Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship (1991) John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize (1997) Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 – 3 June 2014) was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Bennett articulated cultural fluidity in contemporary society through a post-modern practice characterised by appropriation from many sources that repositioned and questioned notions of the authentic and original. The Art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996 Butler, R., Gordon Bennett: paintings 1987 1991, Epernay Cedex, France, 1992 SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Australian National Gallery, Canberra Australian War Memorial, Canberra Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney National Gallery of … In Big romantic painting (The apotheosis of Captain Cook) of 1993, indigenous figures witness the heroic death struggles of the triumphant white invaders, fiendishly conscious of glory and failure in their collective military ambitions and desperate individual artistic ambitions. During his adolescence, Bennett was confronted by images of Aboriginal Australians, which were subject to violence and racist remarks. Born: November 30, 1912 - Fort Scott, Kansas . I protested that the "ab" is innocent and is only Latin for "from", as you can check in nice words such as absorb, absolve or abstract. Five things to know about Gordon Bennett Meet one of Australia’s most important contemporary artists, whose bold and playful works explore the politics of … This famous portrait of the boxing giant Mohamed Ali shows him in a moment of intense concentration rather than mid-fight in the ring. FOLLOW. Research the significant dates/events referenced in Bennett’s artworks, including Myth of the Western Man (White man’s burden) 1992 for … In the painting (ab)original, Bennett tackles the originality or otherwise of Aboriginal art. Click the FOLLOW button to be the first to know about this artist's upcoming lots, sold lots, exhibitions and articles. May 22,2021 Like Tracey Moffatt, Bennett has reservations about the priority of an inherited identity. Est. A frightening image of a disembodied human occupies a black field, with nails banged into the spine, which is also a sculptural totem. Mayfair | London | UK His Indigenous heritage made Gordon Bennett an outsider throughout his schooling and working life, but his art’s practice soon drew the attention of the art media, galleries and museums. He took over control of the New York Herald in 1866, by which time he was well into an enthusiastic and hedonist playboy lifestyle, indulging in spending the family fortune on air and road racing in the USA, England and France. They are both influenced by western cultures, and combine their cultures along with Western influences to create their artworks, Bennett using his Aboriginal culture, and Morimura using his Japanese background. The exhibition comes with a beautiful catalogue with an authoritative essay by curator Kelly Gellatly, an interview and an imaginative piece by Justin Clemens. A fierce critique of aesthetic aggression is poignant in Poet and muse (1991), where a whip-brandishing whitefella is equated with the Pollock-style artist who flings paint on the canvas: from whip to drip, the imposing gesture lashes history, always at the expense of an implicitly primitive and passive past. FOLLOW. 2. His colourful and thought provoking conceptual paintings, prints, performance videos and installations draw on many different sources and styles. Total Sold Value $21,530,276 Gordon Bennett (1955 - 2014) was active/lived in Australia. Mayfair | London | UK - Sep 12,2021, Royal Academy of Arts Bennett’s 1988 painting, “Outsider”, incorporates imagery from past artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Francisco Goya, as well as classical art motifs. LAST 60 DAYS ACTIVITY. My mother is an indigenous Australian and her mother before that and so on for countless generations. Salzburg | Austria - Sep 26,2021, Australian In the painting (ab)original, Bennett tackles the originality or otherwise of Aboriginal art. Total Sold Value $46,841,436 American Photographer, Musician, Writer, and Film Director. Notes to Basquiat then develops a kind of street-style - like the graffiti of racial activism - invoking the art of the neo-expressionist hero of New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88). In recent times, however, Bennett's paintings have taken a turn for the simpler. GORDON BENNETT, 1955-2014 "I am an indigenous Australian. May 19, 2021, China Guardian Auctions, Beijing Jun 09, 2021, China Guardian Auctions, Beijing $217,900 - 313,900 Gordon Bennett is known for Conceptual painting, abstract figure, calligraphy, cartoonish images. So it seems opportune for a major survey of the work of this mid-career artist at the NGV. Include a selection of relevant artworks by Gordon Bennett to illustrate your timeline. The first man under consideration is Henry Gordon Bennett, a decorated Australian general who served in both World Wars. During the later 1990s, the framework of style as a kind of conceptual trap extends to the early modern movement, especially de Stijl. From Contemporary Art Gallery, Gordon Bennett, No 13 (1992), Watercolour and ink on paper, 60 × 42 cm The paintings of Gordon Bennett are loaded with graphic detail, narrative, words, grids, commercial logos, patterns and linear perspectives, all punching at one another in moody arguments. Gordon Parks Artworks. Bennett's work is consistently revisionist, at times with a nostalgic appeal, especially with the admiration for that hot American resistance belonging to the New York aesthetic of Basquiat. Spanning 17 years of practice, one painting is mostly figurative while the other is solely abstract, although both employ tactics of ‘mimicry’, as Ian McLean, one of Bennett’s most longstanding and sensitive interlocutors, would put it. For more information, see our. Australia. The face is black and the feet are white. Est. From early on in his successful career, curtailed by his death in 2014 at age 58, he was well-known for disrupting the status quo with his unique visual language. Still exploiting the dual resonance of Aboriginal art and international non-figurative painting, the works are more abstract, with a placidness in great distinction from the busy, hectic pieces from the 1990s. The triumphal march of individual expression is supported by the "other", for Bennett an Aboriginal "muse" on the beach, now under the fling and slash of the invader. My father was English. Gordon Bennett was born in Monto, Queensland, on 9 October 1955 to Grace and Don Bennett. Queensland-born Gordon Bennett was an artist who loved collapsing ‘high’ and ‘low’ art boundaries. More recent phases tackle the complacency of designer lifestyles and advertising, but these are also reflections on the past. May 18, 2021, Hauser & Wirth, London These contemporary, post-modern artists Gordon Bennett and Yasumasa Morimura, both explore social issues such as gender and identity in their artworks. He escaped while his men were left to become prisoners of war so it is easy to see why his name would be spat out in anger. It emerges that foregrounding Bennett's Aboriginality is somewhat contested. In The Conquest of Air, his most famous work, he depicts himself with his brother Henri, sitting at a table outdoors. The survey moves to Bennett's appropriation of American gestural abstraction, interpreted with Aboriginal colours and overlaid with discouraging symbols of European hegemony. 2 Alerts. Bennett developed a unique form of appropriation and is known for his layering and repetition of elements from paintings by artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Philip Guston, Margaret Preston and Jackson Pollock, as well as his sustained dialogue with the work of Haitian–American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art . Bennett intentionally fuses this iconic style of ‘Western’ painting with the famous Aboriginal white dot painting of the Western Desert, reproducing the mix in Possession Island. One of his early works, the monumental Outsider(1988), in which he quotes paintings by Van Gogh, is one of the most reproduced works of art in Australia. G Bennett, artist's statement, in Systems end: contemporary Art in Australia, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 1996, p. 22. The "not" is also crossed out. Through Bennett's painting, you realise that while whitefellas worry about political correctness, the real struggle is to listen to the story, not the words. Please try again later. Taken together, Possession Island (Abstraction) (1991) and Number Nine (2008) demonstrate Gordon Bennett’s range as an artist. Gordon Bennett The Coming of the Light, 1987 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 274cm Queensland Art Gallery Collection She had been taught at school that "ab" is negative and derogatory, as in abuse or abject, so I should stop saying that Aborigines are not original. His first solo exhibition soon placed him in the forefront of contemporary Australian art. So it makes sense that the blackfellas are painted a la Margaret Preston, like decorative artefacts that intrude pathetically on the Olympian designs of abstraction. For Bennett, this is linked to the tragic history of displacement celebrated as the founding of Australia. Gordon Bennett. View Gordon Bennett’s artworks on artnet. These actions are recorded in the television documentary, Black angels: a widening vision, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Juniper Films, 1994, VHS videotape, 55 mins. Thousands of dots fill the canvas. Consider what dates/events should be included in your timeline and why. Presented by Amanda Smith. A characteristic list scrolls down the left, with a sequence of "authentic/not authentic" and "original/not original". 1 exhibition, 1 upcoming exhibition. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant … But if the authenticity is traditional, the originality (as innovation) comes under pressure, hence all the crossing out. Aboriginal art is seen as a font of originality and cultural authenticity, acquiring the value of a trademark. May 20, 2021, China Guardian Auctions, Beijing Gordon Bennett’s Home Décor: the Joker in the Pack. May 21,2021 Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 – 3 June 2014) was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. The exhibition begins with art-school efforts from 1987. Balayi 1. Gordon Bennett was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and European descent who, conscious of the colonist designation of 'self and other', identified as neither. 1955 - 2014, PANORAMA TORRENT (WITH FLOATING POINT OF IDENTIFICATION), SELF PORTRAIT (BUT I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS), Bennett Robot Works (Bridgehampton N.Y) steampunk "Lambda" sculpture number 91, Edge (With Displaced Point of Identification)1993, Psychotopographical Landscape (Pastoral) No.12, Please note that this site uses cookies. $1,729,331 - 2,317,704 Est. Australia. - Jul 31,2021, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Mönchsberg Gordon Bennett (1955–2014) worked for Telecom Australia before quitting his job at the age of thirty and enrolling in a fine arts degree at Queensland College of Art. Disrupting the Kantian Sublime: Gordon Bennett’s Painting for a New Republic (The Inland Sea) and . One of his early works, the monumental Outsider (1988), in which he quotes paintings by Van Gogh, is one of the most reproduced works of art in Australia. Australian | 1955 - 2014. GORDON BENNETT (1955-2014), Psychotopographical Landscape (Pastoral) No.12 1990 61.0 x 71.5 cm signed and dated verso: G Bennett/ 5.12.1990 synthetic polymer paint on Hans Heysen print on board Medium: synthetic polymer paint on Hans Heysen print on board Provenance: Private collection, Melbourne Christie's, BHP Billiton Collection of Australian Art, Sydney, 27 August 2003, lot … Jan 2000. Jun 09, 2021, Bonhams Los Angeles Law/Text/Culture: In the wake of Terra Nullius, School of Law, Macquarie University. Find the latest shows, biography, and artworks for sale by Gordon Bennett His Indigenous heritage made Gordon Bennett an outsider throughout his schooling and working life, but his art’s practice soon drew the attention of the art media, galleries and museums. An example is Freedom fighters of 1989, showing chained Aborigines, deposited arbitrarily over a red landscape, which is inscribed with incongruous perspectival boxes. Jun 09, 2021, Bonhams New Bond Street Within its abstract and supposedly universal grids, the Aboriginal figure is caught, imprisoned, anomalous, out of history, an aesthetic figurative disgrace that disappoints the aspiration to total non-objective transcendence. May 23,2021 We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. The yellow hot-air balloon in the distant background likely refers to the oldest balloon race in the world, the Gordon Bennett cup, which took place annually from 1906 to 1938, with breaks during the war years. • There were two famous Gordon Bennetts who might have been the source - a father and son • James Gordon Bennett Snr was a Scottish-born journalist, famous in the US for founding the New York Herald and conducting the first ever newspaper interview • His son, of the same name, was more interested in fast cars, planes and women. | Nicholls, Brett. A frightening image of a disembodied human occupies a black field, with nails banged into the spine, which is also a sculptural totem. Gordon Bennett (1955–2014) created the triptych Bloodlines 1993 early in his career. The geometric corners are given letters, insisting on the perfectly mapped, controlled and planned character of European vision, settled on paper and imposed by force on Australian soil. Our daughter once reproached me for using the word Aboriginal. Learn about the artist and find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks, the latest news, and sold auction prices. These symbols allude to the violent suppression of Aboriginal people and their culture, at a time when Australia was celebrating their white identity. Gordon Bennett Myth of the Western man (White man's burden) 1992 390.1993 Gordon Bennett Home decor (Counter composition) Black Swan 1998 546.2000 Gordon Bennett Notes to Basquiat (in the future art will... 1999 21.2014 Gordon Bennett Untitled (reference to … It speaks of colonial violence and the consequences of being on the ‘wrong’ side of history, purchased in 2019, this powerful and sobering work is a major acquisition for the QAGOMA Collection. Biography and art, auction, artworks, interview, statement, website: Gordon Bennett Gordon Bennett has developed a reputation since the late 1980s for producing thought-provoking works… Gordon Bennett Gordon Bennett came to art as a mature adult, graduating in Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, in 1988. Gordon Bennett Born: 1955 in Queensland, Australia Still living Gordon Bennett is a famous Australian artist who is influential in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Gordon Bennett's Possession Island is one of ten artworks jointly acquired by Tate and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. He is most remembered for his actions when Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. Aboriginal motifs are scattered to the side and the words "nulla nulla" carry the trademark signature. Gordon Bennett 5. James Gordon Bennett Jr. inherited his father's talents for journalism and controversy, not to mention his multi-million dollar estate - and he's the Gordon Bennett that the phrase refers to. This included abstract The effect is that they dissolve into a … The face is black and the feet are white. Very soon we see the appropriation of generic Aboriginal dots in the re-creation of archival photographs of horrible episodes in colonial history. A witty paradox. View upcoming auction estimates and receive personalized email alerts for the artists you follow. $126,600 - 199,200 Freeman's Total Sold Value $30,283,085 The Gordon Bennett show is on in Melbourne until next January, then it'll be in Brisbane, ... Artworks is an archived program which is no longer broadcast.