Pikili, c. 1995

synthetic polymer paint on linen

125 x 211 cm

Est. $10,000 – $12,000

Hammer $9,000

Provenance: Lawson Menzies, Sydney, NSW, 31 May 2005, Lot 175 Private Collection, NSW, acquired at the above sale Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Lawson Menzies
Artwork story: Pikili (Vaughan Springs) is Pansy Napangardi's father's Country: her Warlpiri father and grandfather were both born there, and the site is at the heart of this painting. According to the artist's own account documented at the 2005 Lawson Menzies sale, the canvas depicts ceremonies performed by the Jagamarra subsection at Pikili, the story of two old men who, warned by the Willy Wagtail that rain was coming, sang rain to the site and created passages for water to be stored in the surrounding waterholes. When rain falls at Pikili it is accompanied by hailstorms, the legacy of the Rainbow Snake, who also visits this Country. Across this large horizontal canvas, a boldly drawn Dreaming track sweeps in arcing black bands through a field of Napangardi's distinctive multi-colour dot-work in warm ochre, rust, gold, and soft mauve, the shimmering surface describing the Country the two men moved through. That refinement of colour was entirely her own: from 1960 she lived at Papunya, observing the founding painters at work and developing her practice independently, producing artefacts under the name Panyma through the 1970s before joining Papunya Tula Artists in 1983. She won the National Aboriginal Art Award in 1989.

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Sale 3 · Lot 63

Pansy Napangardi

b. c.1948

synthetic polymer paint on linen

125 x 211 cm

Est. $10,000 – $12,000

Hammer $9,000

Provenance: Lawson Menzies, Sydney, NSW, 31 May 2005, Lot 175 Private Collection, NSW, acquired at the above sale Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Lawson Menzies
Artwork story: Pikili (Vaughan Springs) is Pansy Napangardi's father's Country: her Warlpiri father and grandfather were both born there, and the site is at the heart of this painting. According to the artist's own account documented at the 2005 Lawson Menzies sale, the canvas depicts ceremonies performed by the Jagamarra subsection at Pikili, the story of two old men who, warned by the Willy Wagtail that rain was coming, sang rain to the site and created passages for water to be stored in the surrounding waterholes. When rain falls at Pikili it is accompanied by hailstorms, the legacy of the Rainbow Snake, who also visits this Country. Across this large horizontal canvas, a boldly drawn Dreaming track sweeps in arcing black bands through a field of Napangardi's distinctive multi-colour dot-work in warm ochre, rust, gold, and soft mauve, the shimmering surface describing the Country the two men moved through. That refinement of colour was entirely her own: from 1960 she lived at Papunya, observing the founding painters at work and developing her practice independently, producing artefacts under the name Panyma through the 1970s before joining Papunya Tula Artists in 1983. She won the National Aboriginal Art Award in 1989.