You might consider, scale, materials and techniques, perceptual effects. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island #2, 1991. The Constitution is being rethought with respect to Indigenous Australians, and treaty-making is on the agenda yet the Uluru Statement from the Heart was roundly ignored by the Federal Government. His art attempts to depict the complexity of both cultural perspectives. Fundamentally, he deconstructed history to question the truth of the past. At art college Bennett discovered how Australian identity was built on a subjective writing of history. His use of the perspective diagrams to frame and contain the figure of his mother alludes to the impact the values and systems of European culture have had on the lives of Indigenous people. John Citizen lets me take my Australian citizenship and cultural upbringing back from the netherworld of the imagined Other. Traditionally these arches were built by the Romans to celebrate victory in war. John Citizen is an artist for our times: he reflects back to us citizens the white Australia of the postKeating era. His father, born in Scotland in 1795, emigrated to the US to become a journalist and subsequently founded the 'New York Herald' in 1835. Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. Although there are many forms of Aboriginal art, dot painting is widely seen as synonymous with Aboriginal art since the late 1970s, when the dot painting of the Western Desert attracted unprecedented national and international interest in Aboriginal art. References His bold and humane art challenged racial stereotypes and provoked critical reflection on Australia's official history and national identity. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . Perhaps the most influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso may be best known for pioneering Cubism and fracturing the two-dimensional picture plane in order to convey three-dimensional space. That's probably why he is hardly a household name, despite the cognoscenti referring to him as a powerfully influential figure in contemporary art. Include reference to specific examples in your discussion. Create an illustrated and annotated timeline of the history of Australia since settlement. The arms that extend in opposite directions across the two panels of the painting represent different perspectives on the impact of the Enlightenment. Do these qualities reflect the reality of what it means to be Australian (ie. Bennett continued to work in new ways with materials, techniques and images throughout his career. His status as an artist has been elevated to hero with his contribution to Action Painting. It recalls the way stereotypes, labels, identities and systems of thought are fixed. He was in a sense all things to all people. Since 1992 Bennett was involved in an ongoing non-performance by refusing to participate in public lecture programs in Australia. They act as deep welts created when tissue scars. She was once thought to be the last surviving Tasmanian Aborigine. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums The Estate of Gordon Bennett Like words, visual images, forms and elements are powerful signifiers of meaning. After years of critiquing art-historical standards, Bennett has himself become the standard bearer. Art about art seems appropriate for the time being. Bennett depicts self as a black empty vessel, coffin- like with lash markings almost disguised by a thick layer of black paint. I needed to change direction at least for a while. It demonstrates Bennetts understanding of the power of this image. In the Christian tradition light is associated with goodness and righteousness while darkness is associated with evil. How have these sciences influenced the perception and understanding of Indigenous people and cultures? The viewer is made to step back and allow the eyes to form the images. The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. Consider what dates/events should be included in your timeline and why. The coming of the light suggests questions about the impact of Christianity on Indigenous cultures and people. He described this knowledge as a psychic rupturing. The critical and aesthetic strategies of postmodernism have had significant impact on the development of his art practice. Gordon Bennett 3. Examine a range of Bennetts artworks and their titles and discuss how the titles might provide a useful starting point for analysing and interpreting the images. Today. Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) is one of Australia's most important contemporary artists, and his works have received increasing critical acclaim over the past years - culminating with his retrospective exhibition at the QAGOMA in Brisbane, 'Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett'. These act as disturbances. Discuss different approaches/ideas evident in the way each artist uses dots in their work. Other aspects of the image, including the flat, stylised shapes of the head, reflect connections to both Western abstract art and Indigenous art traditions. He acknowledged that much of his work was autobiographical, but he emphasises that there was conceptual distance involved in his art making . Within the Home dcor series Gordon Bennett escalates the sampling and quoting of other artists and works to develop a pastiche. Kelly Gellatly 3. 1. This imagery alludes to the violent suppression of Indigenous people and culture in the nations history that was thrown into focus by the Bicentenary celebrations. Buildings and planes collide. I didnt go to art college to graduate as an Aboriginal Artist. He tried a career as an actuarial clerk, attending Hawthorn College after Balwyn State School. Gordon Bennett, an Australian Aboriginal artist, demonstrates this theory through his work. Queensland-born Gordon Bennett was an artist who loved collapsing 'high' and 'low' art boundaries. "I want a future that lives up to my past": the words from David McDiarmid's iconic poster reverberate now, as we ponder the past year and think ah. Bennetts distinctive visual language repositions the subject of the work, claiming the Aboriginal perspective as central to the historical moment of the original painting. Gebraucht | Gewerblich. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available 22-24, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, in The Art of Gordon Bennett, p. 32, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House, 1996, pp. The indefatigable artist has been the subject of exhibitions at the worlds most prestigious institutions, from the Museum of Modern Art and Centre Pompidou to the Stedelijk Museum and Tate Modern. The mirror, a recurring symbol within his work, is not a two- dimensional illusion but a literal construct. What does this comment suggest to you about the purpose of Bennetts questioning of history? Jenna Gribbon, Silver Tongue, 2019, Price ranges of small prints by Pablo Picasso. In Altered body print (Shadow figure howling at the moon) Bennett focuses more explicitly on binary opposites and the associations they trigger. As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. It is open to self revelation, self redemption and a myriad of rich images of self that can be built upon. Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. He serves as a counterpoint to Gordon Bennetts Other, and yet we are the one and the same. See more ideas about artist, art, straight photography. This led him to adopt an artistic alter ego, John Citizen. Here he is concealed under blocks of black, red and yellow, the colours of the Aboriginal flag. James Gordon Bennett was born on a farm near Enzie, around three miles from Buckie, in 1795 but chose to follow a friend to North America when aged 24 with just 5 in his pocket. Other significant works: Gordon Bennett, Possession Island; Glenn Brown, The Day The World Turned Auerbach; Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living; Glenn Ligon, Notes on the Margin of the Black Book; Gabriel Orozco, Crazy Tourist; Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View In Outsider the energy and intensity associated with van Goghs expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colour contrasts are powerfully explosive . Bennett handed over command of his division and left the island. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums Reynolds wrote books and articles about the history of Australian settlement as a story of invasion and genocide. Bennett has included the framed photograph in the panel, to the right of the painted figure. Sutton Gallery. Gordon Bennett (1955- 2014) was born in Monto, Queensland. The purchase of this artwork by the Whitlam Labor Government (19731975) was fraught with controversy. . This includes a focus on the role and power of language, including visual representations, in shaping identity, culture and history. Theyre buried, and this is a way of bringing them back into memory, but remembered in a different way from the way that I was taught, looking at them from a different angle and looking at how they work, where they came from initially, and how these images still support contemporary stereotypes, etc. The absence of the Aboriginal servant and the scuttling footprints in Possession Island No 2 suggest the physical dispossession that was to follow once the British claimed ownership of the land. This canvas is loosely divided into three parts. At the heart of all human life is a concept of self. ), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007, p. 101, Gordon Bennett, Conversation Bill Wright talks to Gordon Bennett, p. 97, the visual qualities and symbolism of art elements such as colour and shape, the symbolism and representation of subject matter/content (including text), the appropriation of the work of other artists, the presentation of the artwork (ie. Gordon Bennett 1. While personal experience has had a significant influence on Gordon Bennetts art practice, the autobiographical aspects of his work are framed by bigger ideas and questions that have relevance and significance beyond Bennetts own experience. Gleichzeitig war es das erste Jahr ohne Stadt-zu-Stadt-Rennen, die nach dem Todesrennen" Paris-Madrid . James Gordon Bennett, Sr., a Scottish immigrant, founded the New York Herald in 1835, building the paper from the ground up. "Gordon Bennett!" When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. Read through the profiles and market analysis for the top 200 Indigenous artists Bennetts earliest works, including The coming of the light, 1987, reflect a raw and expressive style. What is your personal interpretation of the abstract paintings? Bennett presents each image with a single word, written in capitals, that boldly asserts a new meaning for them. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Bennett also includes copies and samples of his own work, such as Possession Island and Big Romantic painting (The Apotheosis of Captain Cook) 1993, with other found images. Bennett was acutely aware that his own success paralleled the growing contemporary interest in Indigenous art and culture. They are strategically and prominently placed at the centre top of each panel, each radiating an aura of light created by white dots. The title of the work itself is unsettling. By overlaying perspective diagrams on images constructed according to the conventions of perspective, such as the landscape in Requiem, Bennett reminds us of the learned and culturally specific systems that influence knowledge and perception. The coming of the light also explores ideas, issues and questions related to the Enlightenment values central to colonialism. Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction), 1991 Oil and acrylic on canvas 71 7/10 71 7/10 in | 182 182 cm Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) The Rocks Get notifications for similar works Create Alert Want to sell a work by this artist? Bennett compels the viewer to engage with and question the values and ideas of the artists he appropriated. Lichtenstein 19231987). In a letter written to Basquiat after his death, Bennett writes: To some, writing a letter to a person post humously may seem tacky and an attempt to gain some kind of attention, even steal your crown. Gordon Bennett 1. Discuss with reference to examples in at least two works by Bennett. From early in his career he was inspired by theories and ideas associated with postmodernism. Blood is a potent symbol and has historically been a measure of Aboriginality. In Interior (Abstract eye), 1991 a diagrammatic grid overlays an image depicting a group of Aboriginal people in the landscape, seemingly appropriated from a social studies text. The graphic detail in these images, including mutilated, tortured bodies, continue to confront viewers today with the realities of human behaviour and suffering in war. 4 While artists often have limited control over how their work is exhibited after it has been sold, Bennett also refused to exhibit his work in Aboriginal art exhibitions, preferring: to be conceived as a contemporary artist who just happens to be indigenous and whose work encompasses an investigation of aboriginality and the construction of identity within a broad range of complex and interconnected issues. Bennett layered these two distinctly different artists with his own work work previously appropriated from yet another context. Gordon Bennett Australia 1955-2014. It is also a direct reference to biblical stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. The content of the work was getting to me emotionally. But the oppressive and restrictive laws that governed the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia until the late 1960s continued to impose on her life. This rich interplay of words and images raises many questions. 20-21, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House, 1996, p. 33, Ian McLean, Towards an Australian postcolonial art in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House, 1996, p. 99, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe in The Art of Gordon Bennett, p. 22, Zara Stanhope, How do you think it feels? in Three Colours , Gordon Bennett & Peter Robinson (exh. An orphan from a very young age, she was raised on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, and later trained as a domestic at Singleton. Eventually Bennetts mother earned an official exemption that allowed her to leave the Mission. He can be anything the viewer wants him to be: white, black or any shade in between, as was true of Australian citizens in general in our multicultural country. For Mondrian the grid became the essence of all forms. You have to understand my position of having no designs or images or stories on which to draw to assert my Aboriginality. However, he offers more than one interpretation of the grids use, which is indicated by the sampling of works by Australian artist Margaret Preston . There is strong symbolism associated with the placement of the figure beneath the Roman triumphal arch. For example, the association between the colour red and blood or violence is strongly influenced by the many representations and descriptions we are exposed to in Western culture, in which blood or violence is described/represented using the colour red. Bennett adopted this alter ego to liberate himself from the preconceptions that were often associated with his Aboriginal heritage and his identity and reputation as the artist Gordon Bennett. Explain how these images might have influenced perceptions of Australian identity? Bennetts interest in adopting a strategy of intervention and disturbance in the field of representation manifests in many different ways in his art. With reference to at least two artworks, identify and explain some of the strategies and techniques you believe Bennett has used to engage the viewer. These signs can also be read as evidence that disputes the claim that Australia was discovered terra nullius or nobodys land. On each corner of the grid are the letters A B C D . Conversation Bill Wright talks to Gordon Bennett, in Kelly Gellatly with contributions by Bill Wright, Justin Clemens and Jane Devery, Ian McLean, Who is John Citizen? Greenaway Art Gallery, 2006, Kelly Gellatly Citizen in the making, in Kelly Gellatly, p. 24. While his work was increasingly exhibited within a national and international context, the combination of his position (or as Bennett would argue label) as an (urban) Aboriginal artist, and the subject matter of his work, seemed to ensure inclusion within certain curatorial and critical frameworks, and largely determine interpretation and reception. I did want to explore Aboriginality, however, and it is a subject of my work as much as colonialism and the narratives and language that frame it, and the language that has consistently framed me. These images include scenes featuring tall ships, the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, and several scenes that reveal the violence and tension that often characterised the relationship between colonisers and the colonised. He depicts how pain transcends place and event to encompass a global consciousness. I decided that I was in a very interesting position: My mind and body had been effectively colonised by Western culture, and yet my Aboriginality, which had been historically, socially and personally repressed, was still part of me and I was obtaining the tools and language to explore it on my own terms. The titles of Bennetts artworks reflect the artists awareness of the power of words/language to suggest meaning. The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennetts art practice. Bennett employs this system using diagrams often labelled with acronyms, such as CVP (central vanishing point), that refer to key features of the system. These questions include how traditional characterisations of light and darkness have influenced perceptions and experience of race and culture. How does Bennetts use of appropriation reflect an interest in some of the moral and ethical issues associated with this practice. He painted his most famous work, Guernica (1937), in response to the Spanish Civil War; the totemic grisaille canvas remains a definitive work of anti-war art. What typically Australian qualities are associated with these characters? Gordon Bennett 1. Fri. 10-9, Sat. Possession Island No 2 1991 is a painting that shows the British explorer Captain James Cook and other compatriots hoisting the Union flag to claim the eastern coast of Australia for the British Crown in 1770. The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. Possession Island (1991), for example, presents shadowy renditions of Captain Cook and his party against a watery blue ground, overlayed with . Pollock becomes a catalyst for transformation. Bennett's art engages with historical and contemporary questions of cultural and personal identity, with a specific focus on Australia's colonial past and its postcolonial present. 2 February 2021. Research the representation of three dimensional space in selected artforms of several different cultures (ie. Against the background of the illusionistic representation of the landscape they capture our attention, alerting us to the fact that there are other ways of representing and understanding the landscape not just the European perspectives that have dominated our cultural history. I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. Much of Bennetts work has been concerned with an interrogation of Australias colonial past and postcolonial present, including issues associated with the dominant role that white, western culture has played in constructing the social and cultural landscape of the nation. While some people may argue this has been a quick road to success, and that my work is authorised by my Aboriginality, I maintain that I dont have to be an Aborigine to do what I do, and that quick success is not an inherent attribute of an Aboriginal heritage, as history has shown, nor is it that unusual for college graduates who have something relevant to say. In Malevichs work the black square is seen as having a strong and even spiritual presence. These images are fused and overlapped in a dynamic composition underpinned by Mondrian-style grids. Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, pp. Here he exposes the truth of colonial occupation it was a bloody conquest. This work reflects our contemporary obsession with creating the perfect home filled with the latest must have designer style and material items. Lindt created many photographic portraits of Aboriginal subjects. However, while apparently recognising and presenting these motifs/symbols as signifiers of meaning, Citizen does not appear to have the same interest as Bennett in interrogating the systems and values these motifs represent or the role they have played in shaping identity, history and understanding. This artwork is constructed of obvious layers: The layers of dots, reminiscent of Aboriginal Western Desert dot painting, with lines of perspective a Western tradition. John Citizen was a work in progress that allows me to follow other streams of thought in my practice. His "history painting," as he called his large-scale canvases at the time, provoked a radical revision of Australia's past, fueling the meteoric rise of a career that left an indelible mark on Australian art . Bennett used perspective diagrams and visual symbols in Triptych: Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire . The only clearly defined part of Possession Island is the black skinned male figure in the centre. Traditional ideas about an artists individual or signature style are further confounded in Bennetts art practice by the his appropriation or sampling of the distinctive styles of other artists, including Jackson Pollock (191256), Margaret Preston ( 18751963) and Piet Mondrian (18721944). Who was Gordon Bennett? Gordon Bennett Possession Island , 1991 Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas 162 x 260cm Museum of Sydney Gordon Bennett The Coming of the Light , 1987 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 274cm Queensland Art Gallery Collection All Artworks Subscribe Submit Follow Sutton Gallery 254 Brunswick Street Fitzroy 3065 Bennett used this symbol because: What emerges for all who take part in this piece is in fact an examination of the self. After 2003 he moved away from figurative language to work in an abstract idiom (see Number Nine 2008, Tate T15515). He described his upbringing as overwhelmingly Euro-Australian, with never a word spoken about my Aboriginal heritage. Discuss in relation to selected artworks by Bennett that you believe reveal questions and complexities, rather than answers and simplicities. In the first painting by Bennett, Possession Island 1991 (Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales), the only figure painted in full vibrant colour is an isolated Aboriginal servant holding a drinks tray. Looking closely at the central panel we realise that the luminous sky is described with the dots that Bennett used in early works to signify Aboriginal art. The Other is clearly marked out as not only different but by necessity inferior. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. This approach involved a flattening of the picture surface and often the use of disparate visual elements or styles borrowed or copied from different sources. Such imagery has often been used by artists to unsettle the viewer and present new perspectives on familiar subjects. The timeline could be presented in hardcopy for display in the classroom, or as an ICT project incorporating images and audio. Include in your discussion reference to Bennetts appropriation of The nine shots 1985 by Imants Tillers. Bennetts art practice was interdisciplinary and encompasses painting, photography, printmaking, video, performance and installation. Often describing his own practice of borrowing images as quoting, Bennett re-contextualised existing images to challenge the viewer to question and see alternative perspectives. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art .