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GEORGE WARD TJUNGURRAYI
TITLE: Tingari Cycle
SIZE: 151cm X 155cm
MEDIUM: synthetic polymer paint on canvas
YEAR PRODUCED: 2007
PROVENANCE:
The painting of monumental dimensions present in this exhibition is composed of over one-hundred concentric squares generating an extremely geometrical effect. The squares themselves are produced using closely painted lines of a single muted colour which is completed with white dotting on a contrasting black ground. The title recalls the Tingari Tjukurrpa. The curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, Judith Ryan captures the artist’s zest:
“[...] he seems able to harness considerable power and visual energy almost every time he approaches a large canvas [...] art of this kind has immense potency. It's not difficult at all for today's collectors to have a passion for it, because of its minimal edge in terms of design, in its lack of figuration and restricted palette”1
1Going to the Source, 20th April 2004, The Australian.
The Tingari cycle refers to a journey undertaken by a group of creation ancestors in the time of the Tjukurrpa. Their paths, their important sites and their activities cover a huge area stretching from Pintupi country (around the Papunya region), to the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts (close to Balgo Hills)1. They are known for having brought law and culture to the world, and when their lives ended, they were to take both human and animal forms. The importance of the Tingari cycle in Aboriginal culture is evident in the many paintings that represent sites and episodes associated with these ancestors.
1McCulloch, S. Contemporary Aboriginal Art, a guide to the rebirth of a culture pp.76-77
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