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[ paintings
] [ exhibitions ]
[ collections ]
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa
(Biography & photograph courtesy
of Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery,
Darwin.)
| Born: |
c. 1942 |
| Language: |
Pintupi |
Ronnie was born around 1943 near Muyinnga, about
100 kilometres west of the Kintore ranges. His family moved extensively
across the Pintupi territory up through the Northern Territory,
living the traditional ways, which his people have lived for over
40,000 years.
He was initiated into manhood in the early 1950's
at Yumari near his birthplace. 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, Ronnie 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 aboriginal artists have not achieved.
Ronnie'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.
His work has a simplicity that makes it appealing,
yet mysterious as the uninitiated try to understand what he is painting.
By painting the Dreamtime he is helping to resurrect the Aboriginal
culture as a whole and allow outsiders to learn about one of the
oldest cultures in the world. This work is important to the spirituality
of this land, bridging the gap between European life and Traditional
Aboriginal Life, which is important in exposing and healing this
gap.
Being one of the major Aboriginal Artists his work
has featured in numerous exhibitions and collections around Australia.
He has had solo exhibitions at the Utopia Gallery and the Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi. Several of his group exhibitions include the Dreamtime
Gallery, The Australian National Gallery and the Art Gallery of
South Australia. He is also in permanent collections at the National
Gallery and the Art Gallery of Victoria and the Supreme Court of
the Northern Territory.
Exhibitions
|
1983
|
Mori
Gallery, Sydney. |
|
1986
|
Roar
Studios, Melbourne. |
|
1987
|
Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne. |
|
1988
|
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne.
|
|
1989
|
Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne;
Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National
Gallery of Australia, Canberra. |
|
1990
|
Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne;
Paintings from the Desert, Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings,
Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania;
The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition,
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin;
National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome. |
|
1991
|
The
Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum
and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin;
Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia;
Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald
Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA;
Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Union of Soviet
Artists Gallery, Moscow and Museum of Ethnographic Art,
St. Petersburg, Russia. |
|
1992
|
Central
Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen
Centre, Alice Springs;
The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum
and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. |
|
1993
|
Aboriginal
Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach,
QLD;
Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central
Australia (1971-1993), Art
Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA;
Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition,
Araluen Centre, Alice Springs. |
|
1994
|
Dreamings
- Tjukurrpa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert;
The Donald Kahn collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich;
Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition,
Araluen Centre, Alice Springs;
The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition,
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin;
Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament
House, Canberra;
Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National
Gallery of Victoria;
Yiribana, Art Gallery
of New South Wales, Sydney. |
|
Collections
- Artbank, Sydney
- Art Gallery of New South
Wales, Sydney
- 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
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