Warlimpirrnga

Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri was born sometime around 1958, east of Kiwirrkurra, Western Australia. Warlimpirrnga and his family, which includes fellow artists Thomas, Walala, Yukultji, Yalti and Tjakaria, led a completely nomadic life until they emerged from the desert around Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), coming to Kiwirrkurra in 1984. Dubbed "The Last Nomads" or "The Group of Nine", they had had no contact with western society until this point.

Amazingly, Warlimpirrnga transitioned from an utterly traditional lifestyle to commencing as an artist with Papunya Tula within three years. By 1988, he had his first exhibition in Melbourne.
Warlimpirrnga paints in two main styles, using geometric shapes to represent the Tingari story or lines interspersed with dotting for his dreaming concerning the sacred site of Lake Mackay of which he is the custodian. Warlimpirrnga employs a dotting technique shared with other Pintupi artists such as his brothers, Thomas and Walala, and with George Ward Tjungurrayi.

Tingari are the legendary beings of the Pintupi people that travelled the desert performing rituals, teaching law, creating landforms and shaping what would become ceremonial sites.
As far as we can know, the meanings behind Tingari paintings are multi-layered, however, those meanings are not available to the uninitiated.
Despite his late start to painting, Warlimpirrnga is regarded as a very serious artist. Today, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri spends his time between Alice Springs, NT and Kiwirrkurra, WA in his home lands.

COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica
Macquarie Group Collection, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Musee Des Arts Africains et Oceaniens, Paris
Moree Plains Gallery, Moree
Griffith University Art Collection, Queensland
College of Art, Brisbane
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
The Luczo Family Collection, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Artbank, Sydney

EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Marawa, Piermarq, Sydney
2015 Solo Exhibition 'Maparntjarra' travelling the USA: amongst other locations: Salon 94, Gallery on the Bowery, New York, USA; Perez Art
Museum, Miami, Florida, USA
2009 Warlimpirrnga Tjaplatjarri, Patrick Tjungurrayi, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
1988 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Defining Tradition: the first wave & its disciples, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2018 Three Brothers, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2018 Reverence - Sydney Contemporary, D'Lan Davidson, Sydney
2018 Tjukurrpa: Stories from the Western Desert, Piermarq, Sydney
2017 NEW - The latest from Kiwirrkurra, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
2016 From the Western Desert, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2015 No Boundaries: Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Abstract Painting, Nevada Museum of Art, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art; Perez Art Museum Miami, USA
2015 Community VII, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
2014 Abstraction, Utopia Art, Sydney
2013 Painting Now, Utopia Art, Sydney
2013 Community V, Utopia Art, Sydney
2012 Classic Works from Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art, Sydney
2012 Abstraction, Utopia Art, Sydney

2011 40 years of Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art, Sydney
2010 Wilkinkarralakutu - Journeys to Lake Mackay, Cross Cultural Art Exchange (CCAE), Darwin, NT
2010 Ngurra Kutju Ngurrara - Belonging to One Country, ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2010 Desert Icons Australasian Arts Project, Singapore
2010 Aboriginal Art 2010, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2009 26th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, NT
2009 5th Annual Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Shalom College University of NSW, Sydney
2009 Community - The Heart of Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art, Sydney
2009 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, The Chain Building, Bennett Park, Darwin, NT
2009 Nganampatju Kanpatja Winki, Nganampatju Yara Winkii - All Our Paintings, All
Our Stories, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2009 Nganana Tjungurrayi Tjukurrpa Nintintjakitja: We are Here Sharing our
Dreaming, East Galleries, New York, USA
2009 Painting the Country, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, NT
2009 Papunya 2009, Senior Pintupi Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2009 Papunya Tula Classics, Utopia Art, Sydney
2009 Pintupi 2009, Tony Bond Art Dealer, Adelaide
2009 Tjukurrpa Palurukutu, Kutjupawana Palyantjanya - Same Stories, A New Way,
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2009 Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Patrick Tjungarrayi, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2008 New Paintings from Papunya Tula Artists, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2008 David Larwill and the Western Desert Artists, Stephan Weiss Studio, New York, USA
2008 Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art: Handle With Care, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2008 Aboriginal Art 2008, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2007 The Black and White Show, Red Dot Gallery, Singapore
2007 Pintupi - Mixed Exhibition, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
2007 Master Works from Papunya Tula, Birrung Gallery, Sydney
2007 Group Show, Jan Murphy Gallery,