Gordon Bennett uses self- portraits to question stereotypes and labelling. Gordon Bennett 1. Samuel Calverts engraving, Captain Cook taking possession of the Australian continent on behalf of the British Crown AD 1770, became the starting point for Bennetts exploration. Scan these into the computer using a photographic software package like Photoshop. For Mondrian the grid became the essence of all forms. The timeline could be presented in hardcopy for display in the classroom, or as an ICT project incorporating images and audio. The Bicentenary celebrations triggered increased activism, protests and public debate related to Indigenous issues. These questions include how traditional characterisations of light and darkness have influenced perceptions and experience of race and culture. 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. Bennett was in possession of all four, all of which will become evident upon a glance at a summary of his life. 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. 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. 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. 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. During 199495 at summer school Bennett learnt to make digital videos on an Apple PowerMac computer. Calverts image becomes one of the layers of the painting. The performance that forms an integral part of this work shows a tall indistinct figure (Bennett) prowling around a stage- like setting illuminated by a rapidly changing pattern of images, text, light and colour. Bennett establishes him as the focal point. 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. As a self- portrait, the artist seems to be present everywhere within the installation but is in fact nowhere. Nearby homes similar to 2719 NE 21st Ter have recently sold between $824K to $1M at an average of $565 per square foot. The headless figure of the Aboriginal man has an animated, spectre- like presence that haunts the scene. For more information, visit: www.qagoma.qld.gov.au for details. Amidst the chaos and confusion of dots and slashes of colour he remains imprisoned by the grid, reduced to servitude. 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. Bennett achieved critical success early in his career. Research the significant dates/events referenced in Bennetts artworks, including Myth of the Western Man (White mans burden) 1992 for some ideas. From early in his career he was inspired by theories and ideas associated with postmodernism. Using this list, find a range of artworks that you could appropriate to help communicate your personal identity visually. Bennett indicates the need to be reconciled within the context of culture and history to develop a full sense of identity. 2 February 2021. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island (Abstraction), 1991. 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. In the Home dcorseries Bennett used gridded compositions that refer to the paintings of Dutch artistPiet Mondrian (1872 1944). His work also includes performance art, video, photography and printmaking. Since his first major solo exhibition in 1989 his work has been at the forefront of contemporary Australian art and has been recognised internationally for its innovative and critical engagement with ideas and issues of ongoing relevance to contemporary culture. This image is based on a photograph by JW Lindt (1845 1926). He carefully staged each image in his studio, posing the sitter against a painted backdrop. Finally, Ive never been one to make art about art before. What evidence can you see in this self-portrait of Bennett linking issues of personal identity with broader issues related to history and culture? 4. The effect is that they dissolve into a mass of colour, dots and slashes of paint . Brushing aside the tempting opportunity to ridicule many frames of reference in that sentence (I mean, don't get me . John Citizen was an abstraction of the Australian Mr Average, the Australian everyman. Queensland-born, 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. 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. In Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. I found people were always confusing me as a person with the content of my work. This purchase was indicative of a massive legislative reform program that had not been seen in Australian society for decades. While 2007 was a brilliant year for Bennett's secondary market results, with eight works sold of which . Another reason was to make people aware that I am an artist first and not a professional Aborigine. 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. The background colours and features of the landscape in each panel of Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire suggest a vast Australian desert . The inclusion of Pollock helps build these cross- connections. Bennett repositions the subject of the painting in other ways too, by including black footprints that diminish into the background of the composition. Bellas Gallery. As one of the dispossessed within this biased history, he claims that his only tool to combat this bias was the art of mimicry. Gordon Bennett, Possession Island, 1991, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas; two parts, 162 x 260cm (overall). 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. This influence is seen in the rhythmic movement of Bennetts Notes to Basquiat series. Pollock was influenced by Navaho sand paintings, which were created on the ground. 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. 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. What is your personal interpretation of the meaning and ideas in The coming of the light or Untitled ? An orphan from a very young age, she was raised on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, and later trained as a domestic at Singleton. What does this comment suggest to you about the purpose of Bennetts questioning of history? Bennetts art engages with historical and contemporary questions of cultural and personal identity, with a specific focus on Australias colonial past and its postcolonial present. Bennett lodges this image in layers of dots and slashes of red and yellow paint that refer to other artists and images. 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. They absorb the flow of blood and recall the symbols often used in Aboriginal dot painting of the Western Desert to represent significant sites. In a conceptual sense I was liberated from the binary prison of self and other; the wall had disintegrated but where was I? Gordon Bennett Possession Island (Abstraction), 1991 Oil and acrylic on canvas 71 7/10 71 7/10 in | 182 182 cm Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) The Rocks Get notifications for similar works Create Alert Want to sell a work by this artist? Gordon Bennett, Possession Island (1991)*. The grotesque also interested Bennett as a means of disrupting conventional ways of seeing and understanding. [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. Here he exposes the truth of colonial occupation it was a bloody conquest. Discuss with reference to examples in at least two works by Bennett. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. The content of the work was getting to me emotionally. Bennetts grid formations seem to imprison the figures within the canvas. 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 motivation behind the abstract paintings was complex but in part it reflects Bennetts ongoing concerns about issues related to the reception of his work. Theosophy means god wisdom, the belief that everything living or dead was put together from basic blocks that lead towards consciousness. 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 As an Australian of both Aboriginal and Anglo Celtic descent, Bennett felt he had no access to his indigenous heritage. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. 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.
Graham Wardle Podcast, Pasquali Tractor Models, Articles G