Tommy Carroll / Nganjiwarr Country – After The Wet (18982)

Tommy was born in 1956 at Doon Doon Station in the East Kimberley and worked as a stockman for many years, first at Doon Doon as a young boy and later on Bow River Station and Lissadell Station. He lives at Warmun Community in the East Kimberley with his wife, fellow artist Katie Cox.

Tommy’s knowledge of the country in which he worked is extensive and the pivotal focus of his paintings. He is a natural – his style is strong, individual, balanced, striking. It is obvious that he has never followed in anyone’s footsteps – his works are most definitely by Tommy Carroll. The paintings flow with the landscape – from minimal yet precise black and white to vibrant reds and bright yellow to the softer black/brown/green of his grandfather, Paddy Carroll’s country.

Tommy commenced painting in 1999 and has participated in Solo and Group Exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas – his paintings have been acquired by important collectors, the National Gallery of Australia and the Parliament House Collection. Tommy’s works are popular world-wide, as many collectors from America, Germany and The Netherlands have discovered and collected and continue to commission works by this now well established artist.

A man of few words, a focused, professional artist – minimal by style, not by market preference.

Selected Collections
• Australian National Gallery, Canberra
• Parliament House Collection, Canberra
• Artbank, Sydney
• Broadmeadows Health Service Collection, Victoria

Selected Exhibitions

2020
• Ngarranggarni – JGM Gallery, London
• The Ochre Story – Japingka Aboringinal Art, Fremantle, WA

2019
• “Manparra” Big Boss Man – Male Masters Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome
• Gija Artists | Celebrating Warmun At 21, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT

2018
• Gija Artists | Warmun At Twenty, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
• Environs Kimberley Art Auction – Gallows Gallery, WA
• Moon Dreaming & Other Stories – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

2017
• Spiritual Essence of the Earth with Warmun artists – Aboriginal Signature Estrangin gallery Brussels

2014
• Warmun Aboriginal Art – Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, SA

2012
• Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi
• Earth: Ochre Painting from Warmun – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

2011
• Warmun 2011, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, VIC

2010
• Warmun – Our Earth Our Story, Art Images Gallery, Norwood, SA
• Kimberley Aboriginal Artists, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, NT

2009
• Ochre: A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome
• Warmun Ochre’s: Rich Earth, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
• Warnarran Gelengen: Old Times New Times, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW

2008
• East of East Kimberley, ReDot Gallery, Singapore

2007
• Ralph Pucci International Gallery, New York (in association with Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin)
• Greetings From Turkey Creek, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
• “From the ground up: Ochre work from the Kimberley”, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
• Red Centre, Red Dot: Celebrating Indigenous Australia, Australian High Commission, Singapore

2006
• Warmun Artists in New York, Ralph Pucci Gallery, Soho, New York
• Gentlemen of Warmun, Seva Frangos Art, Perth
• East Kimberley Artworks, Japingka Gallery , Perth
• Warmun Art Centre Presents, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney

2005
• Grant Pirrie in association with Raft Artspace, Waterhole Show 11, Sydney, NSW
• Waterhole Country, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
• New Work from Warmun, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA

2004
• Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
• The Next Generation, Balgo and Warmun, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

2003
• Solo Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• Recent Works by Warmun Artists, Framed Gallery, Darwin

2002
• Solo Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
• Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
• Colleen Carter, Tommy Carroll and Katie Cox, Span Gallery, Flinders Lane, Melbourne
• Collectors Show – in association with Seva Frangos, Span Gallery, Flinders St, Melbourne

2000
• Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra, ACT

I have painted this part of Doon Doon Station where I was born and worked – it’s right up the top part. I’ve painted it after the wet, with the country looking all green. This is the time of year when my grandfather, old Paddy Carroll, used to take me out camping when I was a little fella. He taught me all about the country and told me the Dreaming stories for all around. How the Dreamtime snake made every part of this place – the way through the mountains, the nowanns (caves), those big rocks which are meant to be his eggs, just everything. Sure helped me know my way around when I had to work the country with the cattle. And besides, those times with my grandfather, well something I just don’t forget.