The theatre of sports

Richard Lewer's The theatre of sports (2016) is a compendium of twelve paintings that reflect the artist's lifelong passion for sport and art, and examines the role sport can play in managing mental illness. Lewer explores extremes of behaviour, focussing, in this work, on well-known sporting figures in public moments of failure. Fascinated by the highly publicised story of swimmer Ian Thorpe's struggle with depression, Lewer researched elite athletes who suffer from extreme mental stress. Gathering images of events in which these athletes lost, came second or were injured, Lewer selected twelve that most vividly document moments of despair, anger, frustration and dejection, rendering these in paint. Tennis player Nick Kyrgios throws his racket to the ground in rage; disbelief is written on the face of martial arts champion Ronda Rousey as she loses her title; Olympic champion Sally Pearson clutches her broken wrist in agony after crashing over a hurdle; and disappointment is shared by an AFL football team. Lewer is interested in what happens next to these runners up, and suggests that it is not through triumphs but through determination in defeat that we truly find resilience and a deeper understanding of ourselves.