Painted in 2011 at Warakurna, Western Australia for Warakurna Artists
The Dennis and Debra Scholl Collection, Miami

Nevada, Nevada Museum of Art, No Boundaries: Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Abstract Painting, 13 February to 13 May 2015, and additional venues:
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, 20 June to 16 August 2015
Pérez Art Museum, Miami, 17 September 2015 to 3 January 2016
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, 18 January to 15 May 2016
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, New York, 9 June to 14 August 2016

Henry F. Skerritt, ed. et al, No Boundaries: Australian Aboriginal Contemporary Abstract Painting, Prestel Verlag, Munich-London-New York, 2014, p.78, p.79 (illus.)

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, on stretcher, unframed. Bears Warakurna Arts catalogue number 448/11 on reverse. The work is in excellent condition overall with no visible evidence of repair or restoration.
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This painting is sold with an accompanying certificate from Warakurna Artists that reads in part, “This painting is about a special place called Warlpapuka." Warlpapuka (Mt Fanny) is a lone mountain surrounded by undulating plains and is located on the main road about half way between Warakurna and Papulankutja. As the anthropologist David Brooks explains, “Warlpa literally translates as windy and puka, in this context, means place. It is a central point where yarnangu (people) camped and replenish their food supplies in order to travel to other “countries”. It is an area with excellent resources such as food and wood. Warlpapuka contains many tjukurrpa, too complicated to disentangle. Mr Mitchell explained that certain areas in his Warlpapuka paintings represented the trees belonging to Warlpapuka. On our trips to Papulankutja, Mr. Mitchell would ask to stop at Mount Fanny and would point out the different types. “Kurlilypurru! Wakapuka! Nganturn!” he would say excitedly. Kurlilypurru (Southern Cypress Pine: Calliris preisii) that grows on harsh, rocky mountain sides. Growing at the base of the mountain there are large stands of Wakapuka (Dead-finish: Acacia tetragonophylla) and Nganturn (Bardi Bush: Acacia victoriae). However, it is too simplistic to say that the different segments within the paintings only represent the trees or are a type of topographical or botanical map. Rather, the trees act as metaphysical sign-posts, orientating the mountain and the myriad of Tjukurrpa it contains. Also embedded in these works are the rocks, creeks and rock-holes of Warlpapuka. They are also characters at play in the physical manifestation of the Tjukurrpa in its unfathomable entirety.

Tommy‘s uncle, Mr Tjunka Lewis painted the Parrtjarta (Western quoll) tjukurrpa from Warlpapuka. Parrtjarta wati (man) is an elusive character and a bit of a trickster. He travelled everywhere, along the dry creek beds located all around Warlpapuka. Parrtjarta was very hard to find and often played tricks on different characters in the tjukurrpa. It was through collaborating with his uncle that Mr Mitchell also began painting Warlpapuka. Patjarrtja, the western quoll or western native cat (Dasyurus geoffroii) has become extinct from the Ngaanyatjarra region due to the impact of wild feral cats.”

WC