Postmodernism is a contemporary art movement that changed traditional art making practices by refusing to recognize any set definition of what art should be. Instead, it collapsed established rules about style, form or use of space and adopted an ‘anything goes’ ideology that focusses on the use of imaginative or technical skills to create visual, auditory, performance or interactive pieces which are to be understood or appreciated for their controversiality, emotional power, uniqueness, or political, social or historical commentary (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). Where once the art medium was synonymous with being a painting, drawing, mural or sculpture of a relatively recognizable topic or image, the postmodern realm has embraced a seemingly endless means by which artists can express themselves, within a seemingly endless choice of space.
Postmodernist Australian artist Gordon Bennett captured the essence of his work in his statement, “some people say my work is ‘in your face’…I guess they take it personally…perhaps I broach subjects they are touchy about” (Tate, 2018). Arguably one of his most famous pieces, The Outsider (1988), is an oil and synthetic work on canvas which used technique, painting skill and appropriation of great artists of the 20th century to explore issues of culture, identity and indigenous dispossession. The Outsider challenged traditional art making practices by being created in a deconstructive vein whereby he appropriated previous art styles but created his own unique aesthetic by using postmodernist devices of irony, fragmentation, parody and pastiche, and by mixing genres (Framer, 2017).
He recontextualized works by Vincent Van Gogh and Francisco Goya to create complex layers of visual meaning to challenge the audience to consider an alternate perspective. The Outsider highlights the potential for darkness in the human soul. Van Gogh’s starry night was bloodied to symbolize lack of humanity, his bedroom featured Goya’s disturbing imagery through a gruesome headless figure of an Aboriginal man, and sculpted heads reminiscent of classical art sculptures made a strong statement by having their eyes closed to portray the ignorance of white people towards the suffering (Art phantom, 2017; Goya, 2017; van Gogh, 2017).
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Bennett’s art practice was the use of an eclectic mixing of artistic styles and mediums, and of symbolism and exaggerated forms as a visual language, to make an intellectual commentary about the dominance of white people’s interpretation of history and the violation of Aboriginal people under white settlement. Though much of his artistic platform was in two-dimensional painted form, his intention was not to be limited by the dimensional space of the canvas, but rather to use it as a catalyst for creating much larger and more powerful ‘…fields of disturbance’ which would confront his audience with a re-writing of what they had taken as truth (NGV, 2018). He wanted his art to deconstruct existing meanings and provoke thought amongst its audience.
Another of his works, Self-Portrait: Interior/Exterior (1993) with its mediums of a whip, references to racial slurs, Pollock-like blood drips, and coffin sized box takes his message into three-dimensional form in an installation that is far removed from traditional art making practices. The implied brutality of this piece encompasses a space that radiates far beyond its physical presence and confronts its audience by thrusting them outside their comfort zone. The jarring composition in The Outsider, the impact of Self-portrait: Interior/Exterior, along with other Bennett pieces such as The Coming of the Light (1987), The Small Brown House (1991), and Possession Island (1991) have created an expressive space that differs from traditional art styles (DAAO, 2017).
Their cacophony of visual language of actual and inferred violence hits the audience with such force that they unconsciously step back, and then from the safety of distance, they absorb the untold stories of history. Bennett has said “If I were to choose a single word to describe my art practice it would be the word question”, and that is precisely what has been generated amongst the audiences of his controversial, figuratively larger than life, artworks (Tate, 2018).
