Tommy Carroll / Nowanns (18579)

Tommy was born in 1956 at Doon Doon Station in the East Kimberley and worked as a stockman for many years. His 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.

He has participated in Solo and Group Exhibitions throughout Australia – 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 Holland 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 Solo & Group Exhibitions

2019
• Gija Artists | Celebrating Warmun At 21, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT

2018
• Warmun At Twenty, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT

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

2012
• Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi

2009
• Ochre: A Study in Materiality, Short Street Gallery, Broome

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

2006
• Gentlemen of Warmun, Seva Frangos Art, Perth
• East Kimberley Artworks, Japingka Gallery , Perth
• Warmun Art Centre Presents, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney

2004
• Mabel Juli & Tommy Carroll, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney

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

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

Doon Doon Station is one of the roughest in the East Kimberly – a high mountain range runs right through the middle of it. There are the biggest caves (Nowanns) in lots of the hills – I have painted them looking all red in the summer sun in the biggest hills around this part – when you look in you can’t see the end of it. I’ve walked in long way lots of these caves, and still have never seen the end of most of them. The rock wallabies live in these mountains – you can see them day time, but night time they go into the caves – guess it’s safe for them. The Goolarbool (Rainbow Serpent) is said to have made these caves and the big rocks and the river beds – long time ago in the Ngarrankarny (Dreamtime).