Tommy Watson, Untitled, 2013 & 2016

TOMMY WATSON (Australian, 1935-2017) Untitled I,  Synthetic polymer paint on linen 152cm x 244cm Acquired: 2020 114752

Biography:

Yannima Tommy Watson was a senior Pitjantjatjara man from the central western desert who became a significant contemporary Indigenous Australian artist. He was born near the isolated community of Irrunytju in Western Australia , near the junction of its border with the Northern Territory and South Australia, in one of the country’s most remote desert regions.

Watson began painting in 2002 following the establishment of the Irrunytju Community Art Cntre in 2001, of which Watson was a founding member.  In 2003, Watson was one of eight Indigenous artists, who collaborated on a commission to provide works to the Musée du quai Branly's four buildings in Paris.

Although Watson worked closely with some renowned desert artists of the 1970s and 1980s who incorporated sacred indigenous symbols, Watson shied away from utilising traditional imagery; instead, the composition of his works is largely densely ‘dotted’ brushwork of intense colouration.

His work depicts the topographical forms of his country and the Tjukurrpa law that underlies it. He paints the stories of his mother’s and grandfather’s country, recording the sacred dream time stories and intuitively using vibrant colour to symbolically represent the dreamtime journeys of the ancient spirits and the significant episodes in the history of his tribe.

His work has been exhibited at national and international art fairs including The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) Maastricht, PAN Amsterdam and GAF Amsterdam, Art Miami, Art Silicon Valley (San Francisco), Art Southampton and the Armory Show in New York, USA; and at leading commercial galleries in New York, London, Sydney and Melbourne.

He is represented in important Australian public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of NSW.

View more works by Tommy Watson at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales,

Also view Tommy Watson's second untitled work acquired by the University of Canberra: Tommy Watson Untitled 2.