These joint acquisitions by MCA and Tate include two large video installations, one by Susan Norrie (Transit 2011) and another by Vernon Ah Kee (tall man 2010), two paintings by Gordon Bennett (Possession Island (Abstraction) 1991 and Number Nine 2008) and an artist book by Judy Watson consisting of sixteen etchings with chine coll (a . Gordon Bennett uses self- portraits to question stereotypes and labelling. 40 41. Opens in a new window or tab. A gush of blood red paint shoots into the sky from his body. Brainstorm ideas and meanings associated with these binary opposites and create a mindmap to show how they have influenced your perception and understanding of the world. Mixing of pure blood with European blood was feared by Europeans, authenticity was at risk and identity diluted. Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. Gordon Bennett Number Nine, 2008 Acrylic paint on linen 71 9/10 119 7/10 in | 182.5 304 cm Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) The Rocks Get notifications for similar works Create Alert Want to sell a work by this artist? The only clearly defined part of Possession Island is the black skinned male figure in the centre. The inclusion of Pollock helps build these cross- connections. It is also a direct reference to biblical stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. The powerful image/word I AM, while central, is accompanied by statements of opposite, I am light I am dark. He had identified with the experience of the fair complexioned, African-American conceptual artist Adrian Piper, who wrote: Blacks like me are unwilling observers of the forms racism takes when racists believe there are no blacks present. Gordon Bennett is an Australian artist of Aboriginal descent. The central figure is based on a monoprint made from the artists body. Strange to think of Gordon Bennett as an almost classical figure in contemporary Australian art. How does this work compare with conventional self-portraits? In contrast to earlier artworks, where titles often provided a starting point for exploring ideas or issues, Bennetts abstractions are titled with numbers that relate to the order in which they were made. That was to be the extent of my formal education on Aborigines and Aboriginal culture until Art College. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name. 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 SOLO IN QUEENSLAND at News Aboriginal Art Directory Even when the starting point for a work is an emotive one, I believe I conceptually examine the ideas behind the emotion and extrapolate from there Gordon Bennett1. The grotesque also interested Bennett as a means of disrupting conventional ways of seeing and understanding. 2014. 85 ides de GORDON BENNETT | toile de lin, basquiat, art australien The arms that extend in opposite directions across the two panels of the painting represent different perspectives on the impact of the Enlightenment. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. are they representative of different cultural identities)? In 1999 Bennett adopted an alter ego and began making and exhibiting Pop Art inspired images under the name of John Citizen, a persona representative of the Australian Mr Average. While self- portraits usually address issues of personal identity, Bennett uses this form of representation to also look at issues of identity on a national scale. The process of translation from one version to the next mimics how history is endlessly translated and transformed by the vagaries oftime and by individual perspectives. This is a Tate Images licensable image titled 'Possession Island (Abstraction)' by Tate Images. At art college Bennett discovered how Australian identity was built on a subjective writing of history. Gordon Bennett Possession Island - scribd.com It is a monument that also unintentionally signals the subsequent dispossession of Aboriginal people from their homeland. Research other artists who use appropriation and select an artist whose work interests you. Bennett has continued to work in new ways with materials, techniques and images throughout his career, resisting any classification or confinement according to style. 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. He serves as a counterpoint to Gordon Bennetts Other, and yet we are the one and the same. In the third panel of Bennetts triptych, Empire, a Roman triumphal arch frames a stately figure. Bennett establishes him as the focal point. 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. 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. . James Gordon Bennett Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification. Today a monument exists on the site commemorating his arrival. Bennett was interested in the way language and images construct identity and history, and the way this language controls and creates meaning. Suggest reasons for the similarities and differences that you find. Further reading John Citizen is an artist for our times: he reflects back to us citizens the white Australia of the postKeating era. This is the second of two works entitled Possession Island that Bennett painted following Australias bicentennial celebrations in 1988. These sources included social studies texts. Perhaps in this sense Citizen represents an Australian everyman who recognises the wrongs of history and racist representations, but who has no real interest in going any further in asking hard questions about why they happened and what impact they caused. The timeline could be presented in hardcopy for display in the classroom, or as an ICT project incorporating images and audio. It exposes the pain these stereotypes create. John Citizen was an abstraction of the Australian Mr Average, the Australian everyman. Bennetts use of the grid in these and other artworks suggests questions and ideas. This approach to his work resists any classification or confinement according to style. Are these qualities perceived as positive? They absorb the flow of blood and recall the symbols often used in Aboriginal dot painting of the Western Desert to represent significant sites. Altarpiece paintings traditionally occupied a central position in a church. Born in 1955 in Monto, Queensland, Gordon Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane before his unexpected death in 2014. What evidence can you see in this self-portrait of Bennett linking issues of personal identity with broader issues related to history and culture? Art Unit 3 &4 Flashcards | Quizlet The Estate of 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 She looms large over the landscape in Requiem, as she does in the post- contact history of the nation as a symbol of the devastating impact that colonisation had on Indigenous people and culture. There are a number of reasons why I began painting abstract paintings that focused on overt visual phenomena, as opposed to explicit visual content. The headless figure of the Aboriginal man has an animated, spectre- like presence that haunts the scene. There was always some sense of social engagement. Gordon Bennett 1. 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. 'One of the most important Australian artists of the late 20th century Dates/events to consider and research include the 1967 Australian Referendum, the 1992 Mabo and 1996 Wik Native Title court cases, Paul Keatings 1992 Redfern address. Lindt created many photographic portraits of Aboriginal subjects. 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. EUR 99,99. dresden-de (52.329) 100%. Pioneering Australian Artist Gordon Bennett Dies at 58 But this approach is central to the way many people describe and analyse his work. Gordon Bennett, The Manifestoe, Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett. These contrasting and complex meanings and ideas are not accidental. The mirror, a recurring symbol within his work, is not a two- dimensional illusion but a literal construct. | Tate Images. 'Unfinished Business: The art of Gordon Bennett' at QAGOMA In September 2017, Bennett's 1991 Possession Island was unveiled at London's Tate Modern. Inspired by African and Iberian art, he also contributed to the rise of Surrealism and Expressionism. Discuss with reference to the same works. Jenna Gribbon, Luncheon on the grass, a recurring dream, 2020. 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. 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. Narratives of exploration, colonisation and settlement failed to recognise the sovereign rights (or sovereignty) of Australias Indigenous people. Jackson Pollock is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. 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. In Altered body print (Shadow figure howling at the moon) Bennett focuses more explicitly on binary opposites and the associations they trigger. This pastiche of style and image is like a D J (Disc Jockey) sampling and remixing different styles of music to create new expressions. Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? Gordon Bennett 1. He found this liberating. 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. Using this list, find a range of artworks that you could appropriate to help communicate your personal identity visually. This was common practice among young Aboriginal girls and women. However behind the neat facade and pleasantries of suburban life, Bennett was haunted by racism and the same derogatory opinions of Aboriginal people that he quietly endured in the workforce. James Gordon Bennett Quotes - BrainyQuote American - Editor May 10, 1841 - May 14, 1918 I have made mistakes but I have never made the mistake of claiming that I have never made one. 'Possession Island (Abstraction)', Gordon Bennett, 1991 | Tate Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction) 1991 Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas 1 843 x 1845 mm Tate and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, purchased jointly with funds provided by the Qantas Foundation 2016 Estate of Gordon Bennett CZ: A lot of the featured artists have also created work since 1992. For example, Aboriginal deaths in custody was recognised as a significant issue. Why? Brushing aside the tempting opportunity to ridicule many frames of reference in that sentence (I mean, don't get me . His use of I AM emphasises this. These racist terms confront an Aboriginal figure represented as a jack-in-the-box, as he is violently jerked from the box that contains him. Its like images become part of the Australian unconscious. Outsider depicts, a decapitated Aboriginal figure standing over Vincent van Goghs bed, with red paint streaming skywards to join with the vortex of Vincents starry night. The imagery in this painting focuses on binary opposites, including the Aboriginal figure and various symbols of European and Indigenous art and culture . It was no accident that Bennett used Pollocks Blue Poles: Number 11. It is uttered by all good Muslims before a good deed. Remembering Gordon Bennett, the man who saved Christmas Island It demonstrates Bennetts understanding of the power of this image. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. I needed to change direction at least for a while. (Abstraction) Citizen - Sutton Gallery The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennetts art practice. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available The linear diagram that frames the kneeling figure of Bennetts mother in the central panel of Triptych: Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire, and the diagrams in the lower sections of the two side panels, are typical of illustrations that explain the principles of linear perspective. He and his partner bought a house and settled in the suburbs of Brisbane like other young couples. Bennett lodges this image in layers of dots and slashes of red and yellow paint that refer to other artists and images. 1. The powerful exhibition stirring debate on Australian Aboriginal - Hero Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. How ideas might be encountered from different places and events interest him. . In 1989, a year after graduating from art college, his work was included in the high profile Australian Perspect a exhibition of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. How might John Citizen be seen as reflection of the post Keating era? Experiment with enhancing or diminishing different layers to create a distinctive character. 2015 exhibition program - Announcements - e-flux Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett 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. Roundels relating to symbols that denote significant sites in Aboriginal Western Desert dot painting also appear. The representation of Aborigines has been reduced to caricature. I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. Gordon Bennett 3. It is reproduced in flat, bold and black line work. 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. This includes a focus on the role and power of language, including visual representations, in shaping identity, culture and history. Bennetts use of dots highlights the way Aboriginal cultural identity continues to be defined and confined by Western ideas of Aboriginality. Bloodlines: The art of Gordon Bennett - QAGOMA Blog The triptych form of painting is most commonly associated with the altarpiece paintings made for Christian churches. Gordon Bennett - 1352 Words | Studymode This influence is seen in the rhythmic movement of Bennetts Notes to Basquiat series. He depicts how pain transcends place and event to encompass a global consciousness. a moment of possession; the place where he came ashore and allegedly claimed . 3233, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, p. 33, Gordon Bennett & Chris McAuliffe, Interview with Gordon Bennett in Rex Bulter (Ed.) Find examples of the work of these artists. New perspectives on familiar images and stories are presented. 2,038 Sq. His bold and humane art challenged racial stereotypes and provoked critical reflection on Australia's official history and national identity. Bennett attempts to destroy the stereotypes to question notions of identity. For Mondrian the grid became the essence of all forms. Comparisons between Basquiat and Bennett often focus on the artists similar backgrounds and experiences. 2, I cant remember exactly when it dawned on me that I had an Aboriginal heritage, I generally say it was around age eleven, but this was my age when my family returned to Queensland where Aboriginal people were far more visible. 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. Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. Gordon Bennett (artist) - Wikipedia Choose a selfportrait by Gordon Bennett that interests you. 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. my work was largely about ideas rather than emotional content emanating from some stereotype of a tortured soul. Bennett was concerned that his identity and work was seen as coming from a narrow framework. Basquiats signature crown hovers beneath a tag-like image of fire. Gordon Bennett 3. Bloody handprints are stamped across the walls. For example, placing the word DISPLACE under the image of Captain Cook coming ashore at Botany Bay focuses attention on the dispossession of Aboriginal people rather than on the discovery of Australia. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. Particularly when academics claim that they are afraid of expressing their 'true' findings for fear of losing their careers. 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. . They act as deep welts created when tissue scars. Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, pp. 3 Beds. The background colours and features of the landscape in each panel of Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire suggest a vast Australian desert . marking the first car ever to touch the island's soil.