Acrylic
on canvas
151 x 122 cm
(59.4 x 48 in)
2005
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The lines and stripes in this painting by Willy Tjungurrayi show a very different style of painting compared to his earlier works. These early paintings corresponded to the classical dot-line-circle patterns and symbols, which have become typical for contemporary Aboriginal art of the Western Desert.
In the 1990’s Willy Tjungurrayi started to develop a different style, in which the images have seem to be simplified. The subtly constructed line-paintings actually still describe the landscape and therefore places where events linked to the journeys of the spiritual Tingari ancestors occurred.
With this line-painting style, Willy Tjungurrayi uses an individually developed visual language to convey his vision. You can imagine the sand dunes or other landscape features in this painting. Despite their repetitious character, each line presents a new and unexpected variation. Lines break, diverge, converge and explode. Together with the delicate transitions of colour on a black background, this creates a painting in which you can feel the waving rhythms move.