Since 1992 Bennett was involved in an ongoing non-performance by refusing to participate in public lecture programs in Australia. Fri. 10-9, Sat. This was common practice among young Aboriginal girls and women. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. Curated by Zara StanhopeThe intelligence and passion of Gordon Bennett's politically committed post-appropriation art struck a chord with the postcolonial ambitions of the 1990s. Another reason was to make people aware that I am an artist first and not a professional Aborigine. Australia for His Majesty King George III. However, he offers more than one interpretation of the grids use, which is indicated by the sampling of works by Australian artist Margaret Preston . This contemporary questioning and revision of the traditional, narrow euro-centric view of history reflects a postcolonial perspective. Image credit: Gordon Bennett - Possession Island (1991). Image: Gordon Bennett, Australia 1955-2014, Possession Island, 1991. ww2dbase Henry Gordon Bennett was born in Balwyn, a suburb of Melbourne, near the close of the nineteenth century. Are these qualities perceived as positive? This central motif governs the composition which, similar to Calverts original etching upon which the painting is based, is largely reduced to a schema of black and white forms. This work reflects our contemporary obsession with creating the perfect home filled with the latest must have designer style and material items. Since his first major solo exhibition in 1989 his work has been at the forefront of contemporary Australian art and has been recognised internationally for its innovative and critical engagement with ideas and issues of ongoing relevance to contemporary culture. Within the Home dcor series Gordon Bennett escalates the sampling and quoting of other artists and works to develop a pastiche. Bennetts art is not always easy to look at. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. Bennetts portrait of himself as a four- year old boy dressed as a cowboy as the I is juxtaposed with images of Aborigines as the AM. 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. 1 0-5-30 j RED STAR Now 35 oft on all RED STARRED SIWFMIMUIS IliMMS . This image is based on a photograph by JW Lindt (1845 1926). Black angels replace traditional white cherubs. That was to be the extent of my formal education on Aborigines and Aboriginal culture until Art College. Mondrian cages the figures, Preston objectifies the figures; Bennett accommodates both to grasp the intangible and dissect these limited interpretations and stereotypes. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available Portraits of Artists and Sculptors Theosophy means god wisdom, the belief that everything living or dead was put together from basic blocks that lead towards consciousness. The pair of outstretched arms and the diagrammatic outline of a cross- like form in the central panel of Triptych: Requieum, Of grandeur, Empire, 1989 alludes to the figure of Christ crucified on the cross, a common subject in Christian art. One of the most heroic and well-known images of Australias past is Captain Cook landing in Botany Bay in 1770. As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. In Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. He quotes directly from this image, which is in fact a copy of a copy, as Samuel Calvert copied this image of Captain Cook landing in Botany Bay from an image by Gilfillan, which is now lost. Gordon Bennett 1. These paintings reflect Bennetts belief that after the Notes to Basquiat series of 2003, I had gone as far I could with the postcolonial project I was working through1. 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. The central image is a reworking of an earlier painting completed at art college, The persistence of language, 1987, painted in the style of Basquiat. I needed to change direction at least for a while. Suggest reasons for the similarities and differences that you find. 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? There are a number of reasons why I began painting abstract paintings that focused on overt visual phenomena, as opposed to explicit visual content. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums Bennett was in possession of all four, all of which will become evident upon a glance at a summary of his life. Buildings and planes collide. James Gordon Bennett I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. Gordon Bennett is an Australian artist of Aboriginal descent. 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. It is also a direct reference to biblical stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. The soundtrack includes digital sampling of ICE.Ts Race War. After working in various trades in his early life, Bennett enrolled as a matureage student at Queensland College of Art in 1986 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) degree in 1988. List some of your own qualities and attributes. The strategy of word association subverts the values and meaning traditionally associated with the image. The performance that forms an integral part of this work shows a tall indistinct figure (Bennett) prowling around a stage- like setting illuminated by a rapidly changing pattern of images, text, light and colour. 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. The grand Romantic landscapes of Western art were intended to inspire the viewer with their dramatic beauty and effects of illusion. In Malevichs work the black square is seen as having a strong and even spiritual presence. In the context of the other panels, which are all figurative, this black square could be seen as an absence, and possibly a representation of the oppression of indigenous voices by history. Do these qualities reflect the reality of what it means to be Australian (ie. while Bennett may have attempted, in recent years, to disconnect from the politics of his earlier practice, there is also a sense within these paintings, of the impossibility of such a task. In 2003, Bennett embarked on a series of non-representational abstract paintings, marking a dramatic shift in his art practice, formally and conceptually. Gordon Bennett 1. Discuss with reference to a range of artworks by Bennett. ). At the same time I have resisted being positioned as a spokesperson for my people since I do not have nor do I seek, such a mandate by declining to speak about my work. Bennetts pictures leave us with questions rather than answers, with complexities rather than simplicities as if the origins of truth, identity and ideology are in metaphors and signs rather than in things, and hence are layered and relative Ian McLean 1. Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. 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. Bennett used this symbol because: What emerges for all who take part in this piece is in fact an examination of the self. ), Heide Museum of Modern Art , Melbourne, 2004 pp. I had never thought to question those narratives and I certainly had never been taught at school to question them only to believe them. Amidst the chaos and confusion of dots and slashes of colour he remains imprisoned by the grid, reduced to servitude. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. Das Jahr 1904 brachte mit dem Gordon-Bennett-Rennen in Deutschland und dem Vanderbilt Cup in den USA einen weiteren Aufschwung des Motorsports vor allem auch auerhalb Frankreichs, wobei fr das Rennen in New York erstmals europische Fahrer und Rennstlle nach bersee gereist waren. Here he exposes the truth of colonial occupation it was a bloody conquest. Kelly Gellatly 1. His father, born in Scotland in 1795, emigrated to the US to become a journalist and subsequently founded the 'New York Herald' in 1835. They powerfully describe pain and violence. 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. This painting combines the story of Bennetts mother, and other young Aboriginal women in the care of the government or church, with the Christian story. The pale, marble- like sculpted heads on the bed remind us of the Classical art and learning that has been privileged in Western culture above other forms of art and learning, including those associated with Indigenous cultures. At the heart of the artwork of Gordon Bennett is a journey to find that self amidst the cultural and historical inequities created by European settlement in Australia. Create an illustrated and annotated timeline of the history of Australia since settlement. This emphasises the works formal qualities and discourages any narrative or symbolic reading of it. Art about art seems appropriate for the time being. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007 exploration: Captain James Cook, Australia landing 1770, Calvert, Samuel, etching, Captain Cook Taking Possession of the Australian Continent on Behalf of the British Crown, AD 1770. Queensland-born, Bennett (1955-2014) was deeply engaged with questions of identity, perception and the construction of history, and made a profound and ongoing contribution to contemporary art in Australia and internationally. Bennetts use of dots highlights the way Aboriginal cultural identity continues to be defined and confined by Western ideas of Aboriginality. The representation of Aborigines has been reduced to caricature. Bennett handed over command of his division and left the island. It was upon entering the workforce that I really learnt how low the general opinion of Aboriginal people was. Do you agree? They reference the massacres of Aboriginal people in Myth of the Western man (White man's burden) (1992) and The nine ricochets (Fall down black fella, Jump up white fella (1990) and question the valorising of Captain Cook in Big Romantic Painting (Apotheosis of Captain Cook) (1993) and Possession Island (1991). 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. Possession Island (Appendix 1), 1991 and Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his Other) (Appendix 2), 2001, will be discussed in relation to Henri's statement. In the Home dcorseries Bennett used gridded compositions that refer to the paintings of Dutch artistPiet Mondrian (1872 1944). 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. This culminated in the Notes to Basquiat series in 2003. As an Australian of both Aboriginal and Anglo Celtic descent, Bennett felt he had no access to his indigenous heritage. 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. The installation is filled with images of his family and Constructivist-style drawings made by the artist. Discuss with reference to examples in at least two works by Bennett. The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennetts art practice. The focus on reason, scientific learning and progress that characterised the Enlightenment (suggested by the measuring marks on the torch) lead to many significant discoveries and new ways of understanding the world. Explain. Particularly when academics claim that they are afraid of expressing their 'true' findings for fear of losing their careers. Self portrait (Ancestor figures), 1992 deals with broader issues of cultural identity as well as personal identity. (2nd Edition), What is Appropriation? They physically prevent the viewer from seeing the image clearly, but psychologically encourage the viewer to delve into the image more deeply and question: Where did these images come from that theyre relating back to in their minds in order to stage this re- enactment? 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. In the Christian tradition light is associated with goodness and righteousness while darkness is associated with evil. What systems and/or conventions are used by each culture to represent three dimensional space? The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. Discuss with reference to Possession Island. He was in a sense all things to all people. What does this interpretation add to your understanding of the artwork? As the foundation of a system of representation, perspective produces an illusion of depth on an essentially flat two dimensional surface by the use of invisible lines that converge to a vanishing point. Identify other artists who have used dots in their work (ie. 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. Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction) 1991 oil and acrylic on canvas 182 x 182cm Collection: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Tate, purchased jointly with funds provided by the Qantas Foundation, 2016 The Estate of Gordon Bennett The dynamic juxtaposition of images, sound and other effects made possible by video, introduced new dimensions to Bennetts investigation of issues and ideas related to identity, history and language. He was born in New York, May 10th 1841 and died 4 days after his 77th Birthday in Beaulieu near Nizza/France. Gordon Bennett, born on 16 April 1887 at Balwyn, Melbourne, was Australia's most controversial Second World War commander. The dresser draw labelled self is closed while the drawers for history and culture are ajar. Gewerblich. John Citizen was a work in progress that allows me to follow other streams of thought in my practice. McCahon uses I AM to question notions of faith. Sutton Gallery. Research other artists who use appropriation and select an artist whose work interests you. Bennetts distinctive visual language repositions the subject of the work, claiming the Aboriginal perspective as central to the historical moment of the original painting. Bennett not only used Basquiat images, but begins to paint in his style. RM 2JEMG56 - A rare old photograph of the 1903 Gordon Bennett trophy race, Ireland - In the 'pits' attendants are cooling down an overheated vehicle with a bucket of water. my work was largely about ideas rather than emotional content emanating from some stereotype of a tortured soul. The triptych form of painting is most commonly associated with the altarpiece paintings made for Christian churches. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . . Art can encourage people to rethink personal beliefs and positions. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available I was certainly aware of it by the time I was sixteen years old after having been in the workforce for twelve months. He used weapons or gum tree branches as props, to construct an image that reflected European ideas of Aboriginal types. Victorious soldiers triumphantly and ceremoniously paraded under such arches, sometimes accompanied by their captives. Bennett intentionally fuses this iconic style of Western painting with the famous Aboriginal white dot painting of the Western Desert, reproducing the mix in Possession Island. The viewer is made to step back and allow the eyes to form the images. Find examples of the work of these artists. Clear visual divisions are created with distinct black areas as well as large white areas. Underlying Bennetts admiration for Basquiat was the need to re- contextualise the issues that he had explored throughout his career as an artist. 'Bloodlines' Jenna Gribbon, April studio, parting glance, 2021. 1. How ideas might be encountered from different places and events interest him. There was always some sense of social engagement. It is said that as a concession to Ireland ( because racing was illegal on British public roads) the British adopted shamrock green as their racing colour. Possession Island No 2 is representative of Bennetts wider practice, which explores issues of post-colonisation and Aboriginal identity. . What aspects of Bennetts works might viewers focus on as emotional? Literally opening up this black skin of paint are the words cut me. Lindt created many photographic portraits of Aboriginal subjects. Why do artists such as Gordon Bennett and Tracey Moffatt (b.1960) systematically decline to participate in exhibitions of Aboriginal art? Collect a range of images (both art and media sources) that depict characters that are perceived or presented as typically Australian. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. $927,000 Last Sold Price. Bloody handprints are stamped across the walls. Some supporters applauded his escape but his claim that he left to pass on his knowledge about how to fight the Japanese - given his lack of success . There are many visual signs that recur throughout Bennetts artworks, including: Each of these signs brings significant meaning to Bennetts work and plays an important role in his investigation of issues and ideas related to identity, understanding and perception. During 199495 at summer school Bennett learnt to make digital videos on an Apple PowerMac computer. His joy . The early 'Possession Island' (Abstraction))' 1991 was one choice. It was no accident that Bennett used Pollocks Blue Poles: Number 11. Felicity Allen, Gordon Bennett interviewed by Felicity Allen in the. How have these sciences influenced the perception and understanding of Indigenous people and cultures? Discuss with reference to a selection of at least three works, clearly identifying stylistic shifts, and evidence of conceptual unity. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island #2, 1991. One reason is that I felt I had gone as far as I could with the postcolonial project I was working through. But the mathematical formulation of linear perspective in the fifteenth century had a powerful influence on the representation of space in Western art from this point. Nearby Recently Sold Homes. 2014. What is your personal interpretation of the abstract paintings? Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, pp. Gordon Bennett arrived on Christmas Island in 1979 to take a post as leader of the Union of Christmas Island Workers. Picassos sizable oeuvre grew to include over 20,000 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures,ceramics, theater sets, and costume designs. Indeed, he explains that before the age of sixteen he was not really aware of his Indigenous heritage. The emphasis on making art about art which was the focus of his non-representational abstract paintings, contrasts clearly with the focus on social critique that was integral to Bennetts earlier work, and was intended also to make people aware that I am an artist first and not a professional Aborigine.2 In this respect, Bennetts non representational abstract works, despite their overt emphasis on visual concerns, may be seen as reflecting his engagement with questions of identity, knowledge and perception. Compare and contrast this artists use of appropriation with that of Gordon Bennett. 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. ), 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. The Notes to Basquiat: 911 series and the Camouflage series, which reflect on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq respectively, highlight Bennetts global perspective. That is not my intention, I have my own experiences of being crowned in Australia, as an Urban Aboriginal artist underscored as that title is by racism and primitivism and I do not wear it well. These qualities expose some of the complications that arise from understandings built on binary opposites. Looking at the image from different viewpoints helps us to discover different perspectives. Perhaps a re-writing of history? . An Anthology of writings on Australian Art in the 1980s & 1990s, IMA Publishing, 2004, p. 273, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett Craftsman House, 1996, p. 58, Kelly Gellatly, Citizen in the making, p.18, Kelly Gellatly, Citizen in the making, p. 17, John Citizen artist profile, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne http://www.suttongallery.com.au/artists/artistprofile.php?id=39 accessed 29/11/07, Conversation Bill Wright talks to Gordon Bennett, in Kelly Gellatly with contributions by Bill Wright, Justin Clemens and Jane Devery, Gordon Bennett (exhib. . Why? This allowed him to utilise professional capture, editing and special effects software, to expand his art practice to include video and performance work. Research the significant dates/events referenced in Bennetts artworks, including Myth of the Western Man (White mans burden) 1992 for some ideas. It is open to self revelation, self redemption and a myriad of rich images of self that can be built upon. Gordon Bennett Australia 1955-2014. Once again, the arena of self- portraiture becomes a vehicle to take over and challenge stereotypes. 3233, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, p. 33, Gordon Bennett & Chris McAuliffe, Interview with Gordon Bennett in Rex Bulter (Ed.) Bennett continued to work in new ways with materials, techniques and images throughout his career. Gordon Bennetts art challenges us to question the stereotypes and racist labelling of Aboriginal Australians found in some history books written for and by Europeans. Bennetts grid formations seem to imprison the figures within the canvas. While Bennetts art is grounded in his personal struggle for identity as an Australian of Aboriginal and AngloCeltic descent, it presents and examines a broad range of philosophical questions related to the construction of identity, perception and knowledge. Is this response informed by Bennetts work? How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? 2. So, painting in an overtly abstract manner was a way to go silent on the issues involved and yet still keep painting. Here Bennett raises questions and matters about the stories that define us personally and culturally, and about the complex relationship that has existed between the Christian church and Indigenous cultures through history. At art college Bennett discovered how Australian identity was built on a subjective writing of history. John Citizen had his first exhibition in 1995 at Sutton Gallery, Melbourne 2 As an alternative artistic identity, John Citizen not only alerts us to how artistic identity is constructed, it gave Bennett great freedom to be someone other than Gordon Bennett.
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