#papunyatula

[newguineatribalart]

Patrick (Olodoodi) Tjungurrayi (c.1935–2017) was one of the leading painters of Western Desert Art, uniquely bridging the artistic traditions of Balgo art and Pintupi art. Beginning his career with Warlayirti Artists before later painting for Papunya Tula Artists, he developed a highly individual style that combined Balgo's vibrant colour with the disciplined geometry of the Pintupi tradition. The result was a powerful body of work that transformed ancient Tingari narratives into luminous contemporary abstraction. Winner of the inaugural Western Australian Indigenous Art Award in 2008, Patrick is regarded as one of Australia's most important Aboriginal artists.

[newguineatribalart]

Pintupi Art: Mapping Country Through the Desert

Every line, circle, and field of dots in Pintupi Art represents far more than a visual design. These remarkable paintings are expressions of ancestral journeys, sacred sites, and the deep relationship between people and Country that has been maintained across the Western Desert for countless generations.

From the early days of Papunya to the homeland communities of Kintore and Kiwirrkurra, Pintupi artists transformed ceremonial knowledge into one of the world's most influential contemporary art movements. Their paintings shimmer with movement, reveal vast networks of Tingari songlines, and offer a unique way of understanding landscape—not as scenery, but as living cultural knowledge.

Explore the history, meaning, artists, and evolution of one of Australia's most important Aboriginal art traditions.

[newguineatribalart]

Makinti Napanangka (c.1930–2011) transformed Western Desert art by bringing the visual language of Pintupi women's ceremony into contemporary painting. Inspired by ceremonial body painting, dancing and woven hair-string skirts, her bold gestural brushwork and radiant colour created a style unlike any other artist of the Papunya Tula movement. Winner of the 2008 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Makinti is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest Indigenous painters. Explore her biography, painting style and major works on my website.

[newguineatribalart]

Pintupi Art: Mapping Country Through the Desert

Every line, circle, and field of dots in Pintupi Art represents far more than a visual design. These remarkable paintings are expressions of ancestral journeys, sacred sites, and the deep relationship between people and Country that has been maintained across the Western Desert for countless generations.

From the early days of Papunya to the homeland communities of Kintore and Kiwirrkurra, Pintupi artists transformed ceremonial knowledge into one of the world's most influential contemporary art movements. Their paintings shimmer with movement, reveal vast networks of Tingari songlines, and offer a unique way of understanding landscape—not as scenery, but as living cultural knowledge.

Explore the history, meaning, artists, and evolution of one of Australia's most important Aboriginal art traditions.

[newguineatribalart]

Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri is one of the leading painters of Western Desert Art, transforming the sacred geography of Pintupi Country into mesmerising fields of rhythmic dots, diamonds and rectilinear grids. Rather than functioning as maps, his paintings express Country as it is understood through Tjukurrpa—a living ancestral reality that continues to shape the landscape. Their remarkable precision, optical depth and restrained palettes have established Warlimpirrnga as one of the most influential contemporary Aboriginal artists. Explore his biography, painting style and the anthropological meaning behind his work on my website.

[newguineatribalart]

Tommy Lowry Tjapaltjarri (c. 1935–1987), also known as Tommy Tichiwan Tjapaltjarri and Tommy No. 4, was one of the original shareholders of Papunya Tula Artists and an important Pintupi painter of the Western Desert Art movement. Although he painted relatively few works during the early 1970s, his distinctive compositions and strong association with Tingari and Snake Dreaming traditions have made authenticated examples highly sought after by collectors. After moving to Kintore, he painted more regularly, but his overall body of work remains comparatively small.

This illustrated biography explores Tommy Lowry Tjapaltjarri's life, painting style, the public stories depicted in his artworks, what his paintings are worth today, and why his rare Papunya works remain so important to collectors of early Western Desert Art.

Read more: https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/tommy-lowry-tjapaltjarri/

[newguineatribalart]

Pintupi Art: Mapping Country Through the Desert

Every line, circle, and field of dots in Pintupi Art represents far more than a visual design. These remarkable paintings are expressions of ancestral journeys, sacred sites, and the deep relationship between people and Country that has been maintained across the Western Desert for countless generations.

From the early days of Papunya to the homeland communities of Kintore and Kiwirrkurra, Pintupi artists transformed ceremonial knowledge into one of the world's most influential contemporary art movements. Their paintings shimmer with movement, reveal vast networks of Tingari songlines, and offer a unique way of understanding landscape—not as scenery, but as living cultural knowledge.

Explore the history, meaning, artists, and evolution of one of Australia's most important Aboriginal art traditions.

[newguineatribalart]

Pintupi Art: Mapping Country Through the Desert

Every line, circle, and field of dots in Pintupi Art represents far more than a visual design. These remarkable paintings are expressions of ancestral journeys, sacred sites, and the deep relationship between people and Country that has been maintained across the Western Desert for countless generations.

From the early days of Papunya to the homeland communities of Kintore and Kiwirrkurra, Pintupi artists transformed ceremonial knowledge into one of the world's most influential contemporary art movements. Their paintings shimmer with movement, reveal vast networks of Tingari songlines, and offer a unique way of understanding landscape—not as scenery, but as living cultural knowledge.

Explore the history, meaning, artists, and evolution of one of Australia's most important Aboriginal art traditions.