The Art of Gordon Bennett

Postmodernist painter Gordon Bennett

An Australian of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent is occasionally decried for his preachy didacticism and modest skills, but his savvy melding of postmodernist theory, and quotations from unconnected artists, with Aboriginal, colonial, and his own personal, history, has won him a solid reputation in Australia and internationally. His main theme is a radical questioning of Australian identity: "Bennett’s project of self-redemption is analogous to one of national salvation because he will not be redeemed unless the place is."