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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. What strategies have been used to communicate and explore these themes and ideas in the book/film? James Gordon Bennett, Sr., a Scottish immigrant, founded the New York Herald in 1835, building the paper from the ground up. Possession Island 1991 was recently purchased by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. It acts as a question with many possibilities and answers. It has been designed for teachers and students to instigate discussion and investigation, and includes learning activities relevant to history and visual arts that can be adapted to different levels. These are paintings about painting. Gordon Bennett 2. Self portrait (But I always wanted to be one of the good guys), 1990 questions how stereotypes create a sense of identity. Bennetts art is not always easy to look at. In the third panel of Bennetts triptych, Empire, a Roman triumphal arch frames a stately figure. Since 1992 Bennett was involved in an ongoing non-performance by refusing to participate in public lecture programs in Australia. Bennetts art explores and reflects his personal experiences. . Perhaps the most influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso may be best known for pioneering Cubism and fracturing the two-dimensional picture plane in order to convey three-dimensional space. * *Collection: Museum of Sydney on the site of the first Government House, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. Within the Home dcor series Gordon Bennett escalates the sampling and quoting of other artists and works to develop a pastiche. In Malevichs work the black square is seen as having a strong and even spiritual presence. In Unassailable heroes (Sweet Damper) Famous since Captain Cook, 1996 the motifs and symbols suggest issues and questions related to history and representation that concern Bennett. 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. Gordon Bennett 3. The jack- in- the box is surrounded by symbols, including the grid- like buildings and alphabet blocks, of the knowledge, systems and structures that represent an enlightened, civilised society. 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). The title of the work itself is unsettling. I am that I am, Exodus 3:14 is God naming self. The Classical style and pose of the figure in the panel Empire, and the draped animal skins and weapons, reflect a stereotype of the noble savage that was widely influential in how people viewed Indigenous people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bennett achieved critical success early in his career. It is open to self revelation, self redemption and a myriad of rich images of self that can be built upon. I am purposely not defining him only as Aboriginal because he himself does not want to be defined only as such. Further reading He used weapons or gum tree branches as props, to construct an image that reflected European ideas of Aboriginal types. 2 All that he had understood about himself and taken for granted as an Australian had ruptured. This artwork is constructed of obvious layers: The layers of dots, reminiscent of Aboriginal Western Desert dot painting, with lines of perspective a Western tradition. In September 2017, Bennett's 1991 Possession Island was unveiled at London's Tate Modern. 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. 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. Like words, visual images, forms and elements are powerful signifiers of meaning. Nov 26, 2012 - The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail. Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas Two parts: 162 x 260cm (overall . The works I have produced are notes, nothing more, to you and your work Gordon Bennett 1. While these may indicate the way maps are constructed to find different locations, they also represent the first letter of racial slurs. In Possession Island, 1991, Bennett meticulously photocopies and enlarges Calverts image so that it can be projected, cropped and copied onto the canvas. Why? What key themes and ideas are explored in the book/film? Against the background of the illusionistic representation of the landscape they capture our attention, alerting us to the fact that there are other ways of representing and understanding the landscape not just the European perspectives that have dominated our cultural history. Bennett establishes him as the focal point. 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). Explain. 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. If God cannot be contained, can humanity be contained by stereotypes and labels? With eyes closed, these heads appear as blind, mute and lifeless witnesses to the surrounding conflict and struggle. The titles of Bennetts artworks reflect the artists awareness of the power of words/language to suggest meaning. Thousands of dots fill the canvas. For Bennett, however, success triggered concerns related to the links drawn between his identity as an Indigenous person, his subject matter and the reception of his work. These act as disturbances. 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. Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums Once again, the arena of self- portraiture becomes a vehicle to take over and challenge stereotypes. Research the significant dates/events referenced in Bennetts artworks, including Myth of the Western Man (White mans burden) 1992 for some ideas. When Gordon Bennett was labelled an Aboriginal Artist he was othered as an Aborigine and all the preconceptions that entails. While the conceptual framework underpinning Bennetts art remained remarkably consistent, his art practice was characterised by some dramatic stylistic shifts over twenty years. Purchased with funds from the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust, Museum of Sydney Appeal, 2007. Such imagery has often been used by artists to unsettle the viewer and present new perspectives on familiar subjects. 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. Gebraucht | Gewerblich. Bennett only used two colours, symbolically, red and black. 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 purchase of this artwork by the Whitlam Labor Government (19731975) was fraught with controversy. To the right of the canvas, Jackson Pollocks Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952 is clearly referenced. He used his self as the vehicle to do so. 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. These qualities expose some of the complications that arise from understandings built on binary opposites. This event was re-enacted in many pageants and dramatisations during Australias Bicentenary in 1988, as a way of celebrating 200 years of Australian history. 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. Why do artists such as Gordon Bennett and Tracey Moffatt (b.1960) systematically decline to participate in exhibitions of Aboriginal art? It was a way forward for me. 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 . Gordon Bennett 3, Bennett married in 1977. 5. Bennett indicates the need to be reconciled within the context of culture and history to develop a full sense of identity. He states: The traditionalist studies of Anthropology and Ethnography have thus tended to reinforce popular romantic beliefs of an authentic Aboriginality associated with the Dreaming and images of primitive desert people, thereby supporting the popular judgment that only remote fullbloods are real Aborigines. 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. The triptych form of painting is most commonly associated with the altarpiece paintings made for Christian churches. I was certainly aware of it by the time I was sixteen years old after having been in the workforce for twelve months. Ft. 2707 Coral Shores Dr, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art . Research references to existing images in Gordon Bennetts The nine richochets (Fall down black fella, jump up white fella) 1990. Bennetts use of the grotesque is evident in Outsider, 1988, which makes reference to two paintings by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853 1890) Vincents bedroom in Arles 1888, and Starry night 1889. Gordon Bennett, The Manifest Toe, in Ian McLean & Gordon Bennett, The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House/ G + G Arts International, Sydney, 1996, pp.962.Kelly Gellatly et.al., Gordon Bennett: A Survey, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007. The purer the bloodlines, the more Aboriginal you were. It was no accident that Bennett used Pollocks Blue Poles: Number 11. marking the first car ever to touch the island's soil. 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. Possession Island No 2 is representative of Bennetts wider practice, which explores issues of post-colonisation and Aboriginal identity. 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. In Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his other) 2001, Bennett confronts these issues within a global context. He is not disturbed by slashes of paint, but painted carefully and outlined by the precise grid behind him. This culminated in the Notes to Basquiat series in 2003. The Stripe series of abstract paintings represents a kind of freedom for me as an artist. He acknowledged that much of his work was autobiographical, but he emphasises that there was conceptual distance involved in his art making . Collection: Museum of Sydney, Sydney Living Museums The Estate of Gordon Bennett The impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people and culture from this point was devastating. . (2nd Edition), What is Appropriation? John Citizen was an abstraction of the Australian Mr Average, the Australian everyman. Find examples of the work of these artists. Are these qualities perceived as positive? The final panel in the sequence of six images in Untitled is a black square. In the Christian tradition light is associated with goodness and righteousness while darkness is associated with evil. The incorporation of Blue Poles calls to mind an era of great reform in Australian politics. How ideas might be encountered from different places and events interest him. Explore. Identity is fixed and self is understood in the context of words such as Abo, Boong, Coon and Darkie . Bennett used this symbol because: What emerges for all who take part in this piece is in fact an examination of the self. 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 arms that extend in opposite directions across the two panels of the painting represent different perspectives on the impact of the Enlightenment. Gordon Bennett 1. 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. Buildings and planes collide. Gordon Bennett 1. Explore a range of ideas and media within your work. For more information, visit: www.qagoma.qld.gov.au for details. People tend to focus on the emotional aspect rather than the conceptual when interpreting my work, and that bothers me. How do the key themes/ideas and strategies in the book/film compare to those used by Gordon Bennett in early work such as. 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.