Queensland-born Gordon Bennett was an artist who loved collapsing 'high' and 'low' art boundaries. 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. ), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007, p. 97, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, pp. These binary opposites insider/outsider, black/white, primitive/civilised have had a powerful influence on perceptions of European and Indigenous people and culture. Possession Island (1991), for example, presents shadowy renditions of Captain Cook and his party against a watery blue ground, overlayed with . References 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 POSSESSION ISLAND 1991 Titled, dated (1992) and signed by the artist on each panel and bears various exhibition related inscriptions and labels on the stretchers, and inscribed with date of completion 29.12.91 on the reverse of the right panel Synthetic polymer paint on canvas (diptych) 162 by 130 cm each panel, 162 by 260 cm overall Why? He holds a large whip with which he regularly lashes out at a black, coffin- like box. 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. What does this interpretation add to your understanding of the artwork? He painted his most famous work, Guernica (1937), in response to the Spanish Civil War; the totemic grisaille canvas remains a definitive work of anti-war art. In Outsider the energy and intensity associated with van Goghs expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colour contrasts are powerfully explosive . 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. 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. Compare and contrast Possession Island with one or more of the following artworks: What does this comparison reveal about the relationship between visual images, culture and history? Bennett investigates the way stereotypes are constructed by exploring words and images in opposites. Include a selection of relevant artworks by Gordon Bennett to illustrate your timeline. Today. Research the representation of three dimensional space in selected artforms of several different cultures (ie. 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. It confronts the bigotry and discrimination suffered by Aborigines, using a rich visual language based in both Aboriginal and Western traditions. 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? This approach to his work resists any classification or confinement according to style. 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. The vanishing point may also be understood as the point from which these lines extend outward past the picture plane to include the viewer in the pictorial space, positioned as observer of a self contained harmonious whole. By overlaying perspective diagrams on images constructed according to the conventions of perspective, such as the landscape in Requiem, Bennett reminds us of the learned and culturally specific systems that influence knowledge and perception. The simplicity of I AM suggests a universality of thought. Comparisons between Basquiat and Bennett often focus on the artists similar backgrounds and experiences. Gordon Bennett 1, Bennetts Aboriginal heritage came through his mother. 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 . The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. The grotesque also interested Bennett as a means of disrupting conventional ways of seeing and understanding. These are paintings about painting. Western art has a long tradition of creating an illusion of three- dimensional space on a flat surface. Discuss with reference to Possession Island. What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? The I am from Self portrait (But I always wanted to be one of the good guys) is replaced with We all are. Its like images become part of the Australian unconscious. It was a way forward for me. 3 Baths. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007 Discover Gordon Bennett's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. 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. He described this knowledge as a psychic rupturing. This contemporary questioning and revision of the traditional, narrow euro-centric view of history reflects a postcolonial perspective. Explain how you believe Bennett communicates and presents questions and complexities in his work. Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) voraciously consumed art history, current affairs, rap music and fiction, and processed it all into an unflinching critique of how identities are constituted and how history shapes individual and shared cultural conditions. In a conceptual sense I was liberated from the binary prison of self and other; the wall had disintegrated but where was I? For Mondrian the grid became the essence of all forms. The strategy of word association subverts the values and meaning traditionally associated with the image. Their confidence was rewarded when Possession Island 1991, a triptych in which each panel measured 162 x 130 cm, sold for $384,000. 3 Beds. 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. More broadly, it recalls the lives of many young Aboriginal women who followed a similar destiny. Ft. 2707 Coral Shores Dr, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306. I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . Lichtenstein 19231987). Bennett was interested in the way language and images construct identity and history, and the way this language controls and creates meaning. That's probably why he is hardly a household name, despite the cognoscenti referring to him as a powerfully influential figure in contemporary art. 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 2. 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. The grid, with its characteristic ordered mathematical structure, appears in a range of Bennetts artworks in a variety of forms. A fleet of tall ships sailed around Australia as part of the commemoration of settlement. Gordon Bennett did not describe himself as an appropriation artist. Gordon Bennett 1. McCahon uses I AM to question notions of faith. These visual representations of history present the colonisers as powerful figures and as the bearers of learning and civilisation in a land of primitive people who have no obvious learning or culture. Looking closely at the central panel we realise that the luminous sky is described with the dots that Bennett used in early works to signify Aboriginal art. The distorted and exaggerated features of the form incorporate qualities that appear animal and human, male and female. The effect is that they dissolve into a mass of colour, dots and slashes of paint . Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Bennett repositions the subject of the painting in other ways too, by including black footprints that diminish into the background of the composition. 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 motivation behind the abstract paintings was complex but in part it reflects Bennetts ongoing concerns about issues related to the reception of his work. 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. Bennett worked in a range of art forms and with a variety of media and techniques. Read through the profiles and market analysis for the top 200 Indigenous artists How does Bennetts use of appropriation reflect an interest in some of the moral and ethical issues associated with this practice. Collect a range of images (both art and media sources) that depict characters that are perceived or presented as typically Australian. The viewer does not confront the artist, but self. 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. 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 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. In a real sense I was still living in the suburbs, and in a world where there were very real demands to be one thing or the other. James Gordon Bennett, Sr., a Scottish immigrant, founded the New York Herald in 1835, building the paper from the ground up. A long-distance hot-air balloon race (The International Gordon Bennett balloon race), which still continues, was inaugurated by him in 1906. Inspired by African and Iberian art, he also contributed to the rise of Surrealism and Expressionism. 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. 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.