Rupert Betheras

Mixed media on found acetate

45x65cm

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.