Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri Pitjantjatjara language, circa 1920-2008
Rockholes near the Olgas, 2008
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
72 x 60.2 inches (182.9 x 152.9 cm)
Photo: Courtesy of D’Lan Contemporary
Provenance
The Artist, painted at Mt. Leibig, Northern Territory, 2008
Watiyawanu Artists of Amunturrngu, Mt. Leibig, Northern Territory, cat no. 77-08405
Private Collection, Sydney
D'Lan Contemporary, Melbourne
ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore
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 2023
Approaching Abstraction: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Across Australia, Asia Society, New York, 18 September 2024 - 05 January 2025
Literature
Vanessa Merlino and Luke Scholes, 60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, UOVO, 2023 (illus.)Bill Whiskey's art focuses almost exclusively on the ancestral white cockatoo story from his birthplace of Pirupa Alka, located 130 kilometers south of Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) in Central Australia. This story highlights three birds — the white cockatoo, his friend the eagle, and their adversary, the crow.
The floating roundels, which are some of the most striking compositional elements of the design, symbolise the rock pools formed in the vast desert landscape during the battle between the ancestral birds. Bill Whiskey was the first to conceptualise and innovative stylistic depictions of his birthplace, developing specific iconography for this story within the broader conventions of Western Desert painting. These distinguishing features of his work are products of his mind's eye, perceiving Country as a continuum.
Related artworks
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Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri, Rockholes near the Olgas, 2007
