Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri (b.c.1926 at Marnpi southeast of Kintore, Northern Territory – 1998), was one of the most important painters to emerge from the Western Desert.

From the Pintupi language group, Mick Namarari was one of the foundation artists of the movement that emerged in Papunya Tula. White school teacher Geoffrey Bardon considered him one of eight artists whose efforts at the foundation of the movement were particularly interesting. The others were , Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, , Tim Payungka Tjapangati, and .^[1]

From early figurative works, he moved on to creating large geometric designs that typified Papunya Tula art in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1990s he began producing "minimalist" paintings that depicted the imprint of a kangaroo in the sand, the seeds that the marsupial mouse feeds upon, or the aftermath of hailstorms in the desert.

He died in Alice Springs in 1998, survived by his wife Elizabeth Nakamarra Marks and his daughter Angeline Nungurrayi.

Collections[]

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
• Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Awards[]

Australia Council for the Arts[]

The Australia Council for the Arts arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It it presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Bardon, Geoffrey (1999). Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert. Adelaide: J.B. Books. ISBN 0958699860.

External links[]

• Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

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