Richard Bell

Richard Bell (born 13 December 1953 in Charleville, Queensland, Bell is a Kamilaroi man. In the same year, his work came to the attention of the wider public for Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorem).

In 2006, the Queensland art critic Rex Butler profiled his work for Australian Art Collector magazine.

Bell caused controversy in April 2011 after revealing that he had selected the winner of the prestigious Sir John Sulman Prize through the toss of a coin.

In 2011 Bell was interviewed in a digital story and oral history for the State Library of Queensland's James C Sourris AM Collection. In the interview Bell talks to art historian Rex Butler about the development of his artistic practice, about winning the NATSIAA award, and the artist group proppaNOW.

In March 2012, Bell won a court case against a person who had issued a take-down notice in 2011, for "unjustifiable threats of copyright infringement", and was awarded A$147,000 in damages, setting "an important precedent".

In 2013 he presented the eight-episode TV series Colour Theory on National Indigenous Television.

His self-portrait was a finalist of the 2015 Archibald Prize.

Pay the Rent (2022) / Embassy (2013)

Bell's work Pay the Rent, aka Embassy, a replica of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, was first displayed in Melbourne in 2013.

In 2022, Pay the Rent debuted at Kassel for Documenta fifteen. Bell says that the work "represents a number calculating how much money the Australian Government owes Aboriginal people — and that's just for the rent of the place".

The interior of the Embassy tent functions as a display space, in which videos and other archival materials are shown, and for hosting public talks and performances, and informal conversations.

The work has travelled across the world, addressing local differences in race and politics through talks and screenings.

Pay the Rent has since been erected at Performa 15 in New York City and at the 2019 Venice Biennale in 2019.

In mid-2022, the work was installed on Friedrichsplatz, in front of Fridericianum, a museum in Kassel, Germany, as part of the international quinquennial exhibition Documenta fifteen.

Pay the Rent / Embassy was displayed in Adelaide on the forecourt of the Art Gallery of South Australia, as part of Tarnanthi, on 22–23 October 2022. It was accompanied by film screenings and talks, as part of the Adelaide Film Festival's new visual arts programme.

In May to June 2023 the installation appeared at London's Tate Modern museum,

In June 2024, Pay the Rent, Queensland Art Gallery Gallery of Modern Art Chau Chak Wing Museum White Bay Power Station