Nationality Australian Style Western Desert art Years active 1987 – present | Occupation Painter Ethnicity Pintupi Organization Papunya Tula | |
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Born late 1950s hillside east of modern-day Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia Residence Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia
Ilparpa, near Alice Springs Name Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri Siblings Thomas Tjapaltjarri, Walala Tjapangati | ||
No boundaries a closer look at warlimpirrnga tjapaltjarri
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri ([waɭɪmb̥ɪr ɟab̥əɭɟari]; born late 1950s) is an Australian Aboriginal artist. He is one of central Australia's most well-known indigenous artists.
Contents
- No boundaries a closer look at warlimpirrnga tjapaltjarri
- Documenta 13 tingari men at marawa von warlimpirrnga tjapaltjarri
- Early life
- Painting
- Other websites
- References
Documenta 13 tingari men at marawa von warlimpirrnga tjapaltjarri
Early life
Warlimpirrnga was born in the late 1950s, near Lake Mackay, east of where Kiwirrkurra is today. His family were Pintupi hunter-gatherers who lived a traditional nomadic way of life on the western side of the lake, and had never come into contact with Euro-Australian society. Warlimpirrnga's father died when he was a young boy, and his mother remarried shortly after. Warlimpirrnga himself married his cousin, Yalti, sometime around 1980... He served the family's main provider of food, hunting with spears, mirru (spear-throwers) and boomerangs.
In 1984, when Warlimpirrnga was about 25, he finally came into contact people from outside his family. Upon seeing a white man for the first time, Warlimpirrnga remembers, "I couldn't believe it. I thought he was a devil, a bad spirit. He was the colour of clouds at sunrise." A few days later, he and his family were settled at Kiwirrkurra. News of this group living nomadically so far into the modern world made headlines internationally.
Painting
Warlimpirrnga started painting in 1987, working with Papunya Tula. Initially practising under the tutelage of other artists at the company, he finished his first painting for them in April 1987. His first public exhibition was in Melbourne, the following year. It showed eleven of his paintings, all of which were bought for the National Gallery of Victoria. He has since become one of central Australia's most well-known artists.
Warlimpirrnga paints abstract images of sacred stories and songs from his family's Dreaming. The stories focus around the Tingari, the ancestors of the Pintupi, spirit beings who are believed to have created all living things. His stories are about his country and sacred sites such as Marruwa and Kanapilya.
His work is held in several major public collections across Australia, such as in the National Gallery in Canberra, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the National Gallery of Victoria. He also has work in galleries overseas, such as the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia. In 2012, his work was shown as part of the documenta exhibition in Kassel, Germany. As of 2008, the most one of his paintings has sold for is A$85,000.
In September 2016, one of his paintings sold for 167,000 pounds at Sotheby's in London, and in October 2016, he had his first solo exhibition in the United States, at the Salon 94 gallery in New York City.