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$Aud 14,000 + GST 10% for sales
in Australia Dreaming The figure represents Jampitjinpa, The old grey haired firemaker from Tjkarri. He is shown with a spear and boomerangs. He is described as a pangkalang man, a giant cave man rather than a human being. The narrative describes this man as rama rama, "mad one". He is fighting with another brother, hurling weapons at him. When they prove to be ineffective he incants a magical fire from within the ground. The four-toed footprints are of the Pangkalang man who ventures forth into the burning bush only to be consumed by the flames. A group of pynan nanya come up (Tingari men, Wallaby people) and see that this mad man has gone out into the fire. They follow his footprints left behind as he tried to escape the fire, they find him badly burnt. They manage to revive him and his still out there till this day causing great fear to those who visit this site, especially after dark. The coloured roundels represent the other sacred sites around Tjakari, all the white circles are body paint the other various white arches are killer and hunting boomerangs and spears. The red lines are the volcanic flames of the dreamtime bushfire.
Johnny
Warangkula Tjupurrula
Johnny Jupurrula Warangkula was born in 1925 at Minjilpirri, an area north west of Illipili and south of Lake Mackay. The son of mixed parents, his mother being of Luritja/Warlpiri/Pintupi descent and his father Luritja/Warlpiri, Johnny was raised in a traditional manner, living a traditional life style in the desert and never attending European schools. Johnny is of the Luritja language group and was initiated into manhood during his family’s stay at a mission in Hermannsburg. Johnny can recollect his first contact with Europeans, remembering his fearful response when witnessing an aircraft fly over his home lands as a young boy. His people believed the aeroplane to be a ‘mamu’ or devil. At a later date, his people came into contact with camels for the first time and again hid in fright as they recognised the beasts as being evil. His painting career began after a long turn at labouring, his efforts contributing to the development of roads, airstrips and settlements in areas such as: Haasts Bluff, Mt Leibig, Yuendumu and Mt Wedge. In return for his work building roads, shovelling dirt and felling trees he was remunerated in the form of consumable goods, ‘tucker’ (as he calls it) - flour, tea, sugar, fresh vegetables and tobacco. Before the bulk of the Haasts Bluff population were moved to Papunya in 1960, Johnny was selected along with NOSEPEG Tjuppurrula as Aboriginal representative to meet the Queen. After settling in Papunya Johnny served on the Papunya Council with Mick Namarari, Limpi Tjapangati and Kingsley Tjungarrayi. Geoffrey Bardon’s arrival at Papunya inspired the community to begin using art materials, Johnny rapidly developed a distinctive style of his own which came to be known as ‘overdotting’. He uses several layers of dots to depict his dreamings, which consist of Water, Fire, Yam and Egret stories. Also stories from Nyilppi and Nyalpilala - which are his father’s Dreamings. Geoffrey Bardon labelled this stylistic layering effect as ‘tremulous illusion’ and in his book, Papunya Tula Art of the Western Desert, Bardon fondly recollects images of Johnny painting with an intense level of intuitive concentration. As Johnny’s paintings are strictly Aboriginal stories without conscious European influence, they remain of major significance. Despite their distinct Aboriginality they can still be measured on a scale of modern aesthetic. He uses calligraphic line with almost baroque excitement. Tight organization of bands and lines, hatching and dot embellishment give his work a powerful, energetic visual strength. He uses convoluted spiral symbols for people, and animal tracks and distorted figures as illustrations of ceremony - not in a formal way...but intuitively. During the 1980’s Johnny became a major force in the Papunya movement, receiving great critical acclaim for his contribution to the recognition of Papunya artists as a mirror for the identification of indigenous culture. In 1984 the director of the National Gallery of Australia, James Mollison, was photographed along side one of Johnny’s works stating that the work of the Papunya artists was ‘the finest abstract art ever produced in this country’. (Sydney Morning Herald, 26/1/84). Due to Johnny’s failing eyesight his output of work has steadily reduced over the years. He currently lives in Papunya with his wife Gladys Napanangka and his eight children. In 1997 – 1999 Johnny paints this story with a new-found freedom, both in expression and in painting technique. Where he was once known for his delicate and soft white dotting, he now attacks the canvas to tell the story with great gusto. He jabs large dots on to the surface and produces roundels and symbols for weapons with great sweeps of his arm and the brush. Red, black, white. Had he painted in France during the 1950’s he would have been labelled a ‘Taschist’. The audience who saw his paintings at the United Nations Building seemed generally to agree that Johnny was indeed a significant artist who in some sense retained an authenticity and timeless importance in his work that some of the younger painters were yet to achieve. All great painters, past and present, seem to have an additional level in their work which may defy description. This evasive quality is sometimes born of the synthesis achieved between colour, form, texture and meaning. When viewing paintings by Johnny Warangkula Tjupurulla we find ourselves in a position where the recognition of another elemental level is tantalisingly close and for a lucky few the spirit is moved beyond words. In the presence of great visual art, the employment of everyday language can become a futile and unproductive gesture. Collections: Homes a Court, Queensland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Museum of Australia Canberra, National Gallery of Australia Canberra, Orange Regional Gallery, Alice Springs Law Courts, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Darwin, Flinders University Art Museum, South Australian Museum. |
