Willy Tjungurrayi PINTUPI, Circa 1930-2018

Willy began painting for Papunya Tula in 1976 and by the time of his death in 2018, he had become one of the company’s senior-most painters. Willy was an iconic and influential artist, and his work is held in major collections including the NGA, NGV and AGNSW.

 Tjungurrayi painted the places he used to walk around as a boy growing up in the desert. Kirritjinna, close to the place of his birth, is rendered in the artist’s signature style – a central, undulating water source forming part of a network, connecting people, Country, and Law. A master of movement and restraint, Tjungurrayi uses subtle variations in tone to create depth in this work, his fiery palette giving life to the ancestral footprints that connect the sites of his Country. —Text from One of Twelve