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. It was no accident that Bennett used this event to question the way history is written and interpreted. Lists of words draw the viewer into a game of word association. 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. He depicts how pain transcends place and event to encompass a global consciousness. Gordon Bennett - 1352 Words | Studymode Traditional ideas about an artists individual or signature style are further confounded in Bennetts art practice by the his appropriation or sampling of the distinctive styles of other artists, including Jackson Pollock (191256), Margaret Preston ( 18751963) and Piet Mondrian (18721944). Collect and find photographs of a wide variety of people of different ethnicities, cultures and physical appearances. Fundamentally, he deconstructed history to question the truth of the past. . Why might such an organisation purchase this painting? Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas; two parts, 162 x 260cm (overall). 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 focus on designer style in these interiors, the lack of human presence, and the flat areas of colour with simple black outline, creates a strange feeling of emptiness that sets them apart from Bennetts art. The juxtaposition and sequencing of words and images in Untitled is unsettling. 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? The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. Art Unit 3 &4 Flashcards | Quizlet 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 . Australian politics is fraught yet the Australian public is disengaged. 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. 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. Further reading I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. These racist terms confront an Aboriginal figure represented as a jack-in-the-box, as he is violently jerked from the box that contains him. His joy . 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? 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. Bennett compels the viewer to engage with and question the values and ideas of the artists he appropriated. Discuss with reference to the same works. 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. Pinterest. Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, p. 27, Identities come from somewhere, have histories, and like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. It acts as a question with many possibilities and answers. 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. Once again the letters A B C D feature as a potent symbol and complete the grid. What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? Bennett used perspective diagrams and visual symbols in Triptych: Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire . However, the cross- like form in Bennetts painting has an image of Bennetts mother, kneeling before it, with a cleaning rag in her hand, recalling her early training and work as a domestic servant under the governments protection. 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. Would you include work by Gordon Bennett in a text book on Australian history. Gordon Bennett 1. Bennett continued to work in new ways with materials, techniques and images throughout his career. Ft. 2707 Coral Shores Dr, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306. They act as deep welts created when tissue scars. 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. Bennett indicates the need to be reconciled within the context of culture and history to develop a full sense of identity. Art Guide Australia January/February 2021 - Issuu Altarpiece paintings traditionally occupied a central position in a church. In Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. I didnt go to art college to graduate as an Aboriginal Artist. Gordon bennett the outsider Free Essays | Studymode These images are fused and overlapped in a dynamic composition underpinned by Mondrian-style grids. Unfinished Business The Art of Gordon Bennett - Queensland Art Gallery Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas Two parts: 162 x 260cm (overall . Bennetts referencing, appropriation and recontextualisation of familiar images and art styles challenges conventional ways of viewing and thinking and opens up new possibilities for understanding the subjects he explored. How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? Why do artists such as Gordon Bennett and Tracey Moffatt (b.1960) systematically decline to participate in exhibitions of Aboriginal art? For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, this was a time to mourn the devastating consequences of 200 years of colonisation. It is also a direct reference to biblical stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. The artist Gordon Bennett led a reclusive life. Five things to know about Gordon Bennett | Tate Different members of the class could be assigned different cultural traditions to research and then prepare an illustrated presentation for the class. 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. 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 Another reason was to make people aware that I am an artist first and not a professional Aborigine. 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. 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. He lived and worked in Brisbane. While these may indicate the way maps are constructed to find different locations, they also represent the first letter of racial slurs. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 182 x 182 cm. In Calverts etching, an Aboriginal man holds a drinks tray. Possession Island (1991), for example, presents shadowy renditions of Captain Cook and his party against a watery blue ground, overlayed with . Image credit: Gordon Bennett - Possession Island (1991). 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). There was always some sense of social engagement. 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. Both artists have an affinity with Jazz, Rap and Hip Hop music. Explore a range of ideas and media within your work. Image: Gordon Bennett, Australia 1955-2014, Possession Island, 1991. 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? I AM is borrowed from a well known art work, Victory over death 2, 1970 by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (19191987) . Such images have defined the nations settlement history for many generations of Australians. Appropriation- moral rights - copy right Flashcards | Quizlet Choose a selfportrait by Gordon Bennett that interests you. Discuss with reference to examples in at least two works by Bennett. 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. In 2003, Bennett embarked on a series of non-representational abstract paintings, marking a dramatic shift in his art practice, formally and conceptually. The powerful exhibition stirring debate on Australian Aboriginal - Hero These are paintings about painting. Comparisons between Basquiat and Bennett often focus on the artists similar backgrounds and experiences. my work was largely about ideas rather than emotional content emanating from some stereotype of a tortured soul. Bennett depicts self as a black empty vessel, coffin- like with lash markings almost disguised by a thick layer of black paint. 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. The viewer does not confront the artist, but self. This was common practice among young Aboriginal girls and women. The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennett's art practice. Here he exposes the truth of colonial occupation it was a bloody conquest. 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. Bennetts use of the grid in these and other artworks suggests questions and ideas. This includes a focus on the role and power of language, including visual representations, in shaping identity, culture and history. The grand Romantic landscapes of Western art were intended to inspire the viewer with their dramatic beauty and effects of illusion. The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. 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 Gordon Bennett . 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. Do these qualities reflect the reality of what it means to be Australian (ie. Gordon Bennett was born on 9 October, 1955 in Monto, Australia. Here Bennett raises questions and matters about the stories that define us personally and culturally, and about the complex relationship that has existed between the Christian church and Indigenous cultures through history. These contrasting and complex meanings and ideas are not accidental. How have these sciences influenced the perception and understanding of Indigenous people and cultures? He and his partner bought a house and settled in the suburbs of Brisbane like other young couples. Cook, l'escroc du Pacifique - CASOAR Arts et Anthropologie de l'Ocanie [Bennett] seeks to expose the shadows of official history, to track its doubles and contradictions, not in order to repudiate the European vision but to map a postcolonial future Ian McLean 2. 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. 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. He used weapons or gum tree branches as props, to construct an image that reflected European ideas of Aboriginal types. Mondrian aspired to create a form of pure abstract art based on the grid and a controlled use of art elements, including primary colours. He described his upbringing as overwhelmingly Euro-Australian, with never a word spoken about my Aboriginal heritage. 3233, Gordon Bennett, The manifest toe, p. 33, Gordon Bennett & Chris McAuliffe, Interview with Gordon Bennett in Rex Bulter (Ed.) Art can encourage people to rethink personal beliefs and positions. I am that I am, Exodus 3:14 is God naming self. JeanMichel Basquiat, crowned a black urban artist, was well known for his spontaneous and gestural paintings, which reflect the artists involvement in the graffiti culture of the United States. Gordon Bennett, an Australian Aboriginal artist, demonstrates this theory through his work. 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. Opens in a new window or tab. The title of the work itself is unsettling. Kelly Gellatly 5, By the mid 1990s, Gordon Bennett came to feel he was in an untenable position. The resource provides frameworks for exploring key issues and ideas in Bennetts art practice. European history has stipulated that being Australian has required anyone that does not fit into such a Eurocentric category is different, other and therefore unworthy. 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. 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. LibGuides: Studio Arts Year 11 (Units 1&2): Art Appropriation 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. Cooee Art Auctions works with artists bi-annually across two separate departments - Indigenous Fine Art and Modern & Contemporary Fine Art. Australia for His Majesty King George III. The pair of outstretched arms and the diagrammatic outline of a cross- like form in the central panel of Triptych: Requieum, Of grandeur, Empire, 1989 alludes to the figure of Christ crucified on the cross, a common subject in Christian art. Discuss in relation to selected artworks by Bennett that you believe reveal questions and complexities, rather than answers and simplicities. 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. Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 - 3 June 2014) [1] was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Egyptian painting or relief sculpture, Chinese scroll paintings, Aboriginal painting of the Western Desert. He found this liberating. Voir plus d'ides sur le thme toile de lin, basquiat, art australien. He used familiar and recognisable images that are part of an Australian consciousness to explore and question the meaning of these images. 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. Kelly Gellatly 1. The grotesque in art is generally associated with bizarre, ugly or disturbing imagery. Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Many Indigenous Australians saw this appropriation as further evidence of a justification of colonisation and a Eurocentric interpretation of Aboriginal culture. Strange to think of Gordon Bennett as an almost classical figure in contemporary Australian art. while Bennett may have attempted, in recent years, to disconnect from the politics of his earlier practice, there is also a sense within these paintings, of the impossibility of such a task. 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. 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. A fleet of tall ships sailed around Australia as part of the commemoration of settlement. Blood is a potent symbol and has historically been a measure of Aboriginality. 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 effect is that they dissolve into a mass of colour, dots and slashes of paint . The strategy of word association subverts the values and meaning traditionally associated with the image. Reynolds wrote books and articles about the history of Australian settlement as a story of invasion and genocide. Basquiats signature crown hovers beneath a tag-like image of fire. 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. 'One of the most important Australian artists of the late 20th century Every object is carefully and clearly painted, yet the images conceptually blur together as they intersect and interlace through the grid, across the canvas. However Bennetts illusionistic representation of the rugged terrain and billowing clouds reflect a style of painting traditionally associated with European Romantic art. cat. His father, born in Scotland in 1795, emigrated to the US to become a journalist and subsequently founded the 'New York Herald' in 1835. This work reflects our contemporary obsession with creating the perfect home filled with the latest must have designer style and material items. The titles of Bennetts artworks reflect the artists awareness of the power of words/language to suggest meaning. It is reproduced in flat, bold and black line work. Born in 1955 in Monto, Queensland, Gordon Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane before his unexpected death in 2014. Gordon Bennett Possession Island - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf) or read online for free. There was still no space for me to simply be. The impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people and culture from this point was devastating. The pale, marble- like sculpted heads on the bed remind us of the Classical art and learning that has been privileged in Western culture above other forms of art and learning, including those associated with Indigenous cultures. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA). 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. cat. Bennett used Blue Poles to recall this period of change. Possession island gordon bennett Free Essays | Studymode Bloodlines: The art of Gordon Bennett - QAGOMA Blog Greene-ware 2020 Year 11 Ruby T Art as Lens - issuu.com 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. Some of Prestons appropriations however, demeaned and trivialised the way Aborigines were depicted and understood. Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. More broadly, it recalls the lives of many young Aboriginal women who followed a similar destiny. So, painting in an overtly abstract manner was a way to go silent on the issues involved and yet still keep painting. Gordon Bennett 3, Bennett married in 1977. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. James Gordon Bennett Gordon Bennett, &The manifest toe, pp. Ian McLean 2. Who was Paul Keating? At the time the A$ 1.3 million purchase price was the highest ever paid for a piece of modern art within Australia and the U.S. 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. How might John Citizen be seen as reflection of the post Keating era? 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 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. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums; Daniel Boyd, We Call Them . He holds a large whip with which he regularly lashes out at a black, coffin- like box. While his work was increasingly exhibited within a national and international context, the combination of his position (or as Bennett would argue label) as an (urban) Aboriginal artist, and the subject matter of his work, seemed to ensure inclusion within certain curatorial and critical frameworks, and largely determine interpretation and reception. Traditionally these arches were built by the Romans to celebrate victory in war. Gordon Bennett | Number Nine (2008) | Artsy 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. Lichtenstein 19231987). I had never thought to question those narratives and I certainly had never been taught at school to question them only to believe them. (2nd Edition), What is Appropriation? The Notes to Basquiat series takes appropriation to yet another level within Bennetts art practice. To the right of the canvas, Jackson Pollocks Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952 is clearly referenced. For example, Aboriginal deaths in custody was recognised as a significant issue. He was born in New York, May 10th 1841 and died 4 days after his 77th Birthday in Beaulieu near Nizza/France. Explain. 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 facial features reflected in the mirror are blurred and distorted by roughly painted words typical racist remarks about Aboriginal people. In contrast to earlier artworks, where titles often provided a starting point for exploring ideas or issues, Bennetts abstractions are titled with numbers that relate to the order in which they were made. Australian politics is fraught yet the Australian public is disengaged. L120238 Gordon Bennett. Bennett attempts to destroy the stereotypes to question notions of identity. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island #2, 1991. Who was Gordon Bennett? They absorb the flow of blood and recall the symbols often used in Aboriginal dot painting of the Western Desert to represent significant sites. Possession Island, 1991 - Cooee Art Inspired by African and Iberian art, he also contributed to the rise of Surrealism and Expressionism. Explore. Gordon Bennett 1. Gordon Bennett | Possession Island (Abstraction) (1991) | Artsy This contemporary questioning and revision of the traditional, narrow euro-centric view of history reflects a postcolonial perspective. Mondrian, a Dutch De Stijl artist and a Theosophist, used art to search empirical truths and their source. 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 . 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.