Solo Exhibitions, by Rambo Tjungurrayi and John West Tjupurrula, from Papunya Tula Artists
Agency
47 Easey Street, Collingwood
Wednesday - Friday, 11 - 3pm
20th June - 13 July, 2024
Image courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists
Agency acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Sovereign Custodians of the land on which we live and work. We extend our respects to their Ancestors and all First Nations peoples and Elders past, present, and future.
Agency is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander non-for-profit that celebrates and promotes First Nations art, culture and people on a local, national and international scale.
Our exhibition program showcases the creative practice of urban, regional and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Designed to connect contemporary artists with new audiences and collectors and celebrate the diversity of First Nations artistic practice, the program is First Nations led and provides professional development and economic return for First Nations artists and communities. Importantly, all exhibitions - whether at Agency’s gallery space in Collingwood or presented in partnership with other initiatives or institutions - provide an opportunity for audiences to go beyond the art, centering the artist’s practice through talks, video portraits and engagement.
Agency
47 Easey Street, Collingwood
Wednesday - Friday, 11 - 3pm
Photo courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists
Papunya Tula Artists
The Papunya Tula Art Movement began in 1971 when a school teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, encouraged some of the men to paint a blank school wall. The murals sparked off tremendous interest in the community and soon many men started painting. In 1972 the artists successfully established their own company.
The company is entirely owned and directed by traditional Aboriginal people from the Western Desert, predominantly of the Luritja/Pintupi language groups. It has 49 shareholders and now represents around 120 artists.
The company derives its name from Papunya, a settlement 240km north-west of Alice Springs. Papunya settlement was established as an administrative centre by the government for the Aboriginal people who had moved in from the desert. Since then many Pintupi and Luritja people have moved back to their homelands and continue their strong ceremonial ties to the land.
Following the homelands movement of the 1980s, the company constructed studios in the newly established communities of Kintore and Kiwirrkura, extending operations into Western Australia as far as 700km west of Alice Springs. The Papunya Tula painting style derives directly from the artists’ knowledge of traditional body and sand painting associated with ceremony. Portraying these ancestral creation stories for the public has required the removal of sacred symbols and the careful monitoring of ancestral designs.
The work of the Papunya Tula artists is highly regarded around the world. The unmistakable and powerful style of the work has resulted in the Papunya Tula artists being represented in most public galleries, major museums, institutions and many large private collections within Australia as well as overseas. The aim of the company is to promote individual artists, provide economic development for the communities to which they belong, and assist in the maintenance of a rich cultural heritage.
Rambo Tjungurrayi, Pintupi
20th June - 13 July, 2024
Rambo (Sylvester) Tjungurrayi is the son of Papunya Tula artist Raymond Tjapaltjarri and the grandson of the renowned late Papunya Tula artist Patrick Tjungurrayi and Miriam Napanangka. He lives in Kiwirrkura but along with his family, often travels to visit relatives in Balgo and Mpartnwe (Alice Springs).
One of Papunya Tula Artists’ brightest new stars, Rambo Tjungurrayi draws on the work of his father and grandfather, magnifying elements to create startingly contemporary, vibrant, and uanopolgetically kitsch compositions, interweaving ancient tradition and modern Pintupi life.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023, ‘Kutjungkarrinyi – Gathering Together’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
About
$2,000
ST2306032
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 91 x 61cm, stretched
RT2402049
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 91 x 61cm, stretched
$2,000
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 61 x 55cm, stretched
$1,300
ST2405010
ST2403037
Puntutjalpa Rambo Tjungurrayi Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 122 x 91cm, stretched $4,600
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 61 x 55cm, stretched
$1,300 ST2310183
ST2306044
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 61 x 55cm, stretched
$1,300
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 91 x 91cm, stretched
$4,000 ST2306021
ST2403025
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 91 x 91cm, stretched
$6000
ST2403046
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 61 x 55cm, stretched
$1,300
ST2404090
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 153 x 122cm, stretched
$15,000
$8,200
ST2405021
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 122x 122cm, stretched
RT2402137
Puntutjalpa
Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 91 X 46cm, stretched
$1,600
Puntutjalpa Rambo Tjungurrayi
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 153 x 122cm, stretched
$15,000
ST2310182
“My father and Rambo’s grandfather were both painters. They went for exhibition in Sydney and travelled around, and now it’s our turn to takeover. We talk about our Country, about our places like Palipalantja, like Marrapinti. This is my first time in Melbourne and I feel very proud of myself. I feel proud to share those stories with you.”
John West Tjupurrula
John West Tjupurrula,
Pintupi 20th June - 13 July, 2024
About
John West Tjupurrula was born on in the bush in Kintore on the 14th August 1982. He is the son of Freddy West Tjakamarra and Payu Napaltjarri, and the half-brother of Bobby West Tjupurrula, all highly regarded Papunya Tula artists. Freddy West was one of the founding artists of the Western Desert movement, and a driving force behind the establishment of the Kintore and Kiwirrkura communities during the homelands movement of the 1980s. John is an emerging artist showing incredible promise. He lives and works with his family in Kiwirrkura, regularly painting the sites Winpulpula and Palipalintja, associated with the closely-guarded Tingari Song-Cycle. John also works at the Kiwirrkura school teaching two-way science, and as a ranger working in land management.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019, Desert Mob 2019, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
2019, ‘Pintupi Show 2019’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
2020, ‘Desert Stories’, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
2020, Desert Mob 2020, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
2020, ‘Papunya Tula 2020’, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
2021, ‘Papunya: 50 years 1971-2021’, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
2021, ‘Martupura Tjukurrpa – Important Business’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
2022, ‘Tjukurrtjanu Irriţitja Tjunta – Belonging to the Dreaming for a long time’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. 2023, ‘Kutjungkarrinyi – Gathering Together’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
2023, ‘Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past & Present Together): 50 Years Of Papunya Tula Artists’, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, Australian Embassy to the United States of America, Washington DC, USA.
2024, ‘India Art Fair 2024’, Australian High Commission, NSIC Exhibition Grounds, New Delhi, India.
$20,000
JW2404023
Palipalintja
John West Tjupurrula
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgium Linen, 153 X 122cm, stretched
Palipalintja
John West Tjupurrula
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgium linen, 107 X 91cm, stretched
$5,000
JW2403051
JW2405037
Palipalintja
John West Tjupurrula
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgium linen, 122 X 91cm, stretched
$5,800
$4,200
JW2401017
Palipalintja
John West Tjupurrula
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgium linen, 121 X 61cm, stretched
107
$5,000
Palipalintja
John West Tjupurrula
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgium linen
X 9cm, stretched
JW2401022
20th June - 13th July, 2024
Photo courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists