Patrick Tjungurrayi

Patrick Tjungurrayi was born in Yalangerri near Jupiter Well in Western Australia around 1935. He is a Pintupi and Kukatja speaker, the brother of the late Brandy Tjungurrayi and Elizabeth Nyumi, both major artists from the Balgo community.

As a young man, he walked with his family following the Canning Stock Route north into old Balgo Mission which had been established in 1943. The family would collect rations such as wheat, which they would grind up themselves, and rice, sugar and tea, and then return to the bush. Patrick Tjungurrayi spent his early years travelling between Balgo and Kiwirrkura, moving with his family across their traditional lands.

Patrick Tjungurrayi eventually moved to the Old Balgo Mission, where he worked building stone houses and later the church at the new Balgo site. He met and married Mirriam Oloodoodi, Lucy Yukenbari’s sister, but returned to Kintore shortly after while she remained behind. Through the early 1980s Patrick travelled to Christmas Creek, Docker River and other desert communities. Patrick Tjungurrayi is a senior law man for his country – he began painting in Balgo in 1986, and more recently exhibited with Papunya Tula.

In 2008 Patrick Tjungurrayi won the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award sponsored by the Art Gallery of Western Australia. His work is described as having a powerful presence – masterful and monumental. Aboriginal art status – Highly collectable artist.

Aboriginal Art Status

Highly collectable.

Selected Exhibitions

1997 Utopia Art, Sydney NSW
1997 Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs NT
1997 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA
1998 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
1999 16th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin NT
2000 Papunya Tula Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney NSW
2000 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2001 18th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin NT
2001 Papunya Tula 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Chapman Gallery, Canberra ACT
2001 Kintore, Kiwirrkura, Gallery Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2001 Papunya Tula 2001, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2002 Saluting Papunya, Chapman Gallery, Canberra ACT
2002 Art Born of the Western Desert, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2002 William Mora Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2002 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2003 Papunya Tula Artists – A Gift from the Desert, Utopia Art, Sydney NSW
2003 Kintore-Kiwirrkura 2003, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2003 Papunya Tula Selected Paintings, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2003 Pintupi Art 2003, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide SA
2004 Ma yungu/Pass it o’, Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2004 21th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin NT
2004 All About Papunya, Chapman Gallery, Canberra ACT
2005 Aboriginal Art 2005, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne VIC
2005 Papunya Tula Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2006 Pintupi Art 2006, Tony Bond Aboriginal Art Dealer, Adelaide SA
2006 Papunya Tula Artists – Recent Paintings, Harriet Place, Darwin NT
2006 Pintupi, Hamiltons Gallery, London UK
2006 Papunya Tula Artists 2006, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2007 24th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin NT
2007 Aboriginal Art 2007, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2007 Gifted: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, The Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney NSW
2007 Papunya Tula 2007, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2008 20 years of Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art, Sydney NSW
2008 Ngurra yurru kulintjaku – Always remembering country, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin NT
2008 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA
2008 The Canning Stock Route Project, Olympic Expo Beijing, China
2009 Community – The Heart of Papunya Tula Artists, Utopia Art, Sydney NSW
2009 Patrick Tjungurrayi, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri 2009, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne VIC
2009 Nganana Tjungurrinnganyi Tjukurrpa Nintintakitja – We Are Here Sharing Our Dreaming, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York USA
2009 Papunya 2009′, Senior Pintupi Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2009 Wynne Landscape Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney NSW
2010 Community, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney NSW
2010 Ngurra Kutju Ngurra – Belonging to One Country, ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2010 Wilkinkarralakutu – Journeys to Lake Mackay, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin NT
2010 Tradition & Innovation – Papunya Tula 2010′, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne VIC
2014 Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2015 Sixteen Artists – 16 x 2, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA