Aug, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Grand Hyatt Hotel,Beijing, P.R China
2007 Nov, redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Internation Art Expo, Beijing, P.R China
Selected Collections: The Robert Holmes a’ Court Collection, Perth, Australia Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia Groninger Museum, Groninger, Netherlands The Kelton Collection, Los Angeles, USA Mem Aziz Collection Ref: Papunya Tula, Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales Edited by Hetti Perkins and Hannah Fink, 2000 Dreampower – Art of Contemporary Aboriginal Australia, Crossley, David, 1997, Australia-Indonesia Institute. Aboriginal Artists – Dictionary of Biographies Birnberg, Margo., Kreczmanski, Janusz, B., 2004, JB Publishing  Back to top
|
|
 |
||
