PADDY
JAPALJARRI SIMS
Paddy Sims Japaljarri's country
is west of Yuendumu but he has lived in Yuendumu since he was a young
single man. Back when there were no clothes, Walpiri people wore hair
string belts that they made. When Paddy Sims Japaljarri was young he
worked sawing mulga trees for the wood and for fuel for fires. Paddy
was also involved with gardening and farming in the Yuendumu district.
This included growing watermelons, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and
other vegetables. The farm was at Four Mile Bore where they had chickens,
pigs, ducks and other animals. Paddy is married to Bessie Nakamarra
and he is warringiyi (grandfather). All his life he's been hunting goanna,
kangaroo, emu and other animals each day for bush tucker. Paddy has
passed his knowledge on to many of the young men. This has also lead
to him working at the Yuendumu school teaching jukurrpa (Dreaming),
painting, hunting, traditional dancing and bush tucker and has also
helped out on excursions out bush, to Alice Springs and to Darwin. Paddy
has been painting for Warlukurlangu (the Art Centre at Yuendumu) for
many years.
In 1988 Paddy Sims was selected by The Power Gallery, Sydney University
to travel to Paris with five other Warlpiri men from Yuendumu to create
a ground painting installation at the exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre'
at the Centre Georges Pompidou. The trip took place in May 1989 and
the painting was received with worldwide acclaim.
Subjects and themes
Yiwarra (Milky Way),
Ngarlkirdi/Warna (Witchetty Grub/Snake),
Pirntirna (Woma Python),
Liwirringki (Burrowing Skink),
Ngaru (Bush Plum),
Walpa (Wind ),
Jungunpa (Marsupial Mouse),
Mala (Hare Wallaby),
Wakulyarri (Banded Rock Wallaby),
Warlu (Fire),
Witi (Ceremonial pole),
Ngalyipi (Snake vine)
Group exhibitions
1985
Araluen, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
1986
Editions Gallery, Perth;
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs;
RSASA Gallery, Adelaide;
Centre Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
1987
Achille Lauro, Perth;
Blaxland Gallery, Sydney;
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1988
Anima Gallery, Adelaide;
FOE Community Art Space, Melbourne;
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane; Dreamtime Gallery, Perth;
'Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia' Asia Society, New York,
USA;
Chapman Gallery, Canberra; FOE Community Art Space, Melbourne.
1989
FOE Community Art Space, Melbourne;
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France;
'Dreamscapes', Mendelson Gallery, Pittsburgh USA;
Chesser Gallery, Adelaide;
'Mythscapes' National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne;
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney;
'Dreamings: Aboriginal Art from the Outback' Bahti Indian Gallery, Tuscon
USA;
1990
'Dreamings' South Australian Museum, Adelaide;
South Australian Museum Shop, Adelaide Festival, Adelaide;
'L'ete Australien', Musee Fabre, Montepellier, France;
'Dreamscapes' Rosequist Galleries, Tucson, Arizona USA;
Channing, Dale, Throckmorton Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA;
Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin; Dreamtime Gallery, Gold Coast,
Queensland;
Milagros Contemporary Art Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA;
Friends of the Earth Gallery, Melbourne;
Bond University Campus Gallery, Queensland;
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney;
IUNC (showing at Hilton Hotel), Perth
1991
'Dreamscapes', Mendelson Gallery, Pittsburgh USA;
Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand;
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs;
Te Whare Taonga o Aotearoa National Art Gallery & Museum, New Zealand;
Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin;
Emerald Hill Gallery, Melbourne;
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney;
'Dreamscapes', Rosequist Galleries, Tucson, Arizona, USA;
'Flash Pictures by Aboriginal Artists' Australian National Gallery,
Canberra
1992
The Long Gallery, Hobart;
Dreamtime Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland;
Bird in the Hand Gallery, Sewickley, PA. USA;
Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs;
Alliance Francais, Canberra;
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1993
Adelaide Town Hall, (in association with the Pacific Arts Symposium);
'Aratjara', Hayward Gallery, London UK;
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane;
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs;
'Dreaming the World', St. Mungo's Museum, Glasgow UK;
Abershart North, Auckland, New Zealand;
Sutton Gallery, Melbourne;
Jukurrpa, Desert Dreamings - a survey of Central Desert art 1971-1993
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth;
CINAFE (Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition), USA;
Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
La Peinture des Aborigenes d'Australie, Musee des Arts d'Afrique et
d'Oceanie, Paris France;
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Art Award, Australian
Heritage Commission, Old Parliament House, Canberra;
Warlukurlangu Collection, Parliament House, Canberra;
1994
The Assembly Hall of the Territorial Parliament, Tahiti, French Polynesia;
Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide (in conjunction with The Adelaide Festival);
Palm Beach Community College, Lake Worth, Florida USA;
Interamerican Art Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA;
Chicago Art Fair, Chicago, USA;
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1995
Cleveland Centre for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA;
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1997
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney;
1998
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane;
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne;
Raintree Gallery, Darwin;
Framed Gallery, Darwin;
Desert Designs, Perth
2002
New Paintings from Yuendumu, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London UK;
2003
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Outback Gallery, Darling Harbour.
Sydney. Australia.
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Darwin Entertainment Centre Gallery,
Darwin, Northern Territory.
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada.
Commisions
1988
The South Australian Museum commissioned the painting of an external
mural by six Warlpiri artists.
1991
Prof. H Antes, Berlin, commissioned a 7 x 3 metre canvas by forty two
of Yuendumu's artists. The painting forms part of the 1993 European
touring exhibition 'Aratjara - Australian Aboriginal Art' curated by
Kunstsammlung, Nordrhein Westfalen Dusseldorf West Germany.
1992
The Australian National Gallery commissioned a collection of 14 paintings
by the Association's prominent artists. The collection documents the
major Dreamings represented in the current painting movement of the
Yuendumu region.
1993
The Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow, commissioned a 4 x
3m canvas by twenty of Yuendumu's artists. The Dreaming depicted was
'Munga Jukurrpa' (Night Sky Dreaming). The canvas was the central feature
of a major exhibition on Australian Aboriginal art hosted by the Glasgow
Museum in July 1993;
The Art Gallery of Western Australia commissioned a series of canvases
for their collection. The paintings form part of the 'Dot and Circle
Retrospective' featuring work from the Central and Western Desert regions,
hosted by the gallery in October 1993.
1994
Warlukurlangu Artists Association completed two large works (each 2.15
x 2.85 metres). The project was financed by a grant from the Community
Cultural Development Unit of the Australia Council. The paintings are
'Ngapa Jukurrpa' (Water Dreaming) and 'Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa' (Women's
Dreaming).
1995
'Watiyawarnu' (4 x 3 metres) canvas completed for Warlukurlangu Artists
1996
'Cockatoo Creek' canvas (4 x 3 metres), South Australian Museum
'Karrku' canvas (7 x 3 metres) for Kluge Foundation, USA.
1997
'Liwirringki' (4 x 2.5 metres) for the Gantnor Myer Foundation, Melbourne.
'Ngapa' canvas (7 x 3 metres) completed for the Art Gallery of New South
Wales and the Festival of the Dreaming.
Bibliography
Caruana, W. (ed.) Windows on the Dreaming. Aboriginal Paintings in the
Australian National Gallery. Ellsyd Press, Sydney 1989;
Caruana, W Aboriginal Painting, Thames and Hudson (World Art Series),
London 1993;
Ryan, J. Mythscapes. Aboriginal Art of the Desert The National Gallery
of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989.
Sutton, P. (ed.) Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia Viking,
New York 1988.
Symonds, M.; Portley, C.; Phillips, R. "The Visual Arts" (Fourth
Edition), Jacaranda Wiley, Brisbane, 1992
Warlukurlangu Artists Yuendumu Doors Kuruwarri Australian Institute
of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra 1987.
Johnstone, C (Dir) The Painted Dream: Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings
From Tim And Vivien Johnson Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland,
New Zealand 1990
O'Ferrall, M 'Jukurrpa, Desert Dreamings - a survey of central desert
art 1971- 1993', Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 1993
Collections
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery and Museums, Glasgow, Scotland
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Australian Museum, Sydney
Musee National des Arts Africains et Oceaniens, Paris, France
Tim and Vivien Johnson
Donald Kahn, USA.
The Christensen Fund
Kelton Foundation, California, USA.
Major Private Collections
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