Morris
Gibson Tjapaltjarri is the son of Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi. Having
learned and now inherited custodianship of Dreaming stories from his
father, Morris paints in a powerful style reminiscent of the early
masters, the first wave of Pintupi artists who came out of Papunya
in 1971.
In
this painting Morris has managed the feat of fusing two disparate
painting styles into a composition, in which the whole is greater
than the sum of the parts. This is a flooring painting in person
a real ripper. The left side emphasizes fine line work
reminiscent of same of the earliest Pintupi paintings made at Papunya
when Morris would have been in his teenage years and the left side
evokes the crackling intensity of classic Tingari cycle paintings
from the 1980's by men like his father and Uta Uta Tjangala.
This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site
of Warilutjana, west of Lake MacDonald. The arced lines represent
sand hills at the site. In mythological times a group of Tingari
men camped at this site before traveling northwest to Lake MacKay.
Since events associated with the Tingari cycle are of a secret sacred
nature no further details were given. Generally the Tingari are
a group of mythical characters of the Dreaming who traveled over
vast stretches of country, performing rituals thereby creating and
shaping particular sites. The Tingari men were usually followed
by Tingari women and accompanied by young novices and their travels
and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These mythologies
form part of the teachings of post initiatory youths today as well
as providing explanations for contemporary customs.