UNTITLED, 1972
MICK NAMARARI TJAPALTJARRI
synthetic polymer paint on composition board
54.0 x 47.0 cm
inscribed verso: Stuart Art Centre consignment number 19228
Executed at Papunya, Northern Territory
Consignment 19 painting number 228 to the Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs
Private collection, Queensland
Private collection, Melbourne
This work is accompanied by a document of authenticity prepared by Geoffrey Barton, which states: 'The circular forms, with internal dotting pattern, here represent stylised trees, bushes, grass plants, possibly the desert oak tree, unique to the Western Desert. This is part of a map landscape of Pintupi homelands of the Gibson Desert, Western Australia.
The arced network of vertical lines, linking circles (trees) top to bottom, with dotting patterns connecting the dotted circles are stylised motifs for sandhills, of a landscape terrain west of Papunya, Kintore and further west.
The horizontal straight lines are a stylised pattern for the journey travelling motif, and implies people foraging and hunting, crossing a landscape region in the artist's homeland. The pattern of circles, arcs and straight lines is a mind-map of the artist's place or homeland, known to him in intimate detail but here generalised without any sacred/ secret signs or symbols. The dotting represents the grass, earth and bush tucker in sandhills, and simultaneously the prepared ground for ceremony of this dreaming story.'