Napuwarri is the third son and fourth child of the great artist Bakulanjay Marawili. In the last years of his fathers life it was he who worked most closely on art with him. They complete a number of collaborative works together. He follows many of his fathers stylistic features and was endorsed as a legitimate artist of his clans sacred designs by his father before his death. Napuwarri first came to wider attention in the Yakumirri exhibition at Raft artspace in Darwin. The Holmes a Court Collection bought this set of paintings in its entirety. He is an adaptable man with a versatile range of artistic skills. As well as dancing and singing in ceremony he sculpts as well as makes prints. As a young man he travelled to the east coast and worked as a carpenter and married to a Queensland indigenous woman from Cairns and had two children before he moved back to NorthEast Arnhem land. He has strong links to Numbulwar through his second wife Rita and from his early years spent there as Bakulanjays' family was one of the last of the Madarrpa to move back to their homeland of Yilpara in the 1980's.
Napuwarri worked for Buku-Larrnggay Mulka for two years before returning to Yilpara to live in 2006. His first solo show was at Suzanne O'Connell in 2008. The National Gallery of Australia bought two works from this show. The Kerry Stokes collection has also acquired his work.
EXHIBITIONS
2017 Mulka - ARTKELCH Collectors Lounge @ kptec, Schorndorf (close to Stuttgart), Germany
2017 Buku-Larrnggay - Art Karlsruhe, Germany
2017 Buku-Larrnggay - ARTKELCH, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
2016 Mala - Together as a Group - Raft Artspace - Core Collective Studio Space, Hobart TAS
2015 31st National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award - Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), Darwin NT
2015 Buku-Larrnggay Mulka - Yirrkala Print Space Exhibition - Gapan Gallery, Garma Festival, Gulkula, Northeast Arnhem Land NT
2015 Lumggurma - Brumby Ute Aspen, Colorado USA
2012 The Philosophy of Water, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2010 The white Show, Short St. Gallery, Broome WA
2009 After Berndt Indigenart, Mossenson Gallery, Perth WA
2009 Menargerie: Contemporary Indigenous Sculpture, Australian Museum and touring.
2008 Etched in the Sun Prints made by Indigenous artists in collaboration with Basil Hall &Printers 1997-2007 ANU, Canberra, ACT
2008 Galaku Gallery, Darwin Festival, Botanical Gardens, DArwin, NT
2008 Gapan Gallery, Gulkula Garma site, NT Berndt Etchings Exhibitions
2008 Fire & Lightning Suzanne O'Connell Gallery Brisbane, QLD
2008 25th NATSIAA, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin, NT
2008 Bitpit Yirrkala Sculpture, RAFT Artspace Darwin.
2006 Bulayi - Small Gems Suzanne O'Connell Gallery Brisbane, QLD
2005 Yakumirri , Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth WA
2005 22nd NATSIAA, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin, NT
2004 Circle,Line,Column - Annandale Galleries, Sydney. NSW
2003 Trees - Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
COLLECTIONS
Artbank
Ballarat Fine Art Collection
Holmes a Court Collection
National Gallery of Astralia
Kerry Stokes Collection
Westfarners Collection, Perth, WA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2008 Etched in the Sun Prints made by indigenous artists in collaboration with Basil Hall&Printers 1997-2007 ANU, Canberra
2009 Menagerie: Contemporary Indigenous Sculpture, catalogue.
AWARDS
2018 Telstra Bark Painting Award, MAGNT, Darwin, NT
2008 Highly Commended, Telstra Bark Painting Award 25th Jubilee NATSIAA, MAGNT, Darwin, NT