Bob Gibson Tjungarrayi was born at Papunya in 1974, before moving with his family to Tjukurla during the Papunya Tula movement of the 1980s, where many Ngaanyatjarra people moved to be closer to their ancestral homelands. Bob's mother Mary Gibson, also a leading Tjarlirli artist, is from the country of Kulkurta, his father's country was near Patjarr.
Bob has been painting with Tjarlirli Art since 2007 and quickly found a unique rhythm and approach to painting; bold colours and an inimitable freedom, expressing ancient stories with contemporary flair. Bob's bold and energetic paintings have put him amongst some of the most sought-after emerging artists in the contemporary Indigenous art world. His unique and powerful style represents country in a wild and imaginative exploration of colour and form.
Bob enjoys telling the stories from his father's country of Patjarr and his mother's country of Kulkurta. He is distinguished by the freedom of his composition and his stylistic application of colour, which happens at a frenetic and decisive pace. He carves up the canvas, creating wild shapes in an evocative and highly contemporary reinterpretation of country. Bob enjoys telling the stories from his father's country around Patjarr and his mother's country Kulkurta.
Looking at a Bob Gibson painting feels a little like spending time with the artist himself. Bob's bold, playful presence in the studio is contagious; each canvas brings wild shapes and expressive line met with decisive mark-making and confident realisation of country. His highly unique representations of Tjukurpa (Dreaming) are an intersection of traditional storytelling and a spirited contemporary artistic practice. This work is important as it speaks to the complex layers and tensions between cultural, historical and modern influences.