Brandy Tjungurrayi

Brandy Tjungurrayi was born in the bush probably near Jupiter Well some time around 1930. When he was about 16 years old, he came to Bililuna, which at that time was a government base for the construction of wells and windmills along the Canning Stock Route. As a senior and knowledgable lawman, he paints stories – mainly Tingari Cycle stories and Emu Dreaming stories – connected to his home country around Nyilla (Jupiter Well). His paintings are elegant, linear compositions comprised of fine dotting run together to create lines, often broadly symmetrical and sometimes converging on a central point in the canvas.
He started painting in 1985 at Balgo but also spends time painting at the community of Kiwirkurra, where many of his relatives live. His work at any one time tends to have a style reflecting the community in which he is living. He had his first solo exhibition in 2000 and he participated in the Kiwirrkura Men’s Painting exhibited at the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000.