That is not my intention, I have had my own experiences of being crowned in Australia, as an 'Urban Aboriginal' artist underscored as that title is by racism and 'primitivism' - and I do not wear it well. If I were to choose a single word to describe my underlying drive it would be freedom To be free we must be able to question the ways our own history defines us. For example, expressionism features in the highly visceral Outsider (1988), which replays Van Goghs Starry Night. In Bennetts most anthologised article, acerbically titled The Manifest Toe, he describes his approach to art using an expression that is often used in critical rather than art theory: the politics of representation. Here we get to the crux of Bennetts contribution. 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, "Notes to Basquiat: To Dance on a Tightrope," 1998. private collection, Brisbane. Gordon BennettPossession Island (Abstraction) 1991oil and acrylic on canvas182 x 182cmCollection: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Tate, purchased jointly with funds provided by the Qantas Foundation, 2016 The Estate of Gordon Bennett. Bennett directly referenced the work of many other artists throughout his career, including Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich and Vincent Van Gogh. He is understood alongside politically inclined American artists from the so-called Pictures generation of the 1970s and 80s (Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levin). NOTES TO BASQUIAT: MODERNITY, 1999 | Deutscher and Hackett Notes: Title from inscription on verso. This citation of Basquiat's work acts for Bennett as a mode of communication with the American artist who died in 1988. An artist who builds houses and swings and cares a lot about community, A discussion with Amandla Stenberg, Mars and Lorna Simpson about the youth-led movement #ArtHoe and how it relates to Simpsons work, Bennett was born in Monto, Queensland, in 1955 to an indigenous Australian mother and an Anglo Celtic migrant father. In Gordon Bennett's splendidly savage painting Notes to Basquiat: Perfect teeth 2000, his bright, biting satire sets white teeth against black skin in a retro pop-culture parody; the word 'mono' in the centre of the canvas suggests the dominance of one colour in art and life, as well as implying what we might think of monotones (wherever found) and the assertion of a 'monoculture'. A humanist at heart, Bennett created works which are grounded in personal experience and an authentic voice. He also wrote an open letter to the dead artist celebrating their cultural and artistic similarities, as well as their shared love of jazz, rap and . I guess it spoke to me of the traces 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. Gordon Bennett | NGV Synthetic polymer paint on paper Certainly, the notebook quote reflects how Bennetts reputation has been cemented in Australian art history. View Notes to Basquiat (1999) By Bennett Gordon; Synthetic polymer paint on linen; 182.5 x 182.5 cm. 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. Gordon Bennett: Illuminations or a season in hell | Artlink Magazine (LogOut/ Underlying this dialogue with Basquiat Bennett's need to re-contextualise the issues that he has explored throughout his artistic career, confronting them within a global context. This painting emanates from the 'Notes to Basquiat' series of paintings, where the artist takes appropriation to a new level within his practice. Bennett is commenting on the devastating effects of colonialisation on Australias indigenous population. This critical orientation is particularly evident in Bennetts history paintings, displayed in the third room of the exhibition. This echo is surely intended as Butler claims that Bennett's last decade of work (post-Notes to Basquiat, [after 2002]) resorted 'to an easy irony' - a 'cynical postmodernism' - as if he 'may be running out of inspiration.' However, farce does have its [2] lessons and perhaps speaks more truthfully to our age. He writes of Bennett: The anger is never far from the surface of his work, though he was perplexed by the common perception of it as angry.. He first became aware of his dual heritage when he was a young teenager. 1 / 1 - Notes to Basquiat - Big Shoes - 2002. Typically, this is the style of contemporary art associated with ideology critique, unveiling systems of discrimination and oppression like racism and sexism. Gordon Bennett, Notes to Basquiat (The Death of Irony), 2002, National Gallery of Australia, . 152: GORDON BENNETT. Exhibited: "Treasures Gallery", National Library of Australia, 12 December 2012 - 7 July 2013. 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. (2014). This painting emanates from the 'Notes to Basquiat' series of paintings, where the artist takes appropriation to . Notes to Basquiat, 1999 Synthetic polymer paint on linen . Can I get copies of items from the Library? Gordon Bennett was one of the leading artists of his generation and received widespread recognition internationally for his striking . John Saxby (Editor), Look, 'The art that made me: Reg Mombassa', Sydney, Nov 2015, 13. Attending to form as much as content enables a different view of Bennetts oeuvre and critical purpose. Gordon Bennett was a painter of history and histories. is inspired by the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Haitian-American The Estate of Gordon Bennett signed and dated verso: G. Bennett 8 -03-2001. title, medium and dimensions inscribed verso: NOTES TO BASQUIAT: CUT THE CIRCLE II / Acrylic on linen / 5 x 6, 152 x 182.5 cm. 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. Bennett's art practice is interdisciplinary and encompasses painting, photography, printmaking, video, performance and installation. Representation itself is political. Due to major building activity, some collections are unavailable. Others are held in regional, state and national collections (National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales) as well as international collections including Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam.LUCIE REEVES-SMITH, Important Australian + International Fine Art, Gordon Bennett, managed by John Citizen Arts Pty Ltd. You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video embedded. Gordon Bennett, Notes to Basquiat: Facial Bones, 1999, acylic on canvas, 51 x 51 cm Courtesy Sherman Galleries, Sydney. Get the best price for your artwork or collection. Probability, Rap and coincidence 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. 152.0 x 188.5 cm. 152.3 182.7 cm. Look more closely, however, you can see paintings by the 'real' Bennett displayed on the walls. You lost your balance. 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. Signed and dated u.l. His artwork resist and debate racial stereotyping and is critical of Australias colonial history and postcolonial present. His sophisticated mimicry becomes two-fold in his quotation of Margaret Prestons woodcut design of a fish. (1999). 16, Paris, 08 Dec 2013, 16 (colour illus.). The ideals of pure colour and form of early 20th century De Stjil abstraction appeared to Bennett as another form of exclusion. Notes to Basquiat was named for the American Jean-Michel Basquiat (196088), a precocious young artist of Puerto Rican and Haitian-American heritage, originally a graffiti artist, whose star flamed brightly in the energetic international art world of the 1980s; Perfect teeth riffs on Basquiats own paintings. A critically and politically engaged artist, Bennett presents alternative historical narratives of Australia and of contemporary world events, creating provocative works that place identity politics front and centre. Dear Jean-Michel Basquiat, We will contact you if necessary. Notes to Basquiat: Australiana 1998 View sold prices. Review: Unfinished Business: The art of Gordon Bennett, QAGOMA, Brisbane. Its vintage Bennett: taking no prisoners, refusing not to be furious, making viewers confront racism in all its sly expressions. Bennett, Gordon. The art and legacy of Gordon Bennett (1955-2014), one of Australia's most influential contemporary artists, will be on show at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) from 7 November 2020 to 21 March 2021. Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett - Art Almanac Medium. Gordon Bennett (19552014) 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. Notes to Basquiat (City) - AGSA Collection