Helicopter Tjungurrayi (Aboriginal b.1947)
Helicopter Tjungurrayi is one of the younger generations of artists at Balgo Hills in Western Australia.
Born at Nynmi, Helicopter was brought up in the nomadic lifestyle and learnt from a young age everything about the plants and the water sources to ensure survival. Helicopter was given his name as a result of an incident in the 196Os, when he fell seriously ill and was collected by a flying doctor in the first helicopter seen in the area. Now a Marpan or medicine man himself, Helicopter practices as a traditional healer in the Balgo community and people travel hundreds of miles to see him for healing. From the beginning of the 90's he painted artworks together with his late wife, Lucy Yukenbarri Napanangka, who is also a well-known artist.
Since 1994 Helicopter has been painting in his own distinctive linear style. His artworks relate often to his land and that of his mother and father and usually depict water-holes as central elements. Helicopter travelled widely during the mission days to pick up supplies (Broome, Alice Springs, and Wyndham). There are many stories of the endless tasks performed on the Mission; drilling for water, cutting timber for fencing, fixing the windmill. More recently, Helicopter has travelled from Balgo Hills with his paintings and prints to Darwin, Adelaide and Melbourne. He remains dedicated to painting his country and the country of his mother and father where he lived a nomadic life as a young boy.
Collections
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
Kluge Ruhe Collection, USA
Gantner Myer Collection
Laverty Collection
Edith Cowan University
Harland Collection
Laverty Collection, Sydney
Revue du Louvre, Paris
Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Ken Thompson and Pierre Marecaux Collection
Comuninad de Madrid (Department of Culture, Regional Government of Madrid), Madrid, Spain
Awards
1999 Special Commendation, East Kimberley Art Awards, Kununurra Arts Council, Kununurra
Bibliography
Art Aborigène, Jouvence millénaire. Aboriginal Art, An Immemorial Fountain of Youth, Museé Olympic (Hrsg.), Lausanne 2001;
COWAN, James. Balgo new directions. Craftsman House, Sydney 1999;
Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren. The Unseen in Scene. Aboriginal Art Galerie B, Speyer, Kulturabteilung Bayer, Leverkusen, Bayer Australia, Sydney (Hrsg.), Speyer, 2000;
ISAACS, Jennifer, Spirit Country. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art. Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 1999, und Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999;
MEEUWSEN, Franca. Aboriginal Kunst, de verhalen vertellen, Zwolle, 2000;
MURNAME, Gerald, Sista brevet till en brorsdotter. In: Artes. Tidskrift fLitteratur, Konst och Musik, Nr 4/2002, Arg. 28, Stockholm;
Native Title Business. Contemporary Indigenous Art. Joan G. Winter (Hrsg.), Keearia Press, Southport, 2002;
The Fifth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award. The Art of Place. Australian Heritage Commission (Hrsg.). Canberra, 2000;
The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Kleinert, S. und Neale, M. (Hrsg.). Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne, 2000;
Solo Exhibitions
2009, Wangkartu Dreaming: Helicopter Tjungurrayi & Lucy Yukenbarri, Whiford Fine Art, London.
2004, Yungmantja: new paintings by Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Alcaston Gallery @ Depot Gallery, Sydney; Solo Exhibitions (with Napanangka Yukenbarri).
2003, Always together painting, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
1999, Tjurrnu: Living Water, Alcaston Gallery , Melbourne.
Group Exhibitions
2007, Survey, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Survey, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney; Survey, They Might be Giants, Wooloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane.
2006, Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Christine Yukenbarri, Imelda (Guguman) Yukenbarri, Carmel Yukenbarri, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Warlayirti Suite Print Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Survey, Short St. Gallery, Broome; Recent Works, Raft Art Space, Darwin; Singing and Dancing up the Country, Raft Gallery, Darwin; Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Sydney; Desert Mob, Aruluen Art Center, Alice Springs.
2005, Balgo 2005, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Christine Yukenbarri, Carmel Yukenbarri, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Glass from the Sand Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
2004, 29th Annual Shell Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle; Balgo A Go Go, GrantPirrie. Sydney.
2003, Eight by Three, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne; Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for Arts, Alice Springs; Balgo Prints, Northern Editions, Darwin; Purtatjanirri Kamu Warrmala, Framed Gallery, Darwin; Balgo Brilliance, Art Mob, Hobart; Palya Minyirri, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast.
2002, Balgo Hills, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; 19th NATSIAA, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin; Balgo Hills Artists 2002, Art Mob, Aboriginal Fine Art, Tasmania; Art from Balgo, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs; Kutjungka, Passing it On: Works from Balgo Hills, Coomalie Cultural Centre, Batchelor; Big Colour My Country, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast; Balgo Hills: An artist's survey, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney.
2001, Short on Size, Short St. Gallery, Broome; Balgo Men, Framed Gallery, Darwin; All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; Kutjungka, Bett Gallery, Hobart; Balgo Works, Staedtische Gallery, Wolsfburg, Germany; New paintings from Balgo, Cutliffe Gallery, Sydney; Recent Works by Artists from Balgo Hills, Ochre Gallery, Collingwood, Victoria; Balgo Artists Return to Country, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art, Alcaston Gallery, Madrid, Spain; Yvonnou Balgo Exhibition, AMG Gallery, Paris; Past Modern: an exhibition of Kimberley Landscapes, Short Street Gallery in conjunction with Australia Square, Sydney.
2000, The Westside: Images in Ochre and Colour, Coo-ee II Exhibiting Gallery, Yuwayi Art Precinct, World Square, Sydney; Olympic Exhibition, Coo-ee Exhibiting Gallery, Yuwayi Art Precinct, World Square, Sydney; Past, Present and Future, Gallery East, Sydney; Balgo Hills, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Marking the Paper: limited edition prints on paper, Desart, Sydney; Melbourne Artfair 2000, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne; Waltja - Family, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; Hot Press: Recent Prints from Central Austalia and the Kimberley, Beaver Galleries, Canberra; Peintures des Aborigenes d'Australie, Palais des Congres et des Expositions, Paris, France; Balgo Art, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs; Balgo Hills Aboriginal Paintings, Bett Gallery, Hobart.
1999, Aboriginal Art, IHK, Würzburg, Germany; Dreaming in Colour: Australian Aboriginal Art from Balgo, University of Virginia, USA; 16th National ATSI Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; East Kimberley Art Awards, Kununurra Arts Council, Kununurra; Desert Mob '99, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs; 30th Alice Prize, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs; Mularrpa (True) Balgo, Framed, the Gallery, Darwin; Miliynyin, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; Miliynyin, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle.
1998, Culture Store, Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Ngurrara: My Own Country, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy; Balgo Men, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Hilton Hotel Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
Dreamings, Vlaams-Europeesch Conferentiecentrum, Brussels, Belgium.
1997, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs; New Paintings from Balgo Artists, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Big Balgos: Recent Paintings by Warlayirti Artists, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; Balgo Paintings, Seywald Gallery, Salzburg, Austria; Dreamings, Arnhem, The Netherlands; Innenseite: Projektgruppe Stoffwechsel, Kassel & G, Germany; Desert Country, Matso's, Broome.
1996, Balgo Hills: Art of the Place, Derek Simpkins Gallery of Tribal Art, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Two Men Dreaming: New Art from Balgo Hills, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Paddington.