Ronnie Tjampitjinpa

ARTIST BIO

(b. 1974, AUSTRALIA)

 

Speaking Pintupi and born near Muyinnga/Kintore Ranges (near Alice Springs) of Northern Territory in AUSTRALIA, Aboriginal artist Ronnie Tjampitjinpa travelled extensively through the Northern Territory living in a traditional life style of 40,000 years. He was initiated into manhood in the early 19550’s at Yumari near his birthplace. Shortly afterwards, due to drought conditions, Ronnie and his family moved towards Haasts Bluff and then later joined relatives at the newly settled Papunya community.

 

He found work as a fencer making the yards for cattle in the surrounding area. It was during this time that he started to take an interest in the art movement happening at this time and started painting. His Goal, to live in the traditional land, was made possible by the establishment of the Kintore settlement in 1981. Being back to the traditional land and way of living, Ronnie is more in touch with the culture and the Dreaming, and soon emerged as one of Papuny Tula’s major artists.

 

His works reflect his direct ties with his culture, retaining a purity that many other aboriginal artists have not achieved. Ronnie’s work follows the strict Pintupi style of strong circles joined together by connecting lines relating to the people, the land and the Dreamtime. His work has a simplicity that makes it appealing, yet mysterious as the uninitiated try to understand what hi is painting. By painting the Dreamtime he is helping to resurrect the Aboriginal culture as a whole and allow outsiders to learn about one of the oldest cultures in the world. This work is important to the spirituality of the land, bridging the gap between European and Traditional Aboriginal life, which is important in drawing attention to and narrowing this gap.

 

EDUCATION

Learnt from traditional artists.

 

EXHIBITIONS

SOLO EXHIBITION

2008 Redrock gallery, Beijing, 2nd Gallery Opening, Group Exhibition, Beijing, CHINA
2007 Redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Gallery Grand Opening Beijing, CHINA
Redrock gallery, Group Exhibition China World Exhibition Centre, Beijing, CHINA
Redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Beijing, CHINA
Redrock gallery, Group Exhibition, International Art Expo, Beijing, CHINA
2000 - 2006 Group Exhibitions and Permanent Collection, Redrock gallery, Melbourne, CHINA
2001 Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
2000 Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
1999 Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
‘Twenty-five Years and Beyond”, Embassy of Australia, Washington, U.S.A.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A.
1998 Jinta Gallery, Sydney
1996 ‘Dreamings of the Desert’
1995 Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
1994 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Milan & Palermo, ITALY
The Donald Kahn Collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, GERMANY
Dreamings – Tjukurroa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert; AUSTRALIA
Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, AUSTRALIA
The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, AUSTRALIA
Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra, AUSTRALIA
Power of the Land-Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, AUSTRALIA
Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Utopia Gallery, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
1993 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kun Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach, QLD, AUSTRALIA
Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art From Central Australia (1971-1993), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA, AUSTRALIA
Art Gallery of N.S.W. Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Art Museum, Armidale, N.S.W., AUSTRALIA
1992 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, AUSTRALIA
The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, AUSTRALIA
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, AUSTRALIA
1991 The Eighth National Aboriginal Art award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, AUSTRALIA
Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia, AUSTRALIA
Australian Aboriginal Art form the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University f Miami, USA
Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moscow and museum of Ethnographic Art, St. Petersburg, RUSSIA
1990 Paintings from the Desert, Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA
The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, AUSTRALIA
1989 Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AUSTRALIA
1987 - 1990 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.
1986 Roar Studios, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
1983 Mori Gallery, Sydney, AUSTRLIA

 

AWARDS AND GRANTS

1988 Alice Prize, Alice Springs, NT, AUSTRALIA

 

COLLECTIONS

  1. Musee des Arts Africans et Oceaniens, Paris, FRANCE
  2. Donald Kahn Collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA
  3. Richard Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
  4. Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
  5. Artbank, Sydeny, AUSTRALIA
  6. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
  7. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
  8. Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, AUSTRALIA
  9. Campbelltown City Art Gallery, AUSTRALIA
  10. Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, AUSTRALIA
  11. National Gallery of Australia Canaberra, AUSTRALIA
  12. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
  13. The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth, AUSTRALIA
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