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Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 – 3 June 2014)[1] was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art.
Gordon Bennett | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 October 1955 Monto, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 3 June 2014 (aged 58) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Queensland College of Art |
| Known for | Painting, printmaking |
| Movement | Urban indigenous art |
| Awards | Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship (1991) John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize (1997) |
Born in Monto, Queensland, in 1955, of Anglo-Celtic and Aboriginal ancestry,[2] Gordon Bennett grew up in Victoria from the age of four, when his family moved back to Queensland, to the town of Nambour.[3] He attended Nambour State High School.[1] He left school at fifteen and worked in a variety of trades[3] before undertaking formal art studies at the Queensland College of Art, Brisbane between 1986 and 1988.[4]
Some of his work is about what he saw when he was young. His 1991 painting Nine Ricochets won the prestigious Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship, and he rapidly established himself as a leading figure in the Australian art world. Bennett lived and worked in Brisbane, where he created paintings, prints and worked in multi-media.
In 2004, Bennett, together with Peter Robinson, had a two-person exhibition Three Colours, which showed at several Victorian art galleries including Heide Museum of Modern Art, Shepparton Art Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.[3] In late 2007 he had a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, that set his works on colonialism in an international context.[5]
Bennett exhibited his work in biennales in numerous cities, including Sydney, Venice, Gwangju, Shanghai, Prague and Berlin.[6]
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Bennett expressed his discomfort with being seen as spokesman for Aboriginal peoples, and in a manifesto (or 'manifest toe' as he called it) published in 1996 he spoke of his wish "to avoid banal containment as a professional Aborigine, which both misrepresents me and denies my upbringing and Scottish/English heritage,"[7] while simultaneously expressing his wish that his young daughter could grow up in a society where her life would not be defined by her race.[3] The confrontation of Australian racism is a regular theme in works by Bennett.[8]
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Gordon Bennett died in Brisbane on 3 June 2014, of natural causes.[9] He was 58.
Judith Ryan, senior curator from the National Gallery of Victoria in 2004 described Bennett as "an artist's artist" and "like no other artist currently working".[3] Noting the influence of Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian and Basquiat, she considered Bennett's style to be theoretical and confronting, and intended to encourage critical reflection on national identity.[3]
Bennett is represented in most major public collections in Australia, including the Queensland Art Gallery,[10] as well as in several important overseas collections.
In September 2017, Bennett's 1991 Possession Island was unveiled at London's Tate Modern.[11]
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