Artist: Paddy Nelson Tjupurrurla | Title: Wakulyarri Jukurrpa - Rock Wallaby | Year: 1989 | Medium: acrylic on canvas | Dimensions: 121.5 x 91 cm
PROVENANCE
Warlukurlangu Artists, NT Cat No. 344/89
Private Collection, NSW
EXHIBITED
Masterworks from the Lawson~Menzies Collection, Manly Art Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery and additional venues, 2005-2008
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Yuendumu, NT
LANGUAGE
Walpiri
SUBJECTS
Personal totems including Big Bush Potato-Yumurpa, Little Bush Potato-Wapitali, Bush Plum, Possum, Rock Wallaby and Water-Ngapa Dreamings, Jardiwarnpa (Snake Dreaming) ceremonies, Wati Kutjara-Two Men Dreaming and Karntajarra-Two Women Dreaming.
SITES
The area south-west of Yuendumu between Yumurrpa and Watikinpirri. Nyirripi, Mt. Stanley ochre site.
BIOGRAPHY
Following its beginnings at Papunya in the early 1970’s, western desert painting spread as the homelands movement saw Pintupi move to country east and south of Lake McKay in the border region between Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Simultaneous to its geographical spread, language groups other than the Pintupi began to paint. Warlpiri artists at Papunya such as Old Mick Walankari, Charlie Tjupurrula and Two Bob Tjungurrayi, spread news of the movement to their countrymen in the Tanami desert, and it came to pass that in 1983 Paddy Nelson Tjupurrula and five other elders painted the school doors in the tiny Warlpiri settlement of Yuendumu. This project marked the beginning of the painting movement in that region just as the Honey Ant Mural had done a decade earlier in Papunya.
The creation of these images also marked the beginning of an art career that would see Paddy Nelson rise to prominence as the most celebrated of the founders of the Warlpiri art movement. Along with the images that he painted on the doors, Paddy’s early paintings were characterized by fluid, bold brushstrokes depicting variations on classic Warlpiri iconography, with its far more eccentric compositional placement than those in the more formal Pintupi style. These early works adhered to the original spirit of freedom seen in the doors, with their vibrant colours and gestural exuberance, however, as he became more familiar with the acrylic medium, Nelson developed a sophisticated edge exemplified by tighter design. His subject matter centered upon his Dreaming sites that stretched over a wide area of country, southwest of Yuendumu.
As with other Yuendumu artists, Paddy contributed to the region’s rapidly developing and distinctive style as he eagerly embraced synthetic pinks, purples and blues. These more vibrant colours suited the Warlpiri sensibility for gestural freedom, in contrast to the aesthetic minimalism, restricted palette, and more formulaic patterning that emerged amongst the Pintupi. The large collaborative canvas Star Dreaming, on which Nelson and the original group of elders participated two years after painting the doors, exemplifies their tradition. The painting, which today hangs in the National Gallery of Australia, helped to launch the careers of these founding Yuendumu artists. Large collaborative works of this kind became a feature of Yuendumu, reflecting the myriad ties and obligations that are involved in the painting process there. A distinct community method of painting emerged, with artists often working together in family groups and older artists instructing younger ones. Since that time Walukurlangu Artists, the now wholly Aboriginal owned and controlled art centre in the community, has provided a place for artists to work and a focal point for the preserving and promotion of Warlpiri culture. Community involvement, evident in those early pioneering days, permeates the ongoing character of art production, with women artists featuring just as strongly as men.
Unlike other tribes that had been fragmented and dislocated from their spiritual and physical homelands, Nelson’s community remained particularly strong in their sense of tribal unity. As a senior ceremonial and religious leader, Nelson presided over an active ceremonial life. His works typically featuring circles, meandering lines and animal tracks are infused with a vibrant energy generated from within the background of dotted areas and outlines. They characteristically evoke a sense of earthbound substance while intimating the profuse and dynamic space of the vast tracts of land they depict. This landscape, surrounding the rather incongruous new buildings that were being erected in the growing community, is rich in ancient, mythological significance. Paddy and the other elders worried that their children, distracted by the growing influences of a European-style education, were losing touch with their Dreaming heritage. His centrality and importance within the Warlpiri community translated into a pivotal place in the making of art. Teaching the children the stories of their culture and sensitising them to how the stories are embedded in the land and the care it requires, was an over-riding concern for Nelson and the older generation of artists. Beyond that, they sought to instruct non-Aboriginal people in the value of their ancient culture and share their unique perspective on the Australian landscape. No less vital was the fact that art-making provided a much needed income for the far-flung outstations and settlements that revolved around the focal art centre at Yuendumu during his own lifetime and, in fact, to this day.
By 1991 the ‘Yuendumu Doors’ became the subject of a book and four years later in 1995, after being carefully unhinged and restored, the doors were exhibited at the South Australian Museum. They have now travelled the world, and have come to represent a testament to the seminal era in the genesis of Warlpiri Art.
From his participation in the creation of a large, traditional ground painting for the ‘Magicians de la Terre’ exhibition in Paris in the mid 1980’s to the posthumous presentation of his work in ‘Colour Power’ 2004, at the National Gallery of Victoria, Paddy Nelson’s art has appeared in major exhibitions and toured internationally for more than two decades. Considering the contemporary focus of the ‘Colour Power’ exhibition, Nelson’s works seem as relevant now as at the beginning, a fact that attests to the power of traditional forms in contemporary Aboriginal art, and the high esteem in which Paddy Nelson Tjupurrula continues to be held.
© Adrian Newstead
REFERENCES
Art and Aboriginality, 1987 catalogue, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK, 1987.
Congreve, Susan, ‘Painting Up Big- Community Painting at Yuendumu’, in Art and Australia, 35, #1, Summer, 1997.
Ryan, Judith, (ed), Colour Power, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2004
And Mythscapes- Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, (date)
Opening Doors, exhibition and book at the Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2006.
PROVENANCE
Warlukurlangu Artists, NT Cat No. 344/89
Private Collection, NSW
EXHIBITED
Masterworks from the Lawson~Menzies Collection, Manly Art Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery and additional venues, 2005-2008
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Yuendumu, NT
LANGUAGE
Walpiri
SUBJECTS
Personal totems including Big Bush Potato-Yumurpa, Little Bush Potato-Wapitali, Bush Plum, Possum, Rock Wallaby and Water-Ngapa Dreamings, Jardiwarnpa (Snake Dreaming) ceremonies, Wati Kutjara-Two Men Dreaming and Karntajarra-Two Women Dreaming.
SITES
The area south-west of Yuendumu between Yumurrpa and Watikinpirri. Nyirripi, Mt. Stanley ochre site.
BIOGRAPHY
Following its beginnings at Papunya in the early 1970’s, western desert painting spread as the homelands movement saw Pintupi move to country east and south of Lake McKay in the border region between Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Simultaneous to its geographical spread, language groups other than the Pintupi began to paint. Warlpiri artists at Papunya such as Old Mick Walankari, Charlie Tjupurrula and Two Bob Tjungurrayi, spread news of the movement to their countrymen in the Tanami desert, and it came to pass that in 1983 Paddy Nelson Tjupurrula and five other elders painted the school doors in the tiny Warlpiri settlement of Yuendumu. This project marked the beginning of the painting movement in that region just as the Honey Ant Mural had done a decade earlier in Papunya.
The creation of these images also marked the beginning of an art career that would see Paddy Nelson rise to prominence as the most celebrated of the founders of the Warlpiri art movement. Along with the images that he painted on the doors, Paddy’s early paintings were characterized by fluid, bold brushstrokes depicting variations on classic Warlpiri iconography, with its far more eccentric compositional placement than those in the more formal Pintupi style. These early works adhered to the original spirit of freedom seen in the doors, with their vibrant colours and gestural exuberance, however, as he became more familiar with the acrylic medium, Nelson developed a sophisticated edge exemplified by tighter design. His subject matter centered upon his Dreaming sites that stretched over a wide area of country, southwest of Yuendumu.
As with other Yuendumu artists, Paddy contributed to the region’s rapidly developing and distinctive style as he eagerly embraced synthetic pinks, purples and blues. These more vibrant colours suited the Warlpiri sensibility for gestural freedom, in contrast to the aesthetic minimalism, restricted palette, and more formulaic patterning that emerged amongst the Pintupi. The large collaborative canvas Star Dreaming, on which Nelson and the original group of elders participated two years after painting the doors, exemplifies their tradition. The painting, which today hangs in the National Gallery of Australia, helped to launch the careers of these founding Yuendumu artists. Large collaborative works of this kind became a feature of Yuendumu, reflecting the myriad ties and obligations that are involved in the painting process there. A distinct community method of painting emerged, with artists often working together in family groups and older artists instructing younger ones. Since that time Walukurlangu Artists, the now wholly Aboriginal owned and controlled art centre in the community, has provided a place for artists to work and a focal point for the preserving and promotion of Warlpiri culture. Community involvement, evident in those early pioneering days, permeates the ongoing character of art production, with women artists featuring just as strongly as men.
Unlike other tribes that had been fragmented and dislocated from their spiritual and physical homelands, Nelson’s community remained particularly strong in their sense of tribal unity. As a senior ceremonial and religious leader, Nelson presided over an active ceremonial life. His works typically featuring circles, meandering lines and animal tracks are infused with a vibrant energy generated from within the background of dotted areas and outlines. They characteristically evoke a sense of earthbound substance while intimating the profuse and dynamic space of the vast tracts of land they depict. This landscape, surrounding the rather incongruous new buildings that were being erected in the growing community, is rich in ancient, mythological significance. Paddy and the other elders worried that their children, distracted by the growing influences of a European-style education, were losing touch with their Dreaming heritage. His centrality and importance within the Warlpiri community translated into a pivotal place in the making of art. Teaching the children the stories of their culture and sensitising them to how the stories are embedded in the land and the care it requires, was an over-riding concern for Nelson and the older generation of artists. Beyond that, they sought to instruct non-Aboriginal people in the value of their ancient culture and share their unique perspective on the Australian landscape. No less vital was the fact that art-making provided a much needed income for the far-flung outstations and settlements that revolved around the focal art centre at Yuendumu during his own lifetime and, in fact, to this day.
By 1991 the ‘Yuendumu Doors’ became the subject of a book and four years later in 1995, after being carefully unhinged and restored, the doors were exhibited at the South Australian Museum. They have now travelled the world, and have come to represent a testament to the seminal era in the genesis of Warlpiri Art.
From his participation in the creation of a large, traditional ground painting for the ‘Magicians de la Terre’ exhibition in Paris in the mid 1980’s to the posthumous presentation of his work in ‘Colour Power’ 2004, at the National Gallery of Victoria, Paddy Nelson’s art has appeared in major exhibitions and toured internationally for more than two decades. Considering the contemporary focus of the ‘Colour Power’ exhibition, Nelson’s works seem as relevant now as at the beginning, a fact that attests to the power of traditional forms in contemporary Aboriginal art, and the high esteem in which Paddy Nelson Tjupurrula continues to be held.
© Adrian Newstead
REFERENCES
Art and Aboriginality, 1987 catalogue, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK, 1987.
Congreve, Susan, ‘Painting Up Big- Community Painting at Yuendumu’, in Art and Australia, 35, #1, Summer, 1997.
Ryan, Judith, (ed), Colour Power, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2004
And Mythscapes- Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, (date)
Opening Doors, exhibition and book at the Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2006.