Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Painting by Naata Nungurrayi

A striking contemporary abstract painting by celebrated Australian Aboriginal artist Naata Nungurrayi (1932-2021). The artist used fine dots as the sole element to compose a complex dreamtime landscape where Women's Ceremony took place in her ancestral time. The place is located at Marrapinti and its surrounds, where many water soakage holes were located. Dots in brilliant shifting and contrasting colors form ceremonial Tingari symbols performed by the women, black crawling tracks that may be associated with a site called Karilywarra (two carpet snakes) and mesmerizing Tali (sandhill) movements surrounding the canvas. The work is of the signature style of the artist, singular and easily recognizable. The fine quality of this work is exemplary.
Medium: acrylic on Belgium Linen
Cat no. AENA1007-12KM Verso
Provenance: Yanda Aboriginal Art, NT. Nanda/Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney, Australia.
The painting comes with a copy of COA valuation letter by Nanda/Hobbs dated 2016 from the previous owner.
Reference and further reading:
For a relevant work by the artist, See Plate 88 and Page 220-222 in the book "Past and Present Together: Fifty Years of Papunya Tula Artists" by Meyers and Skerritt.
Another similar work is illustrated on plate 13 in "Pintupi" by Hamiltons.
Artist's biography:
Naata Nungurrayi (1932-2021) is an Australian Aboriginal artist who was born at the site of Kumil, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. She is from the Pintupi group from Kintore, Northern Territory and is one of the senior elders of the Kintore women artist movement. Naata is the sister of George Tjungurrayi and Nancy Nungurrayi, and her son is Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa who are all well-known artists. Nungurrayi’s works identify specific water-soakage sites—including Marrapinti, a sacred waterhole west of Pollock Hills, and several surrounding sites. The surrounding tali, puli (rocky outcrops) and punti (vegetation) often feature in ancestral stories and refer to the resting places of the ancestral women on their travels.
One of her paintings appeared on Australia Post stamps in a 2003 special edition of Aboriginal art. Naata Nungurrayi was named among the Top 50 of Australia’s Most Collectable Artists in Australian Art Collector January–March 2004.