ABORIGINAL DESERT ART  GALLERY

WENTON RUBUNTJA

Wenton Rubuntja grew up in Alice Springs (Telegraph Station) and other places close to there such as; Ngketyenye, Atnyerarrkelthe, and Anthelke Ulpaye.

He started drawing as a kid by seeing cowboy pictures, Tex Morton, Pat Jones, Flash Gordon and other characters and comics. Wenton and some of the other young boys made their own comics and had their own ideas.

When Wenton was older, in Alice Springs, sometimes he would get jobs cutting wood for money. He worked all around Ammaroo and Elkedra and other places, cutting timber. After World War 11, he worked at Arltunga, cutting timber and making roads.

He then worked for 7 years droving all over the Northern Territory. He was a real horseman. He went back to his grandfather's country, a place called 'Ntyerlpe' (Hamilton Downs) where he was headman for mustering to Undoolya Station, Maryvale and Napperby and other places in the Northern Territory.

Old Albert Namatjira was Wenton's father's cousin, and was the first person to inspire Wenton to paint. Wenton went with his father to see Albert. After the visit, Wenton kept thinking about getting paint tubes and boards. He really wanted to learn. Wenton went back to the old man, and was given some paint and a little half board.

He went back to the Telegraph Station, hid himself behind a rock and started painting there. He was remembering how the old man painted; his handwork, his mixing and his ideas. After that he showed his painting to old Albert Namatjira and was told he had very good ideas.

Albert Namatjira showed the painting to Rex Battarbee's wife. They then put Wenton on 5 pounds to start off with, and then later was signed on properly to be an artist.

Wenton does paintings which show the country for what it is. He is one of the few artists who bridges the gap between the realistic landscape style, dubbed "Namitjira Style" and the contemporary Acrylic dot paintings.

Though both are depicting the Central Desert landscape, his landscape works have a somewhat "animated" feel about them and in his Acrylic dotwork, westerners only see abstract form. He portrays areas such as Jessie and Emily gap and the casino land area in his dotwork, and can tell the traditional stories of these places through his paintings.

Wenton feels a very close link to the land and his country and respects all of the laws and sacred knowledge that goes with it. He worships the rocks, rainmakers, caterpillars, kangaroos and emus which he prays for, in this country and every other country. Sacred meanings and songs come out of the body of the country. ''While European people can take a photo and say 'What a pretty country', we can sing the song for that country.

The country has got sacred sites, that stone, that mountain has got Dreaming. We sing that one, we've got the song. We've got to keep singing and painting and holding ceremonies. As this country is nothing else but culture, and all over Australia this culture is alive.'' Wenton is a senior custodian of the Arrrernte clan , in which the anthropologist Strehlow conducted studies with in the early parts of the century.

Honey ants are fascinating creatures living deep underground and generally situated close to Mulga bushes. .

These ants are black with some yellow and white markings on their backs. After locating the ants the Aboriginal people use a variety of implements to dig out the ants and transport them back to their individual clans. These implements are represented in other works via the emergence of various symbols, each representing specific entities within Aboriginal culture. Many of these ancient implements are still in use today.

The Honey ant is shown in this painting. These can be male or female. In this particular piece Wenton is portraying males.

The honey ant man has been represented four times in this painting. The caterpillar arranged in the centre of the painting represents the creation of the MacDonnell ranges and The Gap in Alice Springs.

The two caterpillars are facing each other and are separated by the Todd River, running between them. Ritual punishment sticks are also shown to signify the role of Aboriginal Law. The sticks are used to strike the recipient around the legs. There may be several different stages in the initiation process, carried out over an extended period.

It is often a painful and frightening experience, carried out dramatically and in secret. This helps to ensure that the youth ones are aware of the significance and responsibilities of the shift from boyhood to manhood. Bordering the centrepiece lie a set of concentric circles placed across the middle of the painting. These icons denote the locality of the sacred and secret ceremonial area. This is the revered place Wenton is responsible for. It is the place of his dreaming.

The concentric circles at the extremities of the painting represent the preparation areas used by each clan prior to the main ceremony occurring. In preparation for the ceremony, spinifex grass is burnt which produces a pure white ash. These ashes are then mixed with kangaroo or emu fat, the colour is then used for body painting. A sacred hair belt borders the top of this work, signifying a ceremony. The arcs bordering all ceremonial areas symbolise windbreaks and are made from branches of bushes and trees to protect the site from the wind. Two sacred ceremonial shields are diagonally set at alternate corners in this painting reflecting the sacred nature of this ceremony.

Wenton uses highly detailed light hue and saturation to set the background for the representation of the land in this particular work. Due to the sacred and secret nature of the dreaming no further details were given.