history, culture and power. Collection: Paul Eliadis Collection of Contemporary Australian Art, Australia Major retrospectives of his work toured Icon and Arnolfini galleries and Heine Onstad Kunstsenter in Europe during 19992000, Australian State galleries between 20072009 and The Netherlands in 2012. . 109 Bennett's mimicry of Basquiat's style is not an attempt to be like Basquiat or to get an authentic street beat into his life. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Gordon Bennett | Notes to Basquiat (1999) | MutualArt author unknown. Griffith University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. Tate, The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and Qantas are partners in an International Joint Acquisition Programme for contemporary Australian art. Mayer, M. Yours Sincerely, 152: GORDON BENNETT. John CitizenInterior (Tribal Rug) 2007acrylic on linen152 x 152cmCollection: Private, Brisbane The Estate of Gordon Bennett. Notes to Basquiat: Australia Day re-enactment 1998 of the past, which is waiting to be found, and which, when found, will The diversity of Bennetts work is another striking feature. 23-25, Sydney, May 2017-Jun 2017, 24 (colour illus.). Gordon Bennett, Notes to Basquiat (The Death of Irony), 2002, National Gallery of Australia, . (2014). Dear Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anchoring the composition is a confronting tortured skeletal figure, that embodies a shared stereotyping of blackness, yet more universally suggests a common humanity that beneath ones skin we are all alike underneath. )Man + Space: Kwangju Biennale 2000, exhibition catalogue, Kwangju Biennale Foundation, South Korea, 2000, p. 273 (illus. Bennett's series works across both Australian and American cultures, with wider historic references to the radical and the marginalised. In the open letter to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bennett continues: To some, writing a letter to a person post-humously may seem very tacky and an attempt to gain some kind of attention, even 'steal' your 'crown'. Fred Hoffman (2005) writes that, as an African American, Basquiat utilized political and social commentary in his artworks to reveal the racial and class systems of injustice in America (Mayer 2010). In the late 1990s Bennett responded to the personal experiences and practice of Puerto-Rican Haitian-American artist Jean-Michael Basquiat by producing a series of paintings that referenced the style and appropriated motifs of Basquiat's own art. Exhibited: "Treasures Gallery", National Library of Australia, 12 December 2012 - 7 July 2013. An Aboriginal man is inserted into the picture whose exploding head is turning into stars. they undergo constant transformation. Bennetts Notes to Basquiat collectively have had an extensive exhibition history, with a selection exhibited in the Kwangju Biennale 2000: Man + Space, Korea and the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial in 2001. ibid., p. 22, Important Australian + International Fine Art. Perhaps McLean reads Bennetts work in this way because anger at injustice is the emotional tone critical postmodernism typically adopts. The late artist, of Indigenous and Anglo-Celtic ancestry, expressed his disgust through wit and anger in a variety of . 03 Jun 2014. In 1999, the year this artwork was created, John Howard issued a 'statement of sincere regret' over the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, failing to make an official apology. c: 182 x 182cm; 182 x 425cm (overall) Purchased 2019 with funds from the Neilson Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation Levels 7-12. Gordon Bennett, Retrieved August 24, 2014, from, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/gordonbennett/education/04.html. I guess it spoke to me of the traces of different experience and layers inscribed in pencil on reverse : G Bennett 19-5-2000 / "NOTES TO BASQUIAT : DOUBLE VISION" / Acrylic on Linen 152 x 182.5 cms / Jean Cocteau "orpheus" / MIRRORS WOULD DO WELL / TO REFLECT MORE". Identities With the invitation to exhibit in a contemporary art fair at New Yorks Gramercy Hotel as catalyst, in 1998 Bennett embarked upon his celebrated Notes to Basquiat series paying homage to the work of Neo-Expressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat the first African American to receive international art world acclaim who also shared a similar preoccupation with semiotics and visual language as instruments of marginalisation. In, In 1995 Bennett began making work under the name 'John Citizen'. signed, dated and inscribed verso upper left: G.Bennett 9-6-2000 / Notes to Basquiat: Liberty / acrylic / 152 x 188cm. Gordon Bennett was a painter of history and histories. 'One of the most important Australian artists of the late 20th century Gordon Bennett's paintings in the late 1980s and early 90s were informed by theories about appropriation - the borrowing of images from other artists and visual sources - and by post-colonial theories about identity and history. ^ Gordon Bennett in Gordon Bennett: Selected Writings, Power Publications and Griffith University Art Museum, 2020, p. 132. Sold for $44,400 (inc. BP) in Auction 3 - 29 November 2007, Melbourne. Bennett, Gordon. ), 31, Gordon Bennett was a painter of history and histories. Read more: Probability, Rap and coincidence Bennett emerges as one of the most important Australian artists of the latter part of the 20th century and one we have certainly not finished interpreting. They reference the massacres of Aboriginal people in Myth of the Western man (White mans burden) (1992) and The nine ricochets (Fall down black fella, Jump up white fella (1990) and question the valorising of Captain Cook in Big Romantic Painting (Apotheosis of Captain Cook) (1993) and Possession Island (1991). In his recent book Rattling Spears: A History of Indigenous Australian Art (2016), art historian Ian McLean argues that anger is the consistent emotion expressed by Bennetts work. In 1994 I purchased a book on your work published as a catalogue to a Gordon Bennett - Art - LibGuides at Melbourne High School He first became aware of his dual heritage when he was a young teenager. NOTES TO BASQUIAT: LIBERTY, 2000. synthetic polymer paint on linen. Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this catalogue contains names, recordings and images of deceased people and other content that may be culturally sensitive. Collection: Paul Eliadis Collection of Contemporary Australian Art, Australia Forms and styles of representation recur, transmute and metamorphose across his oeuvre in a dizzying fashion. Open daily Free entry, Find out what you need to know before visiting, Untitled (reference to Colin McCahon's 'Valley of the dry bones'), Myth of the Western man (White man's burden), Outsider/ insider: the art of Gordon Bennett, Mmoires vives: une histoire de l'art aborigine, Australian art and the Russian avant-garde. NOTES TO BASQUIAT: MODERNITY, 1999 | Deutscher and Hackett Bennett not only borrows images from the work of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, but also begins to mimic Basquiat's spontaneous and gestural urban style of painting, reflecting his involvement in the graffiti culture of the United States. Australian artist Gordon Bennett's exhibition, a powerful attack on systemic racism, is called Be Polite. 1999, Notes to Basquiat Untitled, 1999 [picture] / Gordon Bennett. Home Decor (After M Preston) No 3 2010 2010 Synthetic polymer paint on linen / 182.5 x 152cm The Estate of Gordon Bennett. Gordon Bennett. Mclean, I. Gift of The Hon. It is anything but. (2010). tap-dance on a tightrope". Gordon Bennett, an artist who scaled the heights of the art world, Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/arts-desk/Gordon-Bennett-artist-who-scaled-heights-of-artworld/default.htm, National Gallery of Victoria. This major display, drawn from the National Gallery's collection, brings together works by First Nations and non-Indigenous artists from across Australia, including work by artists from Asia and the Pacific. Basquiat and Diaz used it as a tool for making social commentary with poetic statements throughout the urban environment. Artists suggestions based on your preferences, Filter by media, style, movement, nationality and activity period, Overall performance of recent notable sales, Upcoming exhibitions at your preferred locations, Global snapshot, top performers and top lots, Charts on artist trends and performance over time, ready to export, Get your artworks appraised online in 72 hours or less by experienced IFAA accredited professionals. This conversation is manifest quite literally when Bennett drafts a letter to the - then already deceased - Basquiat, outlining his reasons for emulating his style. We will contact you if necessary. . Indeed, perhaps more directly and explicitly than any other Australian artist, he engaged in the debate on republicanism, sovereignty and citizenship in an effort to highlight the plight of indigenous people not just locally, but internationally, who have become estranged as a result of colonialism. Bennett is not claiming a genealogy Notes to Basquiat: one tense moment, Bellas Milani Gallery, Fortitude Valley, Jun1999Unknown, Biennale of Sydney 2000, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, 26May200030Jul2000, Outsider/ insider: the art of Gordon Bennett, AAMU, Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art, Utrecht, 21Jun201209Dec2012, Mmoires vives: une histoire de l'art aborigine, Muse dAquitaine, Bordeaux, 16Oct201330Mar2014, Australian art and the Russian avant-garde, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29Jul201729Oct2017, Carnivalesque, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 23Jun201828Oct2018, Jrme Bellay (Editor), Le Journal du Dimanche, 'L'art aborigne, la croise des mondes', pg. I guess it spoke to me of the traces we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves Susan Best receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Research Council . born 1955. The pop art inspired paintings of the Coloured People and Interiors series seem glossier and less political than Bennetts other work, but this is not the case. Access more artwork lots and estimated & realized auction prices on MutualArt. Its APT3 - Artist's Work - Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Gordon Bennett | NOTES TO BASQUIAT (2001) | MutualArt your book, a reference to Stuart Hall which I have included in my own of different experience and layers that make us the individuals we are Abstraction (Citizen) 2011 Arguing that the codes of Western art, literature, law and science introduced with European settlement have become a prison from which indigenous people cannot escape but rather, only appropriate Bennett sought to picture such manifold conspiracies, employing the deconstructivist aesthetic of postmodernism to re-present the histories and politics underlying the Australian social landscape. Sonia Boyce explores her own sense of self in relation to media images of blackness and whiteness in the work From Tarzan to Rambo Get to know Theaster Gates. Gordon Bennett, "Notes to Basquiat: To Dance on a Tightrope," 1998. private collection, Brisbane. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. Bennett makes art that questions accepted versions of history, often taking historical artworks as his starting point. BENNETT, Gordon; Notes to Basquiat: Perfect Teeth and painterly fields of your work and particularly to the layered lines 1955) Notes to Basquiat: Female Pelvis signed, dated and inscribed 'G Bennett April 1999 NOTES TO BASQUIAT FEMALE PELVIS' (on the reverse) acrylic on cotton duck 50.5 x 50.5 cm. 1955 Professor of Art Theory and Fine Art, Griffith University. Meet one of Australias most important contemporary artists, whose bold and playful works explore the politics of identity, Gordon BennettHome Dcor (Relative/Absolute) Flowers for Mathinna #2 1999acrylic on linen182.5 x 182.5cmCollection: Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the MCA Foundation, 2012 The Estate of Gordon Bennett. is inspired by the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Haitian-American "Notes to Basquiat: Untitled, 1999 appears to be referencing Basquiat's 'Samo', with the simple and strong text 'Sorry' recreated in a similar style with the familiar ironic copyright symbol. We notify you each time your favorite artists feature in an exhibition, auction or the press, Access detailed sales records for over 657,106 artists, and more than two decades of past auction results, Buy unsold paintings, prints and more for the best price, Notes to Basquiat: Myth of The Western Man ,2001, Notes to Basquiat: Cut the Circle II ,2001, Home Decor (After Margaret Presont) ; Preston+DeStijl = Citizen (My Boomerang Won't Come Back) 1996 - Gordon Bennett, Home Decor (Counter Composition) Black Swan, 1999 - Gordon Bennett. Gordon Bennett - Notes to Basquiat: 911 - Search the Collection A cause as worthy and challenging as anti-racism, on the other hand, can provide material for a lifetime. Khaled Sabsabi, Look, 'The art that made me', pg. NOTES TO BASQUIAT: (AB) ORIGINAL, 1999 | Deutscher and Hackett Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett Appropriation allowed Bennett to refer to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal art, and situate his painting in a fluid area between these two overlapping forms of contemporary art. We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands. Indeed, Bennetts extraordinary attention to visual languages, their meanings and implications, is the key revelation about his oeuvre I have taken away from the current exhibition. Synthetic polymer paint on linen / 183 x 152.3 x 3.2cm, The Estate of Gordon Bennett Private Collection, Adelaide, Gordon Bennett Australia 1955-2014.