In September 2017, Bennett's 1991 Possession Island was unveiled at London's Tate Modern. . Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, p. 27, Identities come from somewhere, have histories, and like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. 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. * *Collection: Museum of Sydney on the site of the first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. Explain how these images might have influenced perceptions of Australian identity? This was soon replaced by a cooler, more conceptual approach. His use of the perspective diagrams to frame and contain the figure of his mother alludes to the impact the values and systems of European culture have had on the lives of Indigenous people. Every object is carefully and clearly painted, yet the images conceptually blur together as they intersect and interlace through the grid, across the canvas. What does this interpretation add to your understanding of the artwork? This activity could be done as a group activity with different students researching different dates/events and presenting talks to the class about their significance. Gordon Bennett did not describe himself as an appropriation artist. 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. When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. 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. 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. Explore. There was always some sense of social engagement. 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. In this way, Bennett effectively exposes and questions the constructed and value-laden nature of language and history, and how they shape our understanding of the world. The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums What strategies have been used to communicate and explore these themes and ideas in the book/film? EUR 99,99. dresden-de (52.329) 100%. This influence is seen in the rhythmic movement of Bennetts Notes to Basquiat series. 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. "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. 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 approach involved a flattening of the picture surface and often the use of disparate visual elements or styles borrowed or copied from different sources. Appropriation art is an established postmodernist strategy defined as: The direct duplication, copying or incorporation of an image (painting, photography, etc) by another artist who represents it in a different context, thus completely altering its meaning and questioning notions of originality and authenticity.1. Celebrations continued throughout the year and gave renewed focus to traditional images and stories of the nations settlement history. My intention is in keeping with the integrity of my work in which appropriation and citation, sampling and remixing are an integral part, as are attempts to communicate a basic underlying humanity to the perception of blackness in its philosophical and historical production within western cultural contexts. Bennett lodges this image in layers of dots and slashes of red and yellow paint that refer to other artists and images. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. (2nd Edition), What is Appropriation? It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name. . Much of Bennetts work has been concerned with an interrogation of Australias colonial past and postcolonial present, including issues associated with the dominant role that white, western culture has played in constructing the social and cultural landscape of the nation. 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. Victorious soldiers triumphantly and ceremoniously paraded under such arches, sometimes accompanied by their captives. 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. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. However, he offers more than one interpretation of the grids use, which is indicated by the sampling of works by Australian artist Margaret Preston . 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 The coming of the light suggests questions about the impact of Christianity on Indigenous cultures and people. Bennett as a cultural outsider of both his Aboriginal and AngloCeltic heritage does not assume a simplistic interpretation of identity. Gordon Bennett's painting Possession Island (Abstraction) 1991 is based on an image of Captain Cook claiming the eastern coast of Australia in 1770. 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. Discuss with reference to Possession Island. How do the key themes/ideas and strategies in the book/film compare to those used by Gordon Bennett in early work such as. . While the conceptual framework underpinning Bennetts art remained remarkably consistent, his art practice was characterised by some dramatic stylistic shifts over twenty years. Do these qualities reflect the reality of what it means to be Australian (ie. Bennett achieved critical success early in his career. One reason is that I felt I had gone as far as I could with the postcolonial project I was working through. How does this work compare with conventional self-portraits? Literally opening up this black skin of paint are the words cut me. For example, at the time Gordon was born she still had to carry her official exemption certificate with her, and she lived in fear of her son being taken from her . Self portrait (But I always wanted to be one of the good guys), 1990 questions how stereotypes create a sense of identity. 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. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island (1991)*. 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. 22-24, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, in The Art of Gordon Bennett, p. 32, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House, 1996, pp. His sudden death came just one week after the opening of the 8th Berlin Biennale, where a series of Bennett's never-before exhibited drawings from the early 1990s are currently on view. 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. Bennetts art practice was interdisciplinary and encompasses painting, photography, printmaking, video, performance and installation. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the NGV is built. These include the tall ship and the appropriated logos featuring kitsch and racist references to Indigenous people, and the ominous juxtaposition of bags of flour and bottles of poison. His work also includes performance art, video, photography and printmaking. The simplicity of I AM suggests a universality of thought. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums The Estate of Gordon Bennett Bennett attempts to destroy the stereotypes to question notions of identity. 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. 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. It has been designed for teachers and students to instigate discussion and investigation, and includes learning activities relevant to history and visual arts that can be adapted to different levels. 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. Jenna Gribbon, Luncheon on the grass, a recurring dream, 2020. Discuss with reference to the same works. In European tradition these are seen as a means of mapping and defining space. 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. We would like to hear from you. The jack- in- the box is surrounded by symbols, including the grid- like buildings and alphabet blocks, of the knowledge, systems and structures that represent an enlightened, civilised society. The 'cancel culture' debate winds me up. 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. If God cannot be contained, can humanity be contained by stereotypes and labels? It is reproduced in flat, bold and black line work. In Untitled, 1989 Bennett works with a selection of images associated with the familiar story of the discovery and settlement of Australia. In the third panel of Bennetts triptych, Empire, a Roman triumphal arch frames a stately figure. Gordon Bennett uses self- portraits to question stereotypes and labelling. Why? 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. 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. Discuss with reference to a range of artworks by Bennett. An orphan from a very young age, she was raised on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, and later trained as a domestic at Singleton. 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 explores these ideas in Self portrait: Interior/ Exterior , 1992. Gordon Bennett 1. The inclusion of Pollock helps build these cross- connections. Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. This is evident in many of his works, including Outsider. Create an illustrated and annotated timeline of the history of Australia since settlement. 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. 27 oct. 2018 - Dcouvrez le tableau "GORDON BENNETT" de Bibishams sur Pinterest. 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 From early on in his successful career, curtailed by his death in 2014 at age 58, he was well-known for disrupting the status quo with his unique visual language. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. . Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. He depicts how pain transcends place and event to encompass a global consciousness. I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. Compare and contrast this artists use of appropriation with that of Gordon Bennett. Bennett was acutely aware that his own success paralleled the growing contemporary interest in Indigenous art and culture. How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? Gordon Bennett, The Manifest Toe, in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House/ G + G Arts International, Sydney, 1996, pp.962.Kelly Gellatly et.al., Gordon Bennett: A Survey, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007. 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. Their confidence was rewarded when Possession Island 1991, a triptych in which each panel measured 162 x 130 cm, sold for $384,000. These geometric forms also refer to the early 20th-century abstract artist Kazimir Malevich. Possession Island 1991 was recently purchased by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. He and his partner bought a house and settled in the suburbs of Brisbane like other young couples. The grid and perspective lines are another recurring symbol in Bennetts work. He acknowledged that much of his work was autobiographical, but he emphasises that there was conceptual distance involved in his art making . What does Bennetts goal for his work suggest to you about how he views the role of art? The headless figure of the Aboriginal man has an animated, spectre- like presence that haunts the scene. He found this liberating. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. Like many others at that time, Bennett was inspired by the work of the historian Henry Reynolds. 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 . SOLD FEB 21, 2023. Discuss with reference to one or more works by Bennett. What typically Australian qualities are associated with these characters? Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA). 148339 AK Gordon-Bennett-Rennen 1904 Cup Motorsport Usingen Weilburg Limburg. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. The first panel of Bennetts triptych, Requiem, depicts Trugannini (c. 1812 1876), a Palawa woman from Tasmania. For more information, visit: www.qagoma.qld.gov.au for details. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. Art about art seems appropriate for the time being. Gordon Bennett 1. What is your personal interpretation of the meaning and ideas in The coming of the light or Untitled ? Gordon Bennett 1, For an artist whose practice was concerned with how labels and systems define and confine knowledge and perception, labels and categorisations such as aboriginal artist, or urban aboriginal artist that were often applied to his work through exhibitions, books and other commentaries presented many practical as well as philosophical issues, I am very aware of the boundaries of critical containment within the parameters of Urban Aboriginal Art, and have so far worked within these boundaries to try and broaden, extend and subvert them. The Politics of Art. Many Indigenous Australians saw this appropriation as further evidence of a justification of colonisation and a Eurocentric interpretation of Aboriginal culture. The effect is that they dissolve into a mass of colour, dots and slashes of paint . Collect a range of images (both art and media sources) that depict characters that are perceived or presented as typically Australian. Today. Place each photograph on a separate layer, overlap and morph or merge all the portraits into one image. In many images of the crucifixion, including the painting by Veneziano illustrated, Mary Magdalene is kneeling at the foot of the cross washing and anointing Christs feet in an act of devotion . 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. cat. Australia for His Majesty King George III. The Stripe series of abstract paintings represents a kind of freedom for me as an artist. 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. Gordon Bennett arrived on Christmas Island in 1979 to take a post as leader of the Union of Christmas Island Workers. 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 Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) created the triptych Bloodlines 1993 early in his career. Looking at the image from different viewpoints helps us to discover different perspectives. Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) is one of Australia's most important contemporary artists, and his works have received increasing critical acclaim over the past years - culminating with his retrospective exhibition at the QAGOMA in Brisbane, 'Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett'. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. 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. It is also a direct reference to biblical stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. Western art has a long tradition of creating an illusion of three- dimensional space on a flat surface. The background colours and features of the landscape in each panel of Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire suggest a vast Australian desert . He was born in New York, May 10th 1841 and died 4 days after his 77th Birthday in Beaulieu near Nizza/France. These binary opposites insider/outsider, black/white, primitive/civilised have had a powerful influence on perceptions of European and Indigenous people and culture. However the hand in the opposite panel controls and threatens the Aboriginal figure represented as a jack- in- the- box. Identify other artists who have used dots in their work (ie. The motivation behind the abstract paintings was complex but in part it reflects Bennetts ongoing concerns about issues related to the reception of his work. It confronts the bigotry and discrimination suffered by Aborigines, using a rich visual language based in both Aboriginal and Western traditions. He is not disturbed by slashes of paint, but painted carefully and outlined by the precise grid behind him. They absorb the flow of blood and recall the symbols often used in Aboriginal dot painting of the Western Desert to represent significant sites. 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. "Gordon Bennett!" 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. It demonstrates Bennetts understanding of the power of this image. But in Bennetts painting disparate diagrams, symbols and images disrupt the illusion, presenting the landscape as a site where many ideas and viewpoints compete. What aspects of Bennetts works might viewers focus on as emotional? He described this knowledge as a psychic rupturing. It exposes the pain these stereotypes create. This is similar to the way a Pointillist painting can only be seen effectively from a distance to bring the image into focus. Bennett repositions the subject of the painting in other ways too, by including black footprints that diminish into the background of the composition. The graphic detail in these images, including mutilated, tortured bodies, continue to confront viewers today with the realities of human behaviour and suffering in war. What systems and/or conventions are used by each culture to represent three dimensional space? From a distance the figure resembles a sculpture of a heroic Classical figure. cat. Picassos sizable oeuvre grew to include over 20,000 paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures,ceramics, theater sets, and costume designs. In Bennetts painting the bedroom becomes the site of violent conflict that involves complex and intersecting personal and cultural histories. The artist Gordon Bennett led a reclusive life. The dresser draw labelled self is closed while the drawers for history and culture are ajar. For many Aboriginal Australians, these celebrations were instead received as a period of mourning and a time to remember the devastating consequences of colonisation on Aboriginal people. In images such as these, Aboriginal people are often absent or relegated to the background. However these ideas and values simultaneously oppressed Indigenous people and their cultural and knowledge systems. 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. Citizens more recent work includes a series of interiors inspired by the decorator and home magazines that circulate widely in popular culture. It is a monument that also unintentionally signals the subsequent dispossession of Aboriginal people from their homeland. Issues ly explored in an Australian context are now examined in an international context. I am that I am, Exodus 3:14 is God naming self. Clear visual divisions are created with distinct black areas as well as large white areas. Possession Island 1991 Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas Two parts: 162 x 260cm (overall) The Estate of Gordon Bennett Purchased with funds. Gouged into the skin like a tattoo, these markings will never heal or fade away. These images include scenes featuring tall ships, the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, and several scenes that reveal the violence and tension that often characterised the relationship between colonisers and the colonised. Six years after his death at the age of 58, his As far as pinning down who John Citizen actually was, Im not interested in doing that. ), Heide Museum of Modern Art , Melbourne, 2004 pp. The juxtaposition and sequencing of words and images in Untitled is unsettling. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . 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. The The Notes to Basquiat series,which Bennett commenced in 1998, marked a significant new direction in his art in relation to working with the style of another artist. The viewer is made to step back and allow the eyes to form the images. 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.