Ronnie Tjampitjinpa
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa was born circa 1943 at Tjiturrunya west of Kintore Ranges in Western Australia. His family moved extensively across the Pintupi territory up through the Northern Territory, living in the traditional ways. Tjampitjinpa was initiated into manhood in Winparku, near Lake Mackay. Shortly afterwards, due to drought conditions in the 1950's, Ronnie and his family moved towards Haasts Bluff and then later joined relatives at the newly settled Papunya community. He found work as a fencer making the yards for cattle in the surrounding area. It was during this time that he started to take an interest in the art movement happening at this time. Shortly after he started painting, he discussed with many people about moving back into the traditional lands, which is the basis of their lives. His goal was made possible by the establishment of the Kintore settlement in 1981.
By being more in touch with his traditional lands and the Dreaming, Tjampitjinpa soon emerged as one of Papunya Tula's major artists. His work reflects his directs ties with his culture, retaining a purity that many other Indigenous artists have not achieved. Tjampitjinpa's work follows the strict Pintupi style of strong circles joined together by connecting lines relating to the people and the land and the Dreamtime.
Tjampitjinpa's art is a good representation of the characteristic Pintupi style: repetition of forms, which are geometric, simple and bold, and pigments which are often restricted to four basic colours of black, red, yellow and white. His work has a simplicity that makes it appealing, yet mysterious as the uninitiated try to decipher the meanings behinds his work. Themes in his paintings include Tingari, water and two snakes. The primary images in Tjampitjinpa's work are based on the Tingari Cycle which is a secret song cycle sacred to initiated men. The Tingari are Dreamtime Beings who travelled across the landscape performing ceremonies to create and shape the country associated with Dreaming sites. The Tingari ancestors gathered at these sites for Maliera (initiation) ceremonies. The sites take the form of, and are located at, significant rockholes, sand hills, sacred mountains and water soakages in the western desert.
Tjampitjinpa was included in the most recent edition of the fifty most collectable artists for 2009 in Art Collector Magazine.
Exhibitions
2008 Aboriginal Art Selling Exhibition, Shapiro Art & Design Gallery, Sydney
2008 'Black and White', NG Gallery, Chippendale, Sydney
2008 Aboriginal Art Selling Exhibition, Shapiro Art & Design Gallery, Sydney
2008 Toga Art Award Touring Exhibition through Northern Territory
2008 'The Pintupi', Central Art Aboriginal Art Store, Alice Springs
2008 'Art Now' Art Fair, presented by Molloy Gallery, Hotel 30/30, New York, USA
2007 'Above and Beyond: Fine Art Works Sourced on our May 2007 Aboriginal Art Tour', Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay, Sydney
Collections
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Campbelltown City Art Gallery
Donald Kahn collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
Musee des Arts Africans et Oceaniens, Paris
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Medibank Private Collection
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Richard Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
.
.
