Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri circa 1926-1998

Painted at Kintore, in June, 1997
Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs catalogue number MN970699
Private collection, France

In excellent overall condition with no visible repairs or restorations. Some very minor scuffing to the corners where the canvas meets the stretcher. Unframed, on a high quality stretcher.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This work is sold with an accompanying Papunya Tula certificate that reads in part: "This painting depicts the Tjunginpa (Mouse) Dreaming at the site of Tjunginpa, a hill site north-west of the Kintore Community. The overall dotting represents the footprints of the mouse and also kampurarrpa, an edible berry, which is eaten by the mouse. Men of the Tjapaltjarri kinship subsection are custodians for the ceremonies associated with this mythology.”

Mick Namarari was a custodian of a constellation of sites in the vicinity of the Western Australian/Northern Territory border, several of which were associated with totemic mammals. Tjunginpa is the name of the Spinifex Hopping Mouse and the related totemic site. The behavior of the mouse sheds light on Namarari’s minimalist treatment of the Tjunginpa Tjukurrpa, and the ontological significance of this seemingly minor mammal.

Tjunginpa live in cool burrows under the sunbaked desert earth. Tunnels connect their burrows, like the lines and stations of an underground rail system. In times of abundance, following heavy rain, plagues of Tjunginpa emerge from popholes, dotting the sand between favored food plants with tiny tracks.¹ These trackways are reflected in the intensely dotted treatment of the current painting. The emergence of the hopping-mice from their burrows reinforces the Indigenous belief that life comes from the earth. Moreover, the abundance of Tjunginpa streaming from their popholes, buttresses a conviction that if the correct ceremonies are conducted, animals and plants will flourish.

The works of desert minimalists, such as Namarari are sometimes thought to have sprung from an essentialist view of nature within an abstracted cosmology. Such explanations, however, do not account for the genres earthy origins. It is more accurate to comprehend Namarari’s works as an interpretation of the specific and the minute in nature, amplified and attenuated to encompass the total visual field.² The uncanny similitude of works of Western Desert minimalists to those produced by European and North American modernists should not deny contemporary desert artists their individual voice. It is important therefore, when considering works such as Mick Namarari's Untitled, Tjunginpa Tjukurrpa that the artist’s purpose is weighted against the seamless integration of desert art into the contemporary cannon.³

Namarari’s numinous late representations of the Tjunginpa Dreaming are a profound meditation on the cryptic and yet distinctive attributes of a particular desert species. Such paintings transport us from the gallery and into a world of minute observation and precious knowledge.⁴

^JK

¹ Katherine Moseby, Theresa Nano, Rick Southgate, Tales in the sand: a guide to identifying Australian arid zone fauna using spoor and other signs, Kimba, South Australia, Ecological Horizons, p. 87.
² John Kean, ‘Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri’, in Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, exh. cat. Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 2011, pp. 160-2.
³ John Kean, ‘Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Shimmer and Shake’, in Brought to Light II, Contemporary Australian Art 1966-2006, Queensland Art Gallery Publishing, Brisbane, pp. 78-83.
⁴ John Kean, ‘Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri’, Important Aboriginal Works of Art, Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 2016, p. 52.