He gave several sponsorships in these fields, notably the Isle of Man Bennett Trophy races of 1900 to 1905 (subsequently a trials course on the island was named after him). 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. In the following year he was awarded the prestigious Mot et Chandon prize with his painting The Nine Ricochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella), 1990. Bennett confronts and questions the appropriateness of this borrowing. ). 35, 36. 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. 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 . 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 Do these qualities reflect the reality of what it means to be Australian (ie. His joy . The inclusion of the grid as the foundation of the installation appears to confirm this. 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. 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. In 1989, a year after graduating from art college, his work was included in the high profile Australian Perspect a exhibition of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Queensland-born artist Gordon Bennett (1955-2014) was deeply engaged with questions of identity, perception and the construction of history, and made a profound and ongoing contribution to contemporary art in Australia and internationally. Bennetts grid formations seem to imprison the figures within the canvas. 'Bloodlines' His status as an artist has been elevated to hero with his contribution to Action Painting. It is interesting to note that this same year was declared a period of mourning by Aboriginal people. Blood is a potent symbol and has historically been a measure of Aboriginality. Kelly Gellatly 3. 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). 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. Self portrait (Ancestor figures), 1992 deals with broader issues of cultural identity as well as personal identity. Bennett layered these two distinctly different artists with his own work work previously appropriated from yet another context. Collect and find photographs of a wide variety of people of different ethnicities, cultures and physical appearances. Possession Island 1992. John Citizen lets me take my Australian citizenship and cultural upbringing back from the netherworld of the imagined Other. How does this work compare with conventional self-portraits? 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 Australia 1955-2014. Narratives of exploration, colonisation and settlement failed to recognise the sovereign rights (or sovereignty) of Australias Indigenous people. When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. The mirror, a recurring symbol within his work, is not a two- dimensional illusion but a literal construct. Theosophy means god wisdom, the belief that everything living or dead was put together from basic blocks that lead towards consciousness. Discuss with reference to Possession Island. Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay 1770 by E. Phillips Fox, for example, depicts Captain James Cook ceremoniously coming ashore at Botany Bay to claim the land for Britain. This was soon replaced by a cooler, more conceptual approach. He quotes directly from this image, which is in fact a copy of a copy, as Samuel Calvert copied this image of Captain Cook landing in Botany Bay from an image by Gilfillan, which is now lost. Get this The Morning News page for free from Friday, July 7, 1972 Q90 wSu Fairfax Shopping Center Doily 10-6. 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. EUR 99,99. dresden-de (52.329) 100%. Image credit: Gordon Bennett - Possession Island (1991). Often the basic alphabet letters ABC also appear with Bennetts perspective diagrams, highlighting the learned and culturally specific nature of the alphabet and linear perspective. Such images have defined the nations settlement history for many generations of Australians. His identity must remain fluid. 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. 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 . The Estate of Gordon Bennett. 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. 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. Inspired, Pollock removed the canvas from the easel and worked with it flat on the floor, using movement and gesture to flick and drip paint onto the canvas. The circular forms in the sky are inspired by the brilliant bursts of light in van Goghs Starry night. | Tate Images. Bennett was interested in the way language and images construct identity and history, and the way this language controls and creates meaning. Once again, the arena of self- portraiture becomes a vehicle to take over and challenge stereotypes. 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). It is open to self revelation, self redemption and a myriad of rich images of self that can be built upon. However these ideas and values simultaneously oppressed Indigenous people and their cultural and knowledge systems. Born in 1955 in Monto, Queensland, Gordon Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane before his unexpected death in 2014. Van Goghs original bedroom evokes a feeling of peace and harmony. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, this was a time to mourn the devastating consequences of 200 years of colonisation. Other aspects of the image, including the flat, stylised shapes of the head, reflect connections to both Western abstract art and Indigenous art traditions. I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. I was certainly aware of it by the time I was sixteen years old after having been in the workforce for twelve months. In The coming of the light, 1987 the high- rise buildings that frame the white faces are represented as grid-like forms. 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. Are these qualities perceived as positive? How do these systems/conventions reflect values and ideas important to that culture? In Calverts etching, an Aboriginal man holds a drinks tray. Bellas Gallery. Bennett as a cultural outsider of both his Aboriginal and AngloCeltic heritage does not assume a simplistic interpretation of identity. Every object is carefully and clearly painted, yet the images conceptually blur together as they intersect and interlace through the grid, across the canvas. He used strategies such as deconstruction and appropriation to present audiences with new ways of viewing and understanding the images and narratives that have shaped the nations history and culture. 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. I did want to explore Aboriginality, however, and it is a subject of my work as much as colonialism and the narratives and language that frame it, and the language that has consistently framed me. It is said that as a concession to Ireland ( because racing was illegal on British public roads) the British adopted shamrock green as their racing colour. Appropriation was a tool that enabled him to open up and re-define stereotypes and bias. 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. The word DISPERSE was used by the colonisers to represent the killing of Aboriginal people. 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. The representation of Aborigines has been reduced to caricature. Gordon Bennett rapidly established himself in the Australian art world. 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. Black angels replace traditional white cherubs. How does Bennetts use of appropriation reflect an interest in some of the moral and ethical issues associated with this practice. 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. Bennett investigates the way stereotypes are constructed by exploring words and images in opposites. Different members of the class could be assigned different cultural traditions to research and then prepare an illustrated presentation for the class.
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