Ronnie Tjampitjinpa

Biography

'''RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA (c.1943 - )

Region: West Central Australia

Residence: Walungurru

Country: Kintore

Language: Pintupi

Ronnie Tjampitjimpa was born in Tjiturruya, Western Australia. His family moved around their country, and in December 1956 walked from the Dovers Hills to Haasts Bluff, in order to escape harsh droughts. During his time here he worked as a stockman. He and his family later moved to Papunya where Ronnie was exposed to the beginnings of the Aboriginal Art movement. In 1971, Ronnie commenced painting and was one of the youngest artists as the settlement.

Ronnie's work entails the Pintupi style of strong circles, joined by connecting lines depicting the people, the country and the Dreamtime. The primary images in Ronnie's work are based on the Tingari Cycle which is a secret song cycle sacred to initiated men. The Tingari are Dreamtime Beings who traveled across the landscape performing ceremonies to create and shape the country associated with Dreaming sites. The Tingari ancestors gathered at these sites for Maliera (initiation) ceremonies. The sites take the form of, and are located at, significant rockholes, sand hills, sacred mountains and water soakages in the western desert.

Tingari may be poetically interpreted as song-line paintings relating to the songs (of the people) and creation stories (of places) in Pintupi mythology. Ronnie can be considered amongst the first wave of artists effectively linking such ancient stories with modern mediums.

As a founding member of Papunya Tula Artists, Ronnie's work was an important influence on the desert movement, however during the early eighties Ronnie only painted occasionally for the group. During the late eighties and early nineties however, Ronnie moved on from the fine dot paintings of his early career, and began to use bold colours applied to the canvas in strong, pulsating lines - a move which was to gain significant attention.

Ronnie has been exhibited widely throughout the Australia and internationally, and in September 1988 he won the Alice Prize.

Exhibitions

2007

Redrock Gallery, Group Exhibitions, Gallery Grand Opening, Beijing, PR China; China World Exhibition Centre, Beijing, PR China; Grand Hyatt Hotel, Beijing, PR China; International Art Expo, Beijing, PR China

2006
Wir gehören dem Land, Schloss Bonndorf, Bonndorf

2005
Redrock Gallery, Melbourne
Arte Religione Politica, PAC - Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan

2004
Blue Chip VI: The Collector's Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Richmond, VIC

2003
Blue Chip: The Collector's Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Richmond, VIC

2001
Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne

2000
Papunya Tula: Genesis & Genius, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne

1999
Spirit Country, San Francisco, touring;
Flinders Art Museum Flinders University, Adelaide; Embassy of Australia, Washington, U.S.A.; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A.

1998
Jinta Gallery, Sydney

1996
Twenty-Five Years and Beyond: Papunya Tula Painting, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide

1995
Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

1994
Le Voci della Terra, Galleria Gottardo, Lugano, Switzerland

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; Utopia Gallery, Sydney;
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Milan and Palermo, Italy

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

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

1991
Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Moscow & St Petersburg

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

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

1989
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

1988
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1987
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1986
Roar Studios, Melbourne

1983
Mori Gallery, Sydney

1982
Brisbane Festival, Brisbane

Achievements, Collections & Commissions

COLLECTIONS:

Artbank, Sydney

Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria

Campbelltown City Art Gallery

Donald Kahn collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide

Groninger Museum, The Netherlands

Holmes a Court Collection, Perth

Medibank Private Collection

Musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, Paris, France

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Richard Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin

'''ACHIEVEMENTS:

1988

Winner of the Alice Springs Art Prize

Bibliography

'Aboriginal Art', National Gallery News, 10th Birthday edition, September/October 1992, p. 5-7

Australian Perspecta 1993, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1993

Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA, 1991

Caruana, W., Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993

Crumlin, R., (ed.), Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Collins Dove, North Blackburn, Victoria, 1991

Dussart, F., La Peinture des Aborigines D'Australie, Editions Parentheses, Marseille, France, 1993

Johnson, V., The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales, 1994

McCulloch, A., & McCulloch, S., The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, St Leonards, New South Wales, 1994

Neale, M., Yiribana, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1994

Papunya Tula, exhib. cat., Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 1990

Perkins, H. and Fink, H. (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2000

Tjukurrpa Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia (1971-1993), exhib. cat., Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1993

Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W., Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1991