Biography

William Sandy is a Pitjantjara man and was born c.1944 near Ernabella, South Australia and since about 1973, he lived with his family in Papunya where he began painting after encouragement from his brother in law, artist Michael Nelson Tjakamarra in 1975. From early 1980s, he began painting for the Papunya Tula Artists later painting for a few select independent dealers as he and his family moved out of the community. William Sandy paints the subjects from the maternal side of his family including dingo, emu, women, and green bean (puya). He is considered a skillful traditional healer. He is married to Violet Nakamarra (deceased 2009), with whom he had 4 children

William was one of the first of the Pitjantjatjara involved in the contemporary art movement. In 1985 William won the NT Art Award. His work was included in the 'Dreamings' show which toured the USA in 1988 along with Michale Nelson Tjakamarra, and in the subsequent show of Papunya Tula Artists at the John Weber Gallery in New York.

Collections

Broken Hill City Art Gallery
Donald Kahn collection
Lowe Art Museum
University of Miami
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
Wollongong City Art Gallery

Selected Group Exhibitions
1982, Georges Exhibition, Melbourne
1983, Mori Gallery, Sydney, NSW. 1993, Roar Studios, Melbourne, VIC.
1988, Papunya Tula Paintings, Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, NSW.
1989, Papunya Tula: Contemporary Paintings from Australia's Western Desert, John Weber Gallery, New York, USA.
1990, Paintings from the Desert, Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania
1991, Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA
1991, The Painted Dream: Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings from the Tim and Vivien Johnson Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery and Te Whare Taonga Aoteroa National Art Gallery, N. Z.
1993, Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach, Qld
1994, Dreamings - Tjukurrpa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert; The Donald Kahn collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
1997 - L'Art des Aborigènes d'Australie, Arts d'Australie o Stéphane Jacob / Galerie de Stassart, Bruxelles; L'Art des Aborigènes d'Australie, Arts d'Australie o Stéphane Jacob / Festival du Film, Cannes; L'Art des Aborigènes d'Australie, Arts d'Australie o Stéphane Jacob / Espace Paul Riquet, Béziers.
2000 - Arts d'Australie, Arts d'Australie o Stéphane Jacob / Salon Pharmagora, Paris.