Ft. 2707 Coral Shores Dr, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Pollock becomes a catalyst for transformation. The artist Gordon Bennett led a reclusive life. Bennetts art practice was interdisciplinary and encompasses painting, photography, printmaking, video, performance and installation. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. 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 But the oppressive and restrictive laws that governed the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia until the late 1960s continued to impose on her life. The word DISPERSE was used by the colonisers to represent the killing of Aboriginal people. Bennett purposefully constructed these layers to blur fixed ideas and raise questions about the way identity is constructed. Like words, visual images, forms and elements are powerful signifiers of meaning. Bennetts use of the grid in these and other artworks suggests questions and ideas. 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. Queensland-born Gordon Bennett was an artist who loved collapsing 'high' and 'low' art boundaries. This was common practice among young Aboriginal girls and women. Das Jahr 1904 brachte mit dem Gordon-Bennett-Rennen in Deutschland und dem Vanderbilt Cup in den USA einen weiteren Aufschwung des Motorsports vor allem auch auerhalb Frankreichs, wobei fr das Rennen in New York erstmals europische Fahrer und Rennstlle nach bersee gereist waren. 27 oct. 2018 - Dcouvrez le tableau "GORDON BENNETT" de Bibishams sur Pinterest. Gordon Bennett, an Australian Aboriginal artist, demonstrates this theory through his work. 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. In the Home dcorseries Bennett used gridded compositions that refer to the paintings of Dutch artistPiet Mondrian (1872 1944). Different members of the class could be assigned different cultural traditions to research and then prepare an illustrated presentation for the class. 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. marking the first car ever to touch the island's soil. In the Christian tradition light is associated with goodness and righteousness while darkness is associated with evil. The only clearly defined part of Possession Island is the black skinned male figure in the centre. However these ideas and values simultaneously oppressed Indigenous people and their cultural and knowledge systems. The mirror at the bottom left-hand corner of the painting represents Bennetts own shaving mirror. Gouged into the skin like a tattoo, these markings will never heal or fade away. Gordon Bennett's "Outsider" is a highly emotive piece that conveys various ideas through appropriate symbolism. The impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people and culture from this point was devastating. There is strong symbolism associated with the placement of the figure beneath the Roman triumphal arch. 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. For Mondrian the grid became the essence of all forms. But the mathematical formulation of linear perspective in the fifteenth century had a powerful influence on the representation of space in Western art from this point. Gordon Bennett 2. . 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. Dots have been an important element in many of Bennetts paintings as a powerful signifier of Aboriginal art, for example Triptych: Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire. However Bennetts use of the black square in this and other works also reflect his ongoing interest in the work of the influential Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935). List some of your own qualities and attributes. The grand Romantic landscapes of Western art were intended to inspire the viewer with their dramatic beauty and effects of illusion. Read through the profiles and market analysis for the top 200 Indigenous artists Pollock was influenced by Navaho sand paintings, which were created on the ground. 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. Bennett was aware of the role binary opposites, such as self/other, play in constructing personal and cultural identity. . In Malevichs work the black square is seen as having a strong and even spiritual presence. Possession Island 1992. Australian politics is fraught yet the Australian public is disengaged. Amidst the chaos and confusion of dots and slashes of colour he remains imprisoned by the grid, reduced to servitude. Calverts image becomes one of the layers of the painting. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 182 x 182 cm. Our understanding of the meanings associated with visual signs is linked to cultural codes, conventions and experience. Gordon Bennett explores these ideas in Self portrait: Interior/ Exterior , 1992. That was to be the extent of my formal education on Aborigines and Aboriginal culture until Art College. In a conceptual sense I was liberated from the binary prison of self and other; the wall had disintegrated but where was I? The distorted and exaggerated features of the form incorporate qualities that appear animal and human, male and female. 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. These are paintings about painting. 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. They became a potent symbol of the celebrations. What does this interpretation add to your understanding of the artwork? Altarpiece paintings traditionally occupied a central position in a church. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Gordon Bennetts Possession Island 1991, highlights the influence that visual images have on our understanding of history, and the way that visual images often reflect the values of the social / historical context in which they are made. In the context of the other panels, which are all figurative, this black square could be seen as an absence, and possibly a representation of the oppression of indigenous voices by history. The grotesque in art is generally associated with bizarre, ugly or disturbing imagery. 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 exposes the pain these stereotypes create. 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. Traditionally these arches were built by the Romans to celebrate victory in war. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums; Daniel Boyd, We Call Them . On each corner of the grid are the letters A B C D . * *Collection: Museum of Sydney on the site of the first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. Mondrian cages the figures, Preston objectifies the figures; Bennett accommodates both to grasp the intangible and dissect these limited interpretations and stereotypes. 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. He serves as a counterpoint to Gordon Bennetts Other, and yet we are the one and the same. The content of the work was getting to me emotionally. Jenna Gribbon, April studio, parting glance, 2021. When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. Celebrations continued throughout the year and gave renewed focus to traditional images and stories of the nations settlement history. He tried a career as an actuarial clerk, attending Hawthorn College after Balwyn State School. 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. The triptych form of painting is most commonly associated with the altarpiece paintings made for Christian churches. After years of critiquing art-historical standards, Bennett has himself become the standard bearer. Gordon Bennett 1. In the third panel of Bennetts triptych, Empire, a Roman triumphal arch frames a stately figure. These images are fused and overlapped in a dynamic composition underpinned by Mondrian-style grids. Gordon Bennett 1. These images, forever forged in our minds, are boldly depicted in Basquiats graffiti- like style. The grid and perspective lines are another recurring symbol in Bennetts work. 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. Art about art seems appropriate for the time being. Its like images become part of the Australian unconscious. Sell with Artsy Artist Series Portraits of Artists and Sculptors 113 available Jenna Gribbon, Luncheon on the grass, a recurring dream, 2020. He described this knowledge as a psychic rupturing. Possession Island (Abstraction), Gordon Bennett, 1991, Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung People as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the NGV is built. This emphasises the works formal qualities and discourages any narrative or symbolic reading of it. 3 Baths. Born in 1955 in Monto, Queensland, Gordon Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane before his unexpected death in 2014. They communicated important Christian stories to the congregation. What systems and/or conventions are used by each culture to represent three dimensional space? McCahon uses I AM to question notions of faith. 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). It demonstrates Bennetts understanding of the power of this image. 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. Fundamentally, he deconstructed history to question the truth of the past. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas; two parts, 162 x 260cm (overall). Compare and contrast this artists use of appropriation with that of Gordon Bennett. Bellas Gallery. Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. Bennett handed over command of his division and left the island. 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. As the foundation of a system of representation, perspective produces an illusion of depth on an essentially flat two dimensional surface by the use of invisible lines that converge to a vanishing point. 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. It is based on a newspaper photograph of Bennetts mother and another young Aboriginal woman, dressed in crisp white uniforms, polishing the elaborate architectural fittings in a grand interior of a homestead in Singleton. Buildings and planes collide. Bennett confronts and questions the appropriateness of this borrowing. Identity is fixed and self is understood in the context of words such as Abo, Boong, Coon and Darkie . Gordon Bennett . are they representative of different cultural identities)? For more information, visit: www.qagoma.qld.gov.au for details. 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. The Other is clearly marked out as not only different but by necessity inferior. 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. Suggest reasons for the similarities and differences that you find. Mondrian, a Dutch De Stijl artist and a Theosophist, used art to search empirical truths and their source. Lichtenstein 19231987). Create an illustrated and annotated timeline of the history of Australia since settlement. Bennett as a cultural outsider of both his Aboriginal and AngloCeltic heritage does not assume a simplistic interpretation of identity. Often describing his own practice of borrowing images as quoting, Bennett re-contextualised existing images to challenge the viewer to question and see alternative perspectives. Further reading 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. I did drawings of tools and weapons in my project book, just like all the other children, and like them I also wrote in my books that each Aboriginal family had their own hut, that men hunt kangaroos, possums and emus; that women collect seeds, eggs, fruit and yams. Bennett also includes copies and samples of his own work, such as Possession Island and Big Romantic painting (The Apotheosis of Captain Cook) 1993, with other found images. Narratives of exploration, colonisation and settlement failed to recognise the sovereign rights (or sovereignty) of Australias Indigenous people. Gordon Bennett 1. 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 . Bennett not only used Basquiat images, but begins to paint in his style. Bennett establishes him as the focal point. What does Bennetts goal for his work suggest to you about how he views the role of art? The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. This includes a focus on the role and power of language, including visual representations, in shaping identity, culture and history. 2014. John Citizen lets me take my Australian citizenship and cultural upbringing back from the netherworld of the imagined Other. I didnt go to art college to graduate as an Aboriginal Artist. This rich interplay of words and images raises many questions. Mixing of pure blood with European blood was feared by Europeans, authenticity was at risk and identity diluted. 3 Beds. Explain. The purchase of this artwork by the Whitlam Labor Government (19731975) was fraught with controversy. Choose a selfportrait by Gordon Bennett that interests you. Bennett has often used dots in his artworks as part of his investigation of issues of identity, and history. They reference the massacres of Aboriginal people in Myth of the Western man (White man's burden) (1992) and The nine ricochets (Fall down black fella, Jump up white fella (1990) and question the valorising of Captain Cook in Big Romantic Painting (Apotheosis of Captain Cook) (1993) and Possession Island (1991). As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. The Stripe series of abstract paintings represents a kind of freedom for me as an artist. She was one of the first Australian artists to recognise the spiritual significance of Aboriginal art and the land. An orphan from a very young age, she was raised on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, and later trained as a domestic at Singleton. He described his upbringing as overwhelmingly Euro-Australian, with never a word spoken about my Aboriginal heritage. ). Collect a range of images (both art and media sources) that depict characters that are perceived or presented as typically Australian. 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. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. In Possession Island No 2 this figure is concealed and transformed into an abstract totem or geometric monument coloured with the signature black, red and yellow of the Aboriginal flag. Bennett layered these two distinctly different artists with his own work work previously appropriated from yet another context. Viewed in this context, the black square in Untitled could be seen as a resilient black presence, asserting itself in the settlement narrative that Bennett deconstructed. An Anthology of writings on Australian Art in the 1980s & 1990s, IMA Publishing, 2004, p. 273, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett Craftsman House, 1996, p. 58, Kelly Gellatly, Citizen in the making, p.18, Kelly Gellatly, Citizen in the making, p. 17, John Citizen artist profile, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne http://www.suttongallery.com.au/artists/artistprofile.php?id=39 accessed 29/11/07, Conversation Bill Wright talks to Gordon Bennett, in Kelly Gellatly with contributions by Bill Wright, Justin Clemens and Jane Devery, Gordon Bennett (exhib. The Notes to Basquiat series takes appropriation to yet another level within Bennetts art practice. Here he is concealed under blocks of black, red and yellow, the colours of the Aboriginal flag. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. The persistence of language references the way language controls and defines how we understand ourselves and our world. Get this The Morning News page for free from Friday, July 7, 1972 Q90 wSu Fairfax Shopping Center Doily 10-6. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums Early life [ edit] 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. There was always some sense of social engagement. Citizens more recent work includes a series of interiors inspired by the decorator and home magazines that circulate widely in popular culture. From the beginning of his career, John Citizen had had a complex relationship with Gordon Bennett. Since 1992 Bennett was involved in an ongoing non-performance by refusing to participate in public lecture programs in Australia. Fri. 10-9, Sat. As an Australian of both Aboriginal and Anglo Celtic descent, Bennett felt he had no access to his indigenous heritage. Collect and find photographs of a wide variety of people of different ethnicities, cultures and physical appearances. Another reason was to make people aware that I am an artist first and not a professional Aborigine. The title of the work itself is unsettling. On Tuesday, the Tate unveiled Gordon Bennett's Possession Island, a provocative 1991 work that takes a 19th century etching of Cook's claiming Australia for Britain, and plants a proud abstract indigenous flag on it. 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. Comparisons between Basquiat and Bennett often focus on the artists similar backgrounds and experiences. The titles of Bennetts artworks reflect the artists awareness of the power of words/language to suggest meaning. This painting combines the story of Bennetts mother, and other young Aboriginal women in the care of the government or church, with the Christian story. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art . In Interior (Abstract eye), 1991 a diagrammatic grid overlays an image depicting a group of Aboriginal people in the landscape, seemingly appropriated from a social studies text. 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. 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. Looking at the image from different viewpoints helps us to discover different perspectives. There was still no space for me to simply be. 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 central figure is based on a monoprint made from the artists body. Appropriation was a tool that enabled him to open up and re-define stereotypes and bias. How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? Such accolades and critical recognition are keenly sought by many artists. In your discussion consider meanings and ideas associated with, Compare your interpretation and analysis with others related to this artwork (this could be an interpretation by someone else in your class, or in a commentary on the work in gallery, book, catalogue etc. 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. As a shy and inarticulate teenager my response to these derogatory opinions was silence, self-loathing and denial of my heritage. 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. Discuss different approaches/ideas evident in the way each artist uses dots in their work. 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. These images are fused and overlapped in a dynamic composition underpinned by Mondrian-style grids. It alludes to ownership and territory. This influence is seen in the rhythmic movement of Bennetts Notes to Basquiat series. Gordon Bennett an Australian Aboriginal artist demonstrates this theory through his work. May 20, 2022 - Explore Benny O's board "Artists" on Pinterest. We would like to hear from you. The repression of Aboriginal heritage that Bennett experienced was reinforced by an education system and society dominated by a history built on the belief in Australia as terra nullius. 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. Explore. Possession Island 1991 was recently purchased by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. L120238 Gordon Bennett. Bennett worked in a range of art forms and with a variety of media and techniques. The arms that extend in opposite directions across the two panels of the painting represent different perspectives on the impact of the Enlightenment. It acts as a question with many possibilities and answers. In her lifetime, Trugannini witnessed the systematic and often violent destruction of her culture and people. The representation of Aborigines has been reduced to caricature. . Issues ly explored in an Australian context are now examined in an international context. 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. His work also includes performance art, video, photography and printmaking. This is similar to the way a Pointillist painting can only be seen effectively from a distance to bring the image into focus. Gleichzeitig war es das erste Jahr ohne Stadt-zu-Stadt-Rennen, die nach dem Todesrennen" Paris-Madrid . Gordon Bennett 1. That is not my intention, I have my own experiences of being crowned in Australia, as an Urban Aboriginal artist underscored as that title is by racism and primitivism and I do not wear it well. See more ideas about artist, art, straight photography. The 'cancel culture' debate winds me up. While personal experience has had a significant influence on Gordon Bennetts art practice, the autobiographical aspects of his work are framed by bigger ideas and questions that have relevance and significance beyond Bennetts own experience. Ian McLean 2. Who was Paul Keating? The purer the bloodlines, the more Aboriginal you were. How ideas might be encountered from different places and events interest him. 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. Bennett used it to question notions of self. Australia for His Majesty King George III. The coming of the light refers ironically to a term used by Torres Strait Islanders to describe the arrival of the missionaries who brought Christianity to the Islands in 1871. Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas Two parts: 162 x 260cm (overall . Eventually Bennetts mother earned an official exemption that allowed her to leave the Mission. 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? What does this comment suggest to you about the purpose of Bennetts questioning of history? The strategy of word association subverts the values and meaning traditionally associated with the image. What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? 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? Bennetts use of dots highlights the way Aboriginal cultural identity continues to be defined and confined by Western ideas of Aboriginality. Within the Home dcor series Gordon Bennett escalates the sampling and quoting of other artists and works to develop a pastiche. 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 No 2 is representative of Bennetts wider practice, which explores issues of post-colonisation and Aboriginal identity. ww2dbase Henry Gordon Bennett was born in Balwyn, a suburb of Melbourne, near the close of the nineteenth century. Linear perspective is a system for organising visual information. 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. Bennett compels the viewer to engage with and question the values and ideas of the artists he appropriated.
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