Homecoming
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, the Queensland’s GoMA welcomes “home”
the National Gallery of Victoria’s major touring survey
of his work. Gordon Bennett comprises over 85 works,
sourced from private and public collections including a considerable
number of works from the permanent collection of the National
Gallery of Victoria, the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Art
Gallery of Western Australia and the Queensland Art Gallery
itself.
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 includes paintings, installations
and video performances, bringing together many of the Notes
to Basquiat series of paintings and selected works from the
Home Décor series. It also showcases 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 Gallery
of Modern Art at South Bank in Brisbane on 10 May 2008 and runs
to 3 August 2008.
David Edwards
