Soakage Water of Kirrimalunya
Artist:
George Ward Tjungurrayi
(Pintupi / Australian, born ca. 1945)
Place made:Australia
General region:Oceania
Date: 2004
Medium: Acrylic on Belgian linen
Dimensions:
48 1/2 x 49 in. (123.2 x 124.5 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of the Lam Family
Object number: 2016.14.66
Copyright: © George Ward Tjungurrayi
Label Text
To create this immersive, optical composition, George Ward Tjungurrayi depicted the claypans (shallow depressions in the clay-rich soil where water collects after a heavy rain) of Kirrimalunya, an important site during the Creation Period. Tingari Men, ancestral elders of the Western Desert region, depended on water from this area as they traveled through the country performing ceremonies. The artist’s signature style of dotted linear patterning evokes the sand dunes of his native Gibson Desert. In this abstract stylistic approach, which was first popularized by Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri (Pintupi, ca. 1926–1998)—a founding artist of the Western Desert painting movement at Papunya—all representational imagery and symbols are removed from the painting. What remains is an atmospheric visual field that gives respect to the ancestral forces in the landscape.
(LSM, 2017)
(LSM, 2017)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
