Old Man Pelican Master

Enamel paint and mixed media on Canvas

203 x 198 cm

Fabian Brown Japaljarri

Fabian Brown, a Waramungu and Walpiri man, was born in Alice Springs. He grew up in Ali Curing and has both Warumungu and Walpiri family connections. He started sketching at a young age when he was inspired by his elder brother, who was also a talented painter. Brown is very passionate about his art and draws from various imagery and influences from his life and travels. Educated in Ali Curung and Adelaide, Brown has travelled to various Australian cities and towns but holds his country and culture dearest of all. He is the leader of the Tennant Creek men’s painters and his work, while constantly exploring new artistic mediums, references both traditional and modern narratives and his own international iconographies. He is a great mentor to younger artists in the Brio; often he collaborates with them to produce work that speaks across generations.

Rupert Betharas

As a teenager, Betheras admired many of the older street artists in collectives such as Future 4, USA (United Street Artists), and DMA (Da Mad Artists). He was attracted to the early innovators, the prolific and the rebellious. Rupert’s first solo show was in 2002 (at 4Cats Gallery, Melbourne) while he was a full-time professional AFL player (for Collingwood). In 2016 Rupert began working with a group of Aboriginal artists from Tennant Creek as part of a collective later known as the Tennant Creek Brio. The cross-cultural collaborative ethos of the Brio has long been a driving force in Rupert’s work through his engagement with Aboriginal communities (Pirlangimpi [Garden Point], Yuendumu, Oenpelli), with Aboriginal artists such as the late Lionel Possum (1972-2019), and with Indonesian artists with whom he worked as part of a Top End artists’ camp in 2015 which visited several locations/communities in the NT, culminating with a major exhibition in 2016.

The Tennant Creek Men’s art program started in 2016 as an art therapy/ outreach program set up by Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corp. The group, a mix of fringe dwellers and emerging cultural leaders, have continued to work together and often collaboratively, forming a unique and cutting-edge artist collective named ‘The Tennant Creek Brio‘. Their work pushes conventions, drawing on imagery and traditions from the Wirnkarra (Dreaming), the Old Testament and mythic iconography from around the world. Their action paintings and performance represent the enthusiasm and dedication of the collective as they continue to develop a cathartic visual language fuelled by the material histories and complexities of life in Tennant Creek.