Tommy Watson Yanima Pikarri

Tommy Watson c 1935 – 2018 was a senior Pitjantjatjara man, of the first generational artists. Prior to his death, Watson was hailed as the ‘greatest living painter of the Western Desert ‘- with parallels drawn between great Western abstract painters- Piet Mandrian, Kasimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Bartlett Newman and Henri Matisse. His work has been collected in Australia and abroad, and in 2003 the Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, commissioned Watson for a collaborative project. Watson’s work is characterized by vibrant colours, sumptuous layering of dots and a liveliness that captures the contours of his home country — the land forms and spinifex and creek beds — that he knows so well. The interconnection between land and spirituality is no more apparent than in Watson’s work; it provides a playful meditation on the sacrosanct essence of his country.

Collections
Musee du Quai Branly (Paris)
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Australia
Western Australian Art Gallery
South Australian Art Gallery