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. 5. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island (1991)*. This canvas is loosely divided into three parts. The persistence of language references the way language controls and defines how we understand ourselves and our world. It exposes the pain these stereotypes create. However, for Bennett, dot painting also became a powerful expression of the connections between nature and culture, which are integral to representation in Aboriginal art. 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. His work also includes performance art, video, photography and printmaking. Mixing of pure blood with European blood was feared by Europeans, authenticity was at risk and identity diluted. Research the significant dates/events referenced in Bennetts artworks, including Myth of the Western Man (White mans burden) 1992 for some ideas. 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. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. 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. Gordon Bennett 1, Bennetts Aboriginal heritage came through his mother. Bennett used 9/11 and its global impact three months after the event as the stage for his discourse on cultural identity. You have to understand my position of having no designs or images or stories on which to draw to assert my Aboriginality. Explain. 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. Most Australians were shocked and scandalised that public money was spent on something they neither appreciated nor understood. 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 . For given the artists own history of engagement, these works are not considered simple abstract paintings, but abstract paintings by Gordon Bennett; coloured or even tainted by, the history, concerns and associations of the artists earlier work. What aspects of Bennetts works might viewers focus on as emotional? Gordon Bennett 1. Gordon Bennett arrived on Christmas Island in 1979 to take a post as leader of the Union of Christmas Island Workers. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. Bennett presents each image with a single word, written in capitals, that boldly asserts a new meaning for them. Who was Gordon Bennett? The title of the work itself is unsettling. A gush of blood red paint shoots into the sky from his body. Bennett was acutely aware that his own success paralleled the growing contemporary interest in Indigenous art and culture. What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? He used his self as the vehicle to do so. 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. There was always some sense of social engagement. cat. The distorted and exaggerated features of the form incorporate qualities that appear animal and human, male and female. He probed ideas about identity, fuelled partly by his own . | Tate Images. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. James Gordon Bennett This is a Tate Images licensable image titled 'Possession Island (Abstraction)' by Tate Images. The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. Nearby Recently Sold Homes. Black angels replace traditional white cherubs. A fleet of tall ships sailed around Australia as part of the commemoration of settlement. This is the second of two works entitled Possession Island that Bennett painted following Australias bicentennial celebrations in 1988. 1. But in Bennetts painting disparate diagrams, symbols and images disrupt the illusion, presenting the landscape as a site where many ideas and viewpoints compete. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. 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. Gordon Bennett, &The manifest toe, pp. Brushing aside the tempting opportunity to ridicule many frames of reference in that sentence (I mean, don't get me . The soundtrack includes digital sampling of ICE.Ts Race War. However these ideas and values simultaneously oppressed Indigenous people and their cultural and knowledge systems. Find out more about binary opposites and identify some binary opposites that you believe have had a significant influence on your understanding of the world. What typically Australian qualities are associated with these characters? 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. Possession Island (1991), for example, presents shadowy renditions of Captain Cook and his party against a watery blue ground, overlayed with . John Citizen is an artist for our times: he reflects back to us citizens the white Australia of the postKeating era. Gordon Bennett 3. Altarpiece paintings traditionally occupied a central position in a church. Roundels relating to symbols that denote significant sites in Aboriginal Western Desert dot painting also appear. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas in two parts. Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) created the triptych Bloodlines 1993 early in his career. Fundamentally, he deconstructed history to question the truth of the past. Bennett investigates the way stereotypes are constructed by exploring words and images in opposites. This contemporary questioning and revision of the traditional, narrow euro-centric view of history reflects a postcolonial perspective. my work was largely about ideas rather than emotional content emanating from some stereotype of a tortured soul. The artist has effectively communicated his beliefs on the suppression of Aboriginal culture by combining confronting imagery with the concepts of Vincent Van Gogh, Francisco Goya and Classical art. What is your personal interpretation of the abstract paintings? The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. The grand Romantic landscapes of Western art were intended to inspire the viewer with their dramatic beauty and effects of illusion. 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. Discuss with reference to Possession Island. Captain James Cook arrived there in 1770 and claimed ownership of the entire eastern coast of Australia in the name of King George III. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. 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. It was a way forward for me. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . Samuel Calverts engraving, Captain Cook taking possession of the Australian continent on behalf of the British Crown AD 1770, became the starting point for Bennetts exploration. Traditionally these arches were built by the Romans to celebrate victory in war. One reason is that I felt I had gone as far as I could with the postcolonial project I was working through. Discuss in relation to selected artworks by Bennett that you believe reveal questions and complexities, rather than answers and simplicities. 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. However Bennetts illusionistic representation of the rugged terrain and billowing clouds reflect a style of painting traditionally associated with European Romantic art. Bennett employs this system using diagrams often labelled with acronyms, such as CVP (central vanishing point), that refer to key features of the system. 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. 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. Bennetts art practice was interdisciplinary and encompasses painting, photography, printmaking, video, performance and installation. Australian artist Gordon Bennett passed away on June 3, 2014, from natural causes at the age of 58. 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. Explain how these images might have influenced perceptions of Australian identity? He and his partner bought a house and settled in the suburbs of Brisbane like other young couples. 1 Bill Wrights interview with Gordon Bennett in Gellatly K with contributions by Clemens, Justin; Devery, Jane; and Wright, Bill Gordon Bennett National Gallery of Victoria exhibition catalogue, Melbourne, 2007, During his childhood in the 1950s and 60s, Bennett lived with his family in Victoria and Queensland. That was to be the extent of my formal education on Aborigines and Aboriginal culture until Art College. In just three generations, that heritage has been lost to me. are they representative of different cultural identities)? Bennett was interested in the way language and images construct identity and history, and the way this language controls and creates meaning. Gordon Bennett Australia 1955-2014. I was certainly aware of it by the time I was sixteen years old after having been in the workforce for twelve months. Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay 1770 by E. Phillips Fox, for example, depicts Captain James Cook ceremoniously coming ashore at Botany Bay to claim the land for Britain. Kelly Gellatly 3. They powerfully describe pain and violence. Opens in a new window or tab. In a conceptual sense I was liberated from the binary prison of self and other; the wall had disintegrated but where was I? 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. Gordon Bennett's "Outsider" is a highly emotive piece that conveys various ideas through appropriate symbolism. The works I have produced are notes, nothing more, to you and your work Gordon Bennett 1. Calverts image becomes one of the layers of the painting. Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. He carefully staged each image in his studio, posing the sitter against a painted backdrop. At the heart of all human life is a concept of self. The first panel of Bennetts triptych, Requiem, depicts Trugannini (c. 1812 1876), a Palawa woman from Tasmania. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. What strategies have been used to communicate and explore these themes and ideas in the book/film? 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. He gave several sponsorships in these fields, notably the Isle of Man Bennett Trophy races of 1900 to 1905 (subsequently a trials course on the island was named after him). Bennett has included the framed photograph in the panel, to the right of the painted figure. Gebraucht | Gewerblich. It is a monument that also unintentionally signals the subsequent dispossession of Aboriginal people from their homeland. 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. Gordon Bennett an Australian Aboriginal artist demonstrates this theory through his work. ), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007, p. 97, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, pp. In Outsider the energy and intensity associated with van Goghs expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colour contrasts are powerfully explosive . There was still no space for me to simply be. John Citizen lets me take my Australian citizenship and cultural upbringing back from the netherworld of the imagined Other. Bennett also had ongoing concerns about how his Aboriginal identity and his interest in subjects related to Aboriginality were framing and hence limiting the way his artistic identity and his work were perceived. 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. Like words, visual images, forms and elements are powerful signifiers of meaning. References 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 . Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 - 3 June 2014) [1] was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Bennett lodges this image in layers of dots and slashes of red and yellow paint that refer to other artists and images. Bennett purposefully constructed these layers to blur fixed ideas and raise questions about the way identity is constructed. It recalls the way stereotypes, labels, identities and systems of thought are fixed. As a self- portrait, the artist seems to be present everywhere within the installation but is in fact nowhere. Many Indigenous Australians saw this appropriation as further evidence of a justification of colonisation and a Eurocentric interpretation of Aboriginal culture. It is interesting to note that this same year was declared a period of mourning by Aboriginal people. Gordon Bennett: Selected Writings $45.00 Quantity Edited by Angela Goddard and Tim Riley Walsh A co-publication from Power Publications and Griffith University Art Museum Paperback with dust jacket RRP $45.00 AUD ISBN 978--909952-01-3 66 images, including colour plates 216 pp 297 x 210 mm 890 gms His joy . Bennett was in possession of all four, all of which will become evident upon a glance at a summary of his life. Australia for His Majesty King George III. Gordon Bennett 1. This image is based on a photograph by JW Lindt (1845 1926). Other aspects of the image, including the flat, stylised shapes of the head, reflect connections to both Western abstract art and Indigenous art traditions. 40 41. The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennett's art practice. It is open to self revelation, self redemption and a myriad of rich images of self that can be built upon. This event was re-enacted in many pageants and dramatisations during Australias Bicentenary in 1988, as a way of celebrating 200 years of Australian history. Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction) 1991 In Tate Modern Level 3: A Year in Art: Australia 1992 Level 3: A Year in Art: Australia 1992 Artist Gordon Bennett 1955-2014 Medium Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas Dimensions Support: 1843 1845 mm Collection Tate Acquisition ). She was one of the first Australian artists to recognise the spiritual significance of Aboriginal art and the land. He has written of his approach to his work: Bennetts practice include painting, printmaking, drawing, video, performance, installation and sculpture, and challenges racial stereotypes and critically reflects on Australias history (official and unacknowledged) by addressing issues relating to the role of language and systems of thought in forging identity. Bennetts earliest works, including The coming of the light, 1987, reflect a raw and expressive style. 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 Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. 148339 AK Gordon-Bennett-Rennen 1904 Cup Motorsport Usingen Weilburg Limburg. It acts as a question with many possibilities and answers. Gordon Bennett 3, Bennett married in 1977. For example, Aboriginal deaths in custody was recognised as a significant issue. Voir plus d'ides sur le thme toile de lin, basquiat, art australien. 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. Kelly Gellatly 5, By the mid 1990s, Gordon Bennett came to feel he was in an untenable position. A long-distance hot-air balloon race (The International Gordon Bennett balloon race), which still continues, was inaugurated by him in 1906. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the NGV is built. In Untitled, 1989 Bennett works with a selection of images associated with the familiar story of the discovery and settlement of Australia. Bennett was concerned that his identity and work was seen as coming from a narrow framework. He acknowledged that much of his work was autobiographical, but he emphasises that there was conceptual distance involved in his art making . Gordon BENNETT "Possession Island" (1991) Conceptual Painting Art Painting Contemporary Australian Artists Neo Expressionism Expressionist Art Collage Cultural Studies Indigenous Education Gordon BENNETT "Notes to Basquiat (The coming of the light)" (2001) Aboriginal Painting Drawing Prints Drawings Image Sheet Foley Present Day 2014. Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. While 2007 was a brilliant year for Bennett's secondary market results, with eight works sold of which . Why might such an organisation purchase this painting? 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. In September 2017, Bennett's 1991 Possession Island was unveiled at London's Tate Modern. As a shy and inarticulate teenager my response to these derogatory opinions was silence, self-loathing and denial of my heritage. The arms that extend in opposite directions across the two panels of the painting represent different perspectives on the impact of the Enlightenment. The Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746-1828) used the power of the grotesque in the Disasters of war series, which depicts some of the atrocities that took place in Spain during the War of Independence (1814-18). 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. What evidence can you find of Bennett conceptually examining the ideas behind the emotion, and extrapolating from there? EUR 7,81. Finally, Ive never been one to make art about art before. The critical and aesthetic strategies of postmodernism have had significant impact on the development of his art practice. Place each photograph on a separate layer, overlap and morph or merge all the portraits into one image. Victorious soldiers triumphantly and ceremoniously paraded under such arches, sometimes accompanied by their captives. Pinterest. These images, forever forged in our minds, are boldly depicted in Basquiats graffiti- like style. 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. 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. . Among these was the harrowing struggle for identity that ensued from the repression and denial of his Aboriginal heritage. 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. Image credit: Gordon Bennett - Possession Island (1991). How ideas might be encountered from different places and events interest him. Image credit: Gordon Bennett - Possession Island (1991). Australian politics is fraught yet the Australian public is disengaged. . Bennett's work is held in over 100 public and private collections, including many major state institutions such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Collect a range of images (both art and media sources) that depict characters that are perceived or presented as typically Australian. Bennett confronts and questions the appropriateness of this borrowing. May 20, 2022 - Explore Benny O's board "Artists" on Pinterest. Celebrations continued throughout the year and gave renewed focus to traditional images and stories of the nations settlement history. Ian McLean 2. Who was Paul Keating? However, Bennetts ongoing investigation into questions of identity, perception and knowledge, has involved a range of subjects drawn from both history and contemporary culture, and both national and international contexts. Looking at the image from different viewpoints helps us to discover different perspectives. It alludes to ownership and territory. These contrasting and complex meanings and ideas are not accidental. She was once thought to be the last surviving Tasmanian Aborigine. 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. . Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007 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. 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 Underlying Bennetts admiration for Basquiat was the need to re- contextualise the issues that he had explored throughout his career as an artist. Aim to use a variety of strategies in your work to engage the viewer in the issues and questions you are interested in exploring in relation to these binary opposites. How might John Citizen be seen as reflection of the post Keating era? 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. 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. I decided that I would attempt to create a space by adopting a strategy of intervention and disturbance in the field of representation through my art. The effect is that they dissolve into a mass of colour, dots and slashes of paint . Research other artists who use appropriation and select an artist whose work interests you. Possession Island (Abstraction), Gordon Bennett, 1991, Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas.