(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.
Learnt from traditional artists.
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 |
| 1988 | Alice Prize, Alice Springs, NT, AUSTRALIA |
