Kanya Tjapangati B. 1950 -D. 2006
Kirritjinna, 2004
Synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen
60 x 73 inches (152.4 x 185.4 cm)
© The Estate of the Artist, by permission of Papunya Tula Artists through the Aboriginal Artists Agency.
Provenance
The Artist, painted at Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia, in September 2004 for Papunya Tula Artists
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, cat. no. KT041026
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above
Sotheby’s, New York, Aboriginal Art, 25 May 2022 , lot 73
Collection of Steve Martin & Anne Stringfield, New York
Exhibitions
60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, UOVO, New York, May 2023Literature
Merlino, Vanessa, and Luke Scholes. 60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art. UOVO, 2023
Following Kanya Tjapangati’s passing in 2006, his distinctive contributions and artistic innovation have received limited recognition, despite the strength of his practice. Kirritjinna (2004) exemplifies his late career with characteristic subtlety. The composition’s undulating forms and layered pigments suggest both the visible and hidden patterns of the desert landscape. Seen from a distance, the rhythmic lines and spatial arrangement evoke the expansive interior of the Australian desert. At close range, the finely serrated strokes applied with the chewed tip of a eucalyptus twig, reveal a quiet intensity and remarkable precision.