George Tjungurrayi was born in the desert in the vicinity of Kiwirrkura in approximately 1947 and is the younger brother of Naata Numgurrayi. George walked in to the community of Papunya with another man along the freshly graded road, after living at Mukula west of Kiwirrukura. He commenced painting for Papunya Tula artists in the early 1980’s.George Tjungurrayi began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in 1976. While the traditional aesthetic of Western Desert painting is notable in his early work, he has developed a distinctly minimal style that not only engages with the striking linear quality of early Pintupi painting but is also inherently distinguishable as his own. Tjungurrayi’s paintings depict the topographical reference points of his ancestral country, particularly those that reflect sites of cultural significance within Pintupi culture.
Tjungurrayi lives in the community of Kintore in the Northern Territory where he has maintained an active painting practice, continuing to develop and refine his distinctive style over many decades. A highly respected senior Papunya Tula Artist, works by Tjungurrayi are held in significant collections both in Australia and internationally.
2004 Wynne Landscape Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
Musee des Arts d’ Afrique et d’Oceanic, Paris
Groinger Museum, The Netherlands
University of Virginia, USA