George Ward Tjungurrayi | FireWorks Gallery

Artist Tabs

Selected works

FW15427

Pintupi

FW19269

Tingari cycle

Bio & CV

Born: 1945 Kiwirrkura WA
Language: Pintupi
Country: Kulkuta and Waralunga
Region: South-east of Kiwirrkura WA

George Ward, born in 1945, is a Pintupi elder who lives and works between Kintore, Kiwirrkura and Warakuna. Like many senior artists he began painting in the mid 1970s for the Papunya Tula artist group. With distinctive linear patterning, George still focuses largely on Tingari stories associated with male initiation and creation stories. Other subjects include Snake, Native Cat and stories associated with Lake MacDonald. In 2004 he won the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. His works are held in private, corporate and public collections.

Story/Statement

George Ward’s large scale works depict the ancestral desert narratives relating to the country west of Kintore and the region around Lake MacDonald. Often the stories describe journeys taken by the Tingari ancestors as they moved through the landscape, transforming into the structures of the landscape.

National Gallery of Victoria curator Judith Ryan stated: He hit on this sophisticated, geometric, filled-in style almost at once. I have the sense that he began to paint only when he was ready, in full command of both story and country – and he seems able to harness considerable power and visual energy almost every time he approaches a large canvas.

Excerpt from Going to the source article The Australian, Nicolas Rothwell 2004

GEORGE WARD TJUNGURRAYI

Born: 1945 Kiwirrkura WA

Language: Pintupi

Country: Kulkuta and Waralunga

Region: South-east of Kiwirrkura WA

EXHIBITIONS—SOLO

2005 George Ward Tjungurrayi Clarence Gallery London UK

1998 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi Melbourne

1997 Utopia Art Sydney

EXHIBITIONS—GROUP (SELECTED)

2019 Matches 6: Three clusters FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2013 Community V Utopia Art Sydney

2012 Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection Seattle Art Museum Seattle USA

2012 Community IV: Celebrating Forty Years of Papunya Tula Artists Utopia Art Sydney

2012 Unique Perspectives: Papunya Tula Artists and the Alice Springs Community Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs

2011 Eclectica Exhibition Series (I II and III) FireWorks Gallery Brisbane

2011 Papunya Tula Artists - Community III Utopia Art Sydney

2010 The Inspired Dream: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts Miami Florida

2010 Ngurru Kutju Ngurrara - Belonging to One Country ReDot Gallery Singapore

2009 Community - The Heart of the Papunya Tula Artists Utopia Art Sydney

2008 David Larwill and the Western Desert Artists Stephan Wiess Studio New York USA

2008 Aboriginal Art 2008 Scott Livesey Galleries Melbourne

2007 Utopia and Beyond: Aboriginal Desert Art from East to West Cooee Aboriginal Art NSW

2007 Shapiro: Aboriginal Art Exhibition Shapiro Art & Design Sydney

2007 Master Work from Papunya Tula Birrung Gallery Sydney

2007 Papunya Tula Short Street Gallery Broome

2006 Right Here, Right Now: Recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Acquisitions National Gallery of Australia Canberra

2006 Pintupi Hamiltons Gallery London UK

2006 Paintings by Papunya Tula Artists Suzanne O'Connell Gallery Brisbane

2006 Pintupi Dreamtime ReDot Gallery Singapore

2005 Aboriginal Vision in Contemporary Australia Art Wright Exhibition Space Seattle Washington USA

2005 Papunya Tula - New Paintings from the Kintore Kiwirrkura Region John Gordon Gallery Coffs Harbour NSW

2005 Strongly and Stately ReDot Gallery Singapore

2004 Binocular: Looking Closely at Country Ivan Dougherty Gallery College of Fine Arts UNSW Sydney

2004 Ma Yung/Pass It On Framed Gallery Darwin

2004 All About Papunya Chapman Gallery Canberra

2003 Papunya Tula Selected Paintings William Mora Galleries Melbourne

2003 Masterpieces from the Western Desert Gavin Graham Gallery London UK

2003 Kintore-Kiwirrkua Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi Melbourne

2002 Pintupi Artists Papunya Tula Artists Alice Springs

2000 Art of the Aborigines Leverkusen Germany in cooperation with Aboriginal Art Gallery Bähr Speyer

1996 Papunya Tula Artists Alice Springs NT

1995 Papunya Tula Artists Alice Springs NT

1995 Groninger Museum Groninger The Netherlands

1994 Gallery Australis Adelaide SA

1993 Dreamtime Gallery Broadbeach

1993 Chapman Gallery Canberra ACT

1992 Dreamtime Gallery Broadbeach QLD

1991 Friendly Country Friendly People: Araluen Centre Alice Springs

1990 The Isaacs Gallery Toronto Canada

AWARDS

2004 Winner of the Wynne Prize: Art Gallery of NSW Sydney

1994 Winner of the Wynne Prize: Art Gallery of NSW Sydney

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia Canberra

Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney

National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

Artbank

Charles Darwin University

Groninger Museum Groningen

Museum of Victoria Melbourne

Robert Holmes à Court Collection Perth

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory Darwin

Seattle Art Museum

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