Agent provocateur
Few Australian artists have proven as galvanising
or as resilient as Gordon Bennett. The Queenslander's work has
often cut deep, leaving few without an opinion on his view of
the world, and Australia in particular. But love him or hate him,
he has become one of this country's pre-eminent artists and a
lightning rod for debate on contemporary issues.
Now, a new exhibition at the National Gallery of
Victoria will present a major survey of his work. Gordon Bennett
comprises over 85 works, sourced from private and public collections
including Queensland Art Gallery, Museum of Modern Art at Heide,
Art Gallery of Western Australia and a considerable number of
works from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of
Victoria.
Bennett was born in 1955 in the Queensland country
town of Monto. He studied at the Queensland College of Art in
Brisbane in 1986. In 1991 Bennett was awarded the Moet et Chandon
Fellowship which was at the time, Australia’s richest prize
for young artists. He also won the John McCaughey Memorial Art
Prize, National Gallery of Victoria in 1997.
As indigenous artist, Bennett's work draws on the
rich traditions of his culture, something evident in his use of
dot-painting techniques and traditional motifs in his often-complex
paintings. But he also draws on Western traditions and iconography
in creating his unsettling works. It has been said that his work
“consistently challenges conventional representations of
Australian cultural identity for both indigenous and non-indigenous
Australians through a focus on connections to place and nationhood”.
The exhibition will include paintings, installations
and video performances, bringing together many of the Notes to
Basquiat paintings and selected works from the Home Décor
series. It on will also showcase 10 works by John Citizen, the
artistic alter-ego described by Bennett as “a persona I
assume that allows me to follow other directions in my practice”.
The John Citizen works are markedly different from Bennett’s
own work and include a series of interiors that replicate magazine
style living rooms.
Kelly Gellatly, Curator of Contemporary Art at the
NGV, said: “Bennett’s work interrogates history and
the constructed nature of knowledge and perception. It issues
an important challenge to viewers; prompting us to re-think our
personal beliefs and positions, and the implication of these on
society more broadly.” Frances Lindsay, Deputy Director
NGV, said: “This survey of Gordon Bennett celebrates his
outstanding contribution to contemporary Australian art. It shows
the amazing diversity of his work and the continuing relevance
of the issues he addresses.”
Gordon Bennett opens at the Ian Potter Centre, Federation
Square in Melbourne on 6 September 2007 and runs to 16 January
2008.
David Edwards
