Unspoken Memories: A Journey Through Yalpirakinu
Adrian Jangala Robertson
20 Jul
2024
2024
10 Aug
2024
Adrian Jangala Robertson is a proud Warlpiri man from the Central Western Desert region. Growing up in Papunya, Robertson witnessed the Western Desert painting movement’s inception. Adrian has since enjoyed strong artistic influences throughout his life including his father’s brother, the late Darby Ross Jampijinpa and his mother, the late Eunice Napangardi. Since 2002 Adria nhas painted with the Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists and become a crucial member of the Alice Springs art community.
Unspoken Memories: A Journey Through Yalpirakinu showcases a broad range of recent artworks by Robertson. Adrian paints using a restricted palette, deliberately and thoughtfully pushing, and pulling an image to its completion. Through painting Adrian connects his memories of family and his mother’s country, Yalpirakinu. His distinctive style of brushwork that is loaded with energy, portrays his family and the desert mountains, ridges, and trees, capturing his deep connections and memories of family and country.
An accomplished artist, Adrian has exhibited nationally and internationally. He won the NATSIAA General Painting Award (2020), the Artist of the Year, Mparntwe NAIDOC awards (2021), and The Alice Prize, Mparntwe National Contemporary Art Award (2022). In 2022 he was a finalist in the Hadley Art Prize and Sulman Prize. This year, Adrian is a finalist in the Sulman, Archibald and Wynne, one of only two artists who got accepted in all three prizes. In June this year, Adrian also had his first international, solo exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in London.
Installation View
Artworks
Artist Profile/s
Adrian Jangala Robertson
Lives
Adrian was born at Papunya in 1962. He went to school in Papunya and remembers Geoff Bardon as a school teacher and working alongside the early Western Desert painters. Adrian's fathers' country travels from west of Walungurru through Karku at Nyirrpi to Warlurkurlangu at Yuendumu. His father, Jampitjinpa, lived at Mount Doreen close to Yuendumu and later worked at Papunya as a Gardener and Builder. Jampitjinpa is a brother to the late Darby Ross Jampitjinpa, sharing the same mother and father. Adrian's mother is the late Eunice Napangardi, a well known painter herself. It is her country, Yalpirakinu, that Adrian paints.
Adrian joined The Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists in 2002. He is a landscape painter and uses a predominantly restricted palette. His paintings consistently refer to the desert mountains, ridges and trees which are part of Yalpirakinu. His brushwork is loaded with energy, drama and memories. He is a deliberate and thoughtful painter; reworking, pushing and pulling the image to completion.
AWARDS
2022 Winner - 2022 42nd Alice Prize - Araluen, Alice Springs
2021 Winner - Artist of the Year - 2021 Mparntwe NAIDOC
2021 Finalist - 2021 Vincent Lingiari Art Award - Ngawa, Ngapa, Kapi, Kwatja, Water
2021 Finalist - 2021 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2020 Winner - General Painting Award - 2020 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2018 Finalist - 2018 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
2004 Finalist - 2004 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA - Telstra)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 NGAJU NYANGU WARLALJA, NGAJU NYANGU NGURRA (MY FAMILY, MY COUNTRY) - Redot Gallery - Singapore
2021 Yalpirakinu, Mothers Country - RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT
2018 Paint Country - RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT
2010 RAFT Artspace - Alice Springs, NT