George Tjungurrayi

George Tjungurrayi was born in the Gibson desert near Kiwikurra across the Western Australia border about 1947. He began painting in West Camp in Papunya about 1976 for Papunya Tula Artists and continued painting while residing at Yai Yai, Warawa, Mt Liebig and now Kintore. His

ancestral country covers the sites around Wala Wala, Kiwirrkura, Lake Mackay, Kulkuta, Karku, Ngaluwinyamana and Kilpinya to the north-west of Kintore across the West Australian border. George Tjungurrayi paints the Tingari stories for this region.
George’s work is represented in most public galleries and many significant corporate collections. In 2003 , 2015 and 2016 he was selected to exhibit in the Wynne Prize as a finalist at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney.

In 2018 he was selected to exhibit as a part of the Sydney Biennale .

“George Tjungurrayi has been creating paintings using linear patterns since the 1990s. His abstract canvases, demonstrating the distinctive painting style of Papunya Tula Artists of the Western Desert, are often interpreted as reflections of the desert landscape. The shapes and lines can be read as representations of waterholes and the ripple marks on the sand caused by the wind. When considered in a Western art-historical context, the optical effects created by colliding colours are reminiscent of Minimalism and Op Art. For Tjungurrayi, the characteristic patterns are also a reference to the invisible energy fields of his ancestral country and traditional stories deeply rooted in sacred law.” (Sydney Biennale Catalogue)