This emphasises the works formal qualities and discourages any narrative or symbolic reading of it. 2 February 2021. 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. What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? 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 While these may indicate the way maps are constructed to find different locations, they also represent the first letter of racial slurs. Fri. 10-9, Sat. This is a Tate Images licensable image titled 'Possession Island (Abstraction)' by Tate Images. McCahon uses I AM to question notions of faith. How do the key themes/ideas and strategies in the book/film compare to those used by Gordon Bennett in early work such as. Inspired by African and Iberian art, he also contributed to the rise of Surrealism and Expressionism. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. Gleichzeitig war es das erste Jahr ohne Stadt-zu-Stadt-Rennen, die nach dem Todesrennen" Paris-Madrid . His work is layered and complex and often incorporates images, styles or references drawn from sources such as social history text books, western art history and Indigenous art. Gordon Bennett born Australia 1955 Possession Island 1991 oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas (a-b) 162.0 x 260.0 cm (overall) Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. Select two artworks by Gordon Bennett that interest you and discuss how the artists personal background, postcolonialism and/or postmodernism provide a framework for the meanings, ideas and/or formal qualities you find in the artworks. He is not disturbed by slashes of paint, but painted carefully and outlined by the precise grid behind him. 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. New perspectives on familiar images and stories are presented. Bennett only used two colours, symbolically, red and black. I needed to change direction at least for a while. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. In this work Bennett directly references historical British sources, namely Samuel Calverts (18281913) colour etching Captain Cook Taking Possession of the Australian Continent on Behalf of the British Crown AD 1770 c.185364 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), which is itself a copy of John Alexander Gilfillans (17931864) earlier, now lost, painting of the same title. Queensland-born artist Gordon 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. In Interior (Tribal rug), 2007 the sleek modern design of the furniture is complemented by a Margaret Preston inspired tribal rug and an abstract painting by Gordon Bennett. The titles of Bennetts artworks reflect the artists awareness of the power of words/language to suggest meaning. Australian politics is fraught yet the Australian public is disengaged. His art attempts to depict the complexity of both cultural perspectives. 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. Clear visual divisions are created with distinct black areas as well as large white areas. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. His bold and humane art challenged racial stereotypes and provoked critical reflection on Australia's official history and national identity. Often the basic alphabet letters ABC also appear with Bennetts perspective diagrams, highlighting the learned and culturally specific nature of the alphabet and linear perspective. Here he is concealed under blocks of black, red and yellow, the colours of the Aboriginal flag. In just three generations, that heritage has been lost to me. Once again, the arena of self- portraiture becomes a vehicle to take over and challenge stereotypes. If God cannot be contained, can humanity be contained by stereotypes and labels? Calverts image becomes one of the layers of the painting. The word DISPERSE was used by the colonisers to represent the killing of Aboriginal people. 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. Bennett achieved critical success early in his career. This influence is seen in the rhythmic movement of Bennetts Notes to Basquiat series. * February 4, 2015 The Institute of Modern Art announces its 2015 exhibition program Institute of Modern Art 420 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley Brisbane QLD 4006 Australia T +61 (0) 7 3252 5750 ima [ at ] ima.org.au www.ima.org.au Gordon Bennett This world is not my home 1988 Not Currently on Display Artwork Artist As a teenager, Gordon Bennett became aware of his Indigenous heritage, and art became the tool through which he could examine his identity as an Australian of both Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Bennett has often used dots in his artworks as part of his investigation of issues of identity, and history. The Bicentenary celebrations triggered increased activism, protests and public debate related to Indigenous issues. The viewer is made to step back and allow the eyes to form the images. The Whitlam Government abolished the last remnants of the White Australia policy, established diplomatic relations with China and advocated Aboriginal land rights, to name just a few of these changes. Bennett lodges this image in layers of dots and slashes of red and yellow paint that refer to other artists and images. Particularly when academics claim that they are afraid of expressing their 'true' findings for fear of losing their careers. Bennett used Blue Poles to recall this period of change. At the time the A$ 1.3 million purchase price was the highest ever paid for a piece of modern art within Australia and the U.S. Basquiats signature crown hovers beneath a tag-like image of fire. 2014. Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction), 1991 Kevin Gilbert Christmas Eve in the Land of the Dispossessed, 1968; 1992 KEY ARTIST ONE- VERNON AH KEE Born 1967, Innisfail, Queensland. "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. The works I have produced are notes, nothing more, to you and your work Gordon Bennett 1. What typically Australian qualities are associated with these characters? There was still no space for me to simply be. Western art has a long tradition of creating an illusion of three- dimensional space on a flat surface. The artist Gordon Bennett led a reclusive life. Some of Prestons appropriations however, demeaned and trivialised the way Aborigines were depicted and understood. Gordon Bennett's "Outsider" is a highly emotive piece that conveys various ideas through appropriate symbolism. For more information, visit: www.qagoma.qld.gov.au for details. That's probably why he is hardly a household name, despite the cognoscenti referring to him as a powerfully influential figure in contemporary art. Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. 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. Gordon Bennett 6, I first learnt about Aborigines in primary school, as part of the social studies curriculum I learnt that Aborigines had dark brown skin, thin limbs, thick lips, black hair and dark brown eyes. How have these sciences influenced the perception and understanding of Indigenous people and cultures? James Gordon Bennett But in Bennetts painting disparate diagrams, symbols and images disrupt the illusion, presenting the landscape as a site where many ideas and viewpoints compete. Queensland-born Gordon Bennett was an artist who loved collapsing 'high' and 'low' art boundaries. Mondrian aspired to create a form of pure abstract art based on the grid and a controlled use of art elements, including primary colours. 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. 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. It is appropriation of an image that has already been copied with an image that has become central in the pysche of an Australian history. 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. 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. The coming of the light suggests questions about the impact of Christianity on Indigenous cultures and people. 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. Do you agree? Gordon Bennett 1, Bennetts Aboriginal heritage came through his mother. 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? Self portrait (Ancestor figures), 1992 deals with broader issues of cultural identity as well as personal identity. * *Collection: Museum of Sydney on the site of the first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. 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. Bennett compels the viewer to engage with and question the values and ideas of the artists he appropriated. This is similar to the way a Pointillist painting can only be seen effectively from a distance to bring the image into focus. From 2003 Bennett worked on a series of non-representational abstract paintings that mark another significant shift in his practice. There was always some sense of social engagement. The men also paint their bodies in red, yellow, white and black, or in feather down stuck with human blood when they dress up, and make music with a didgeridoo. 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 simplicity of I AM suggests a universality of thought. It was no accident that Bennett used this event to question the way history is written and interpreted. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Jackson Pollock is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Felicity Allen, Gordon Bennett interviewed by Felicity Allen in the. It speaks of colonial violence and the consequences of being on the 'wrong' side of history, purchased in 2019, this powerful and sobering work is a major acquisition for the QAGOMA Collection. John Citizen was a work in progress that allows me to follow other streams of thought in my practice. What evidence can you find of Bennett conceptually examining the ideas behind the emotion, and extrapolating from there? Bennett investigates the way stereotypes are constructed by exploring words and images in opposites. These images, forever forged in our minds, are boldly depicted in Basquiats graffiti- like style. It alludes to ownership and territory. As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. Using this list, find a range of artworks that you could appropriate to help communicate your personal identity visually. Bennett painted his version after Australias bicentennial celebrations in 1988. Bennetts art explores and reflects his personal experiences. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . 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. GORDON BENNETT AND HIS RACES From the Book: Die Gordon Bennett Ballon Rennen (The Gordon Bennett Races)by Ulrich Hohmann Sr along with articles by others.Many of his contemporaries have considered Mister James Gordon Bennett to be a spleeny American. Ian McLean 2. Who was Paul Keating? The focus on designer style in these interiors, the lack of human presence, and the flat areas of colour with simple black outline, creates a strange feeling of emptiness that sets them apart from Bennetts art. Gordon Bennett 2. 27 oct. 2018 - Dcouvrez le tableau "GORDON BENNETT" de Bibishams sur Pinterest. Eventually Bennetts mother earned an official exemption that allowed her to leave the Mission. Australia for His Majesty King George III. He described this knowledge as a psychic rupturing. . Home Dcor (Algebra) Ocean, 1998 synthesises the work of Piet Mondrian(18721944), Margaret Preston (18751963) and later in the series, JeanMichel Basquiat(19601988) among others. Why? 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. 2. The timeline could be presented in hardcopy for display in the classroom, or as an ICT project incorporating images and audio. Bennetts recent abstract paintings reflect links to a range of artists including Australians Robert McPherson, Emily Kam Kngwarray and Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, and International artist Frank Stella. 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. These sources included social studies texts. 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. We would like to hear from you. Narratives of exploration, colonisation and settlement failed to recognise the sovereign rights (or sovereignty) of Australias Indigenous people. 2 All that he had understood about himself and taken for granted as an Australian had ruptured. JeanMichel Basquiat, crowned a black urban artist, was well known for his spontaneous and gestural paintings, which reflect the artists involvement in the graffiti culture of the United States. For Bennett, however, success triggered concerns related to the links drawn between his identity as an Indigenous person, his subject matter and the reception of his work. So, painting in an overtly abstract manner was a way to go silent on the issues involved and yet still keep painting. Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. Bennett was aware of the role binary opposites, such as self/other, play in constructing personal and cultural identity. However, in each image the grid effectively highlights the controlled order and structure of knowledge systems and learning in Western culture, and how these frame and influence perception and understanding of self, history and culture. Bennetts art engages with historical and contemporary questions of cultural and personal identity, with a specific focus on Australias colonial past and its postcolonial present. Born in 1955 in Monto, Queensland, Gordon Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane before his unexpected death in 2014. Their confidence was rewarded when Possession Island 1991, a triptych in which each panel measured 162 x 130 cm, sold for $384,000. 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. 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? Oil and acrylic on canvas, 182 x 182 cm. What aspects of Bennetts works might viewers focus on as emotional? Bennett presents each image with a single word, written in capitals, that boldly asserts a new meaning for them. "Gordon Bennett!" Reynolds wrote books and articles about the history of Australian settlement as a story of invasion and genocide. Roundels relating to symbols that denote significant sites in Aboriginal Western Desert dot painting also appear. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. possession island 148339 AK Gordon-Bennett-Rennen 1904 Cup Motorsport Usingen Weilburg Limburg. The inclusion of the grid as the foundation of the installation appears to confirm this. Identity is fixed and self is understood in the context of words such as Abo, Boong, Coon and Darkie . It is interesting to note that this same year was declared a period of mourning by Aboriginal people. Bennett not only used Basquiat images, but begins to paint in his style. 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. Consider what dates/events should be included in your timeline and why. The Classical style and pose of the figure in the panel Empire, and the draped animal skins and weapons, reflect a stereotype of the noble savage that was widely influential in how people viewed Indigenous people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I didnt go to art college to graduate as an Aboriginal Artist. Discuss with reference to one or more works by Bennett. In Outsider the energy and intensity associated with van Goghs expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colour contrasts are powerfully explosive . From a distance the figure resembles a sculpture of a heroic Classical figure. Within the context of Australian art, he freed himself from being categorised solely as an Indigenous artist by creating an ongoing pop art-inspired alter ego named John Citizen. 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. The impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people and culture from this point was devastating. Bennett as a cultural outsider of both his Aboriginal and AngloCeltic heritage does not assume a simplistic interpretation of identity. 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. It is reproduced in flat, bold and black line work. The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. In Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. From his father, a Scottish . Gordon Bennett, an Australian Aboriginal artist, demonstrates this theory through his work. In images such as these, Aboriginal people are often absent or relegated to the background. Possession Island (Abstraction), Gordon Bennett, 1991, Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas. I was certainly aware of it by the time I was sixteen years old after having been in the workforce for twelve months. Bennetts use of the grotesque is evident in Outsider, 1988, which makes reference to two paintings by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853 1890) Vincents bedroom in Arles 1888, and Starry night 1889. In Altered body print (Shadow figure howling at the moon) Bennett focuses more explicitly on binary opposites and the associations they trigger. Art about art seems appropriate for the time being. cat. People tend to focus on the emotional aspect rather than the conceptual when interpreting my work, and that bothers me. In Malevichs work the black square is seen as having a strong and even spiritual presence. Traditionally these arches were built by the Romans to celebrate victory in war. Underlying Bennetts admiration for Basquiat was the need to re- contextualise the issues that he had explored throughout his career as an artist. Possession Island displays a photocopy of Samuel Calvert's engraving, Captain Cook . 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. 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. Bennett was interested in the way language and images construct identity and history, and the way this language controls and creates meaning. 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. James Gordon Bennett Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification. The work is a copy of a copy of a copy. The grand Romantic landscapes of Western art were intended to inspire the viewer with their dramatic beauty and effects of illusion. Discuss with reference to examples in at least two works by Bennett. Among these was the harrowing struggle for identity that ensued from the repression and denial of his Aboriginal heritage. 4. The representation of Aborigines has been reduced to caricature. In Unassailable heroes (Sweet Damper) Famous since Captain Cook, 1996 the motifs and symbols suggest issues and questions related to history and representation that concern Bennett. 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. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available What does this interpretation add to your understanding of the artwork? Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas in two parts. He tried a career as an actuarial clerk, attending Hawthorn College after Balwyn State School. These signs can also be read as evidence that disputes the claim that Australia was discovered terra nullius or nobodys land. When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. The reality is, however, that I have never really had much choice; and I have been faced with my work not entering some collections on the grounds of it being not Aboriginal enough, to being asked to sell my work through stalls at cultural festivalsGordon Bennett 2. These images are fused and overlapped in a dynamic composition underpinned by Mondrian-style grids. 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. It exposes the pain these stereotypes create. Gordon Bennett 1. This painting is based on Samuel Calverts 19th-century etching Captain Cook Taking Possession of the Australian Continent on Behalf of the British Crown, AD 1770, itself a copy of a lost painting by John Alexander Gilfillan. Experiment with enhancing or diminishing different layers to create a distinctive character. On closer inspection we see it is an image of an Aboriginal man. 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. The left explodes with images of 9/11, the devastatingly unforgettable attacks in the United States, including New York. Discuss with reference to a selection of at least three works, clearly identifying stylistic shifts, and evidence of conceptual unity. Image: Gordon Bennett, Australia 1955-2014, Possession Island, 1991. Appropriation was a tool that enabled him to open up and re-define stereotypes and bias. Explain. I have tried to avoid any simplistic critical containment or stylistic categorisation as an Aboriginal artist producing Aboriginal art by consistently changing stylistic directions and by producing work that does not sit easily in the confines of Aboriginal art collections or definitions. 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. Mondrian cages the figures, Preston objectifies the figures; Bennett accommodates both to grasp the intangible and dissect these limited interpretations and stereotypes. What does Bennetts goal for his work suggest to you about how he views the role of art? Such accolades and critical recognition are keenly sought by many artists. Scan these into the computer using a photographic software package like Photoshop. The images include historical footage of Indigenous people and details of some of Bennetts own paintings. His joy . 5. Looking at the image from different viewpoints helps us to discover different perspectives. Research the representation of three dimensional space in selected artforms of several different cultures (ie. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island #2, 1991. They powerfully describe pain and violence. 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. An orphan from a very young age, she was raised on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, and later trained as a domestic at Singleton. At the heart of all human life is a concept of self. As far as pinning down who John Citizen actually was, Im not interested in doing that.
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