Sam Tjampitjin Art for Sale at Auction

b. 1930 - d. 2003

Sam Tjampitjin - Born: c.1930 deceased 2003 Location: Wilkinkarra near Lake Mackay Skin: Tjampitjin Language: Kukatja and Warlpiri

Mediums: acrylic paint on canvas and linen
Themes: Wati Kutjarra (two mythical goanna men); soakwaters, rainmaking; warran (claypan) and tali (parallel sand dunes); kurrawarri (sacred dreaming); lingka - snake; bush fires
Sam Tjampitjin

Sam was a senior law man in the Balgo community and his paintings were mainly concerned with the secret and sacred sites of men's ceremonial business. He spent most of his early life around Gulgunpa, near Lake Mackay and he became a senior custodian for large tracts of land in this area. When Sam was still a young man he walked into the original Balgo Mission, Tjumundu, with his father. Sam recalled tending to the goats and shearing the sheep at the mission. He told how they enjoyed the meat from the mission as against the game of the desert. Sam started painting with the arrival of the art coordinator Michael Rae at Warlayirti Artists. This was a time when many of the senior men of Balgo began to paint. Since that time Sam diligently painted his country and the sacred law associated with it. He was a natural brother of one of Balgo's greatest artists, Sunfly who is also deceased.