Simon Tjakamarra

Painted for Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, in 1989 (catalogue number ST890939)

Dr. Jennifer Bailey, Maryland, acquired from the above in 1989

Simon Tjakamarra belonged to the second wave of painters at Papunya, commencing his career in earnest in 1976. He was the younger brother of Anatjari Tjakamarra (c.1938-92s) who was one of artists to initiate the acrylic painting movement in 1971. The brothers settled in the Pintupi community of Kintore the early 1980s. There seems little doubt that Simon’s career blossomed under the influence of his more experienced brother. During the decade, Simon crystalised the Pintupi template in paintings that refer to the Tingari ancestors in an "immaculate rendering of the design (...) with a distinctive undulating rhythm."¹ This is evident in Tingari Cycle, painted in the last year of his life. The mesmerising effect Tjakamarra achieves through the juxtaposition of concentric roundels jostling for space against parallel angular forms resonates visually, intuiting the sacred nature of the site of Kulkuta where he was born, imbued with the quintessential forces of the Tingari.

The documentation of the painting supplied by Papunya Tula Artists locates the site of the picture and describes the Tingari as ancestors from the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) "who travelled over vast stretches of country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari men were usually followed by Tingari women and accompanied by novices and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These mythologies form part of the teaching of the post-initiate youths today as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs."

For an earlier related painting, see Tingari Dreaming at Karrkurritinytja, 1986, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, in Perkins, H. and H. Fink (eds), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in association with Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, 2000, pp. 98-99.

¹ Perkins and Fink 2000, p.181