Artist: Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi | Title: Tingari | Year: 1994 | Medium: Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgian Linen | Dimensions: 122 x 122 cm
PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat. No. YY941086
Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat. No. 9701
Hank Ebes Collection, Vic
Accompanied by a certificate booklet from Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Papunya Western Desert, NT
LANGUAGE
Pintupi
BIOGRAPHY
Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi was born west of Lake Macdonald and walked into Papunya in 1962 with his wife Ningura Napurrula and their injured son Mawitji. As one of the inventors of the ‘Tingari' painting style, Yala Yala became one of the six artists who received a government allowance to paint full time in the very first years of the painting movement. During this time, his distinctive line drawings helped point Bardon towards some comprehension of the hieroglyphic-like language that underscored the Dreaming stories.
With his natural talent for conceiving uncomplicated yet arresting arrangements, Yala Yala's paintings were at the forefront of this classic Tingari period. His mind-maps of his vast desert homeland emanate a simple grandeur. Loops, spirals and roundels are linked by travelling lines and held in unity with often diffuse background dotting. A restricted range of ochre colours conveys his sense of tethering to the earth, which was also reflected in his working manner. With the other Pintupi artists, he would often sing traditional chants while painting, always using a sense of touch through hands and fingers, to bring the work into being.
© Adrian Newstead
PROVENANCE
Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat. No. YY941086
Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat. No. 9701
Hank Ebes Collection, Vic
Accompanied by a certificate booklet from Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Papunya Western Desert, NT
LANGUAGE
Pintupi
BIOGRAPHY
Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi was born west of Lake Macdonald and walked into Papunya in 1962 with his wife Ningura Napurrula and their injured son Mawitji. As one of the inventors of the ‘Tingari' painting style, Yala Yala became one of the six artists who received a government allowance to paint full time in the very first years of the painting movement. During this time, his distinctive line drawings helped point Bardon towards some comprehension of the hieroglyphic-like language that underscored the Dreaming stories.
With his natural talent for conceiving uncomplicated yet arresting arrangements, Yala Yala's paintings were at the forefront of this classic Tingari period. His mind-maps of his vast desert homeland emanate a simple grandeur. Loops, spirals and roundels are linked by travelling lines and held in unity with often diffuse background dotting. A restricted range of ochre colours conveys his sense of tethering to the earth, which was also reflected in his working manner. With the other Pintupi artists, he would often sing traditional chants while painting, always using a sense of touch through hands and fingers, to bring the work into being.
© Adrian Newstead