Gordon Bennett's Triptych Requiem, Of Grandeur Empire Analysis

Gordon Bennett’s Triptych: Requiem, Of Grandeur, Empire (c. 1989) (i.e. TROGE), oil paint and photograph on canvas, is a sophisticated artwork worthy of being defined as ‘good’ visual art as it shows “...clear evidence of creativity and intellect to evoke an emotional response in viewers” (Coe, 2003; ngv, n/a). According to QUT Visual Arts lecturer Charles Robb’s guidelines of ‘good’ art, TROGE can be defined as good as it successfully demonstrates refined visual intelligence and contributes to contemporary conversation about issues prevalent throughout time. By looking at the artworks technical finesse, context and resultantly concept, it becomes clear how the execution and philosophical exploration is what makes this piece ‘good’ visual
Throughout Bennett’s life, he experienced a “...personal struggle for identity as an Australian of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent” (ngv, n/a). Resultantly, such subject matter of identity, culture, history and misperception is not only evident in TROGE, but throughout his oeuvre in works like Outsider (1955) to Possession Island (1991) and beyond. Due to his wariness of labels, Bennett preferred to be represented as a contemporary artist, rather than an Aboriginal artist, and thus avoided selling works to “...indigenous sections of state galleries...” (smh, 2014). As such, TROGE belongs to the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery (smh, 2014). Prevalent throughout Bennett’s oeuvre is the “...appropriat[ion] and recontextualis[ation] [of] found images that have accumulated certain historical meaning over time” and this appears in TROGE with the newspaper clipping of his mother, and the recontextualisation of an indigenous man from JW Lindt’s photograph (smh, 2014; ngv, n/a). Such technique creates evidence to support Bennett’s artworks, and in TROGE reinforces his realisation that “[his] identity was shaped by the historical narratives of colonialism with all its romantic illusions and factual deletions” (smh, 2014). TROGE has clearly been influenced by Bennett’s experiences and
Ultimately, TROGE aims to challenge “...the implicit teleology and destructive constructions of progress in Western epistemologies” and remind viewers that the European perspective is not the only truth (Lingard, 2014). By layering Western concepts (geometric shapes and architectural depictions) upon the Australian landscape, Bennett reflects how European ideas have been forced upon Indigenous heritage. Furthermore, he relates to the Western perspective as an illusion, just like how Western art often sees the illusion of three-dimensional space made by the perspective lines (ngv, n/a). This illusion is heightened by the landscape and sky being painted in a style reflective of European Romantic art, where dramatically realistic portrayals of beauty and emotion are presented (ngv, n/a). Bennett disrupts this illusion metaphorically and physically by adding disparate diagrams, symbols and images (e.g. black footprints representing indigenous presence on the land), showing that many different mediums and forms, or perspectives, coexist. The impact European culture has had on indigenous people is showcased by each figure depicted: for example, in Requiem, the solemn face belongs to Trugannini (c.1812 - 1876), a Tasmanian Palawa woman, who is thought to be ‘the last