Long Tom Tjapanangka (born c.1930)

Tjapanangka was born circa 1930 near Lake MacDonald on the Northern Territory - Western Australia border.
After travelling from his home country at `Lupal‚ to the Papunya region, London Tom got work as a stockman and police tracker, here he worked and lived for many years. It was in this Papunya/Hassts Bluff region that he was to spend most of his time, except for a small time spent in the Port Augusta prison.
The establishment of Hassts Bluff as a cattle station in 1954 meant that Long Tom would find work as a stockman, the area was well known to Long Tom because as a prisoner, he helped to build fences around the land surrounding Hassts Bluff. Like many others who had come in from the desert and had traditional hunting skills, Long Tom was recruited to assist the police force.
After a spell doing this he then returned to Hassts Bluff to be reunited with his wife and return to the work that he most enjoyed, that of a stockman.
Today he has two wives Marlee Napurrula and Mitjili Napurrula, he has two children with Marlee. In the early days they would move about the country a lot, but have settled down since they started painting about the end of 1993.
Long Tom is a good man with a good sense of humour, enthusiasm and fresh new ideas.

Puli Tjunti‚ (Many Mountains)
Long Tom tells of the story of how he would travel over mountains to different areas in the outback. The travelling was generally to ceremonies involving secret men‚s business. In this painting Long Tom shows a secret mountain range out near the aboriginal settlement of Kintore.

Text taken from Steve McGrath

BIOGRAPHY

1930 Born around Lupul, Frederick Range. Pintupi / Ngaatjatjarra.
Started painting at the end of 1993.
Long Tom worked as a Police Tracker for many years in the Papunya region. He has two wives, Marlee Napurrula and Mitjili Napurrula. He has two children with Marlee, Ena Lane and Freddie Fly

Solo Exhibitions
1998 Long Tom Tjapanangka, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Long Tom Tjapanangka, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1995 Long Tom Tjapanangka, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Long Tom Tjapanangka, Schubert Gallery, Queensland

Group Exhibitions
1999 The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards , Museum &
Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
1998 Aussie Express , Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
Ikuntji Artists from Haasts Bluff , Galerie Dusseldorf, WA
Heritage Art Award , Canberra
1997 Ikuntji Tjuta in Adelaide , Gallery Australis, Adelaide
Ikuntji Tjuta in Canberra , Alliance Francaise
Innenseite/ Inside Kassel, Gottingen Germany
Dreamings Aboriginal kunst uit Australie The Netherlands
International Works on paper Fair, Sydney
14th National Aboriginal Art Award and touring exhibition
Desert Art Mob Show , Araluen, Northern Territory
1996 Contemporary Territory , MAGNT, Darwin
Heritage Art Award , Canberra
Adelaide Fringe Festival Exhibition , Gallerie Australis, SA
Adelaide Fringe Festival Desart Exhibition , SA
1995 Desert Painting 1974 - 1994 , Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
The Bougainville Festival of Darwin Art Exhibition , NT
Ikuntji: New Art from the Western Desert , (book launch), Framed Gallery, Darwin
NT
1995 Works on Paper , Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
Telstra National Aboriginal Art Award , Museum & Art Gallery of Northern
Territory, Darwin
Paintings from Haasts Bluff , Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
Paintings from Haasts Bluff , Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1994 Ikuntji Artists from Haasts Bluff , Hogarth, Sydney
Ikuntji: Paintings from Haasts Bluff 1992-1994 , Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi,
Melbourne
Perpetual Motion , Tandanya, Adelaide
National Aboriginal Art Award , Darwin
Northern Territory Art Award , Alice Springs
Alice Prize , Alice Springs
Heritage Art Award , Canberra ACT

Collections
National Gallery of Australia, ACT
Art Gallery of Tasmania
Art Gallery of South Australia
Northern Territory University
Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne
Museum and Art Gallery of NT
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Private Collections

Publications
Catalogues & Books:
IKUNTJI: Paintings from Haasts Bluff 1992 - 94 , IAD Press, Alice Springs, 1995
Telstra 12th NATSIAA , Catalogue, 1995
Telstra 13th NATSIAA , Catalogue, 1996
Telstra 16th NATSIAA , Catalogue, 1999
Dreamings of the Desert: Aboriginal Dot Paintings , S.A. Art Gallery, 1996
Isaacs, J Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art , 1999, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, USA.
Articles:
‘Long Tom blooms’, The Age , 21/9/99
‘Fresh wave in indigenous painting’ , The Australian , 24/9/99, p12
Generation , a journal of Jewish life (Vol.5 No. 4 1996)
Art and Australia , Volume 35, number 1. September 1997
‘Abstraction, Meaning and Essence in Aboriginal Art’, Judith Ryan
Gallery , National Gallery Society of Victoria Magazine (9/96)