Nyilyari is the second son of the well-known artist Pinta Pinta Tjapanangka and the younger brother of Matthew Tjapangati. His paintings relate to sites around Kaakuratintja (Lake MacDonald) and west to Mt Webb and Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay); these are all sites that were also commonly referred to in his father’s paintings.
… Distinctive in both his unique use of symbols, the diamond-shaped rockhole and interlocking key, and his wielding of a brush instead of a watiya, Nyilyari attends to his painting with the utmost faith in his ability. While Papunya Tula works are (in)famous for their shimmering quality, particularly by the male artists, this is a movement back and forth – a wiggling of sorts. Nyilyari’s work is instead painting of great depth. He fills the segments on his canvas, working inwards from the perimeter. This quasi-circular motion results in a mark-making that is simultaneously hypnotic and soothing…
(Jaxon Waterhouse, Field worker at Papunya Tula Artists).
