Preview

The Outsider Gordon Bennett Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
882 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Outsider Gordon Bennett Essay
Distinctively visual related text
Gordon Bennett- The Outsider
How has the distinctively visual created meaning?
Explore the ways the images we see and or visualise in texts are created. Students consider how the forms and language of different texts create these images, affect interpretation and shape meaning.
The Outsider focuses on issues of the increasing isolation indigenous Australians feel in their own country. Painted in 1988 in which the bicentennial anniversary of white settlement in Australia was being held. Dimensions of 290x180cm and painted on canvas using oil and acrylic paints.
The Outsider depicts a decapitated aboriginal figure standing over Van Gogh’s bed with red paint streaming skywards to join with the cortex of
…show more content…
He makes reference to two paintings by Van Gogh, “Vincent’s bedroom in Arles” and “starry night”. He draws from Van Gogh to create a new language, as he has been interested in the way language and images construct identity and history and the way it controls and creates meaning. Bennett also identifies with Van Gogh’s metaphysical quest for meaning and identity, in such a way that the decapitated figure could be interpreted to be either Bennett or Van Gogh.
There is clear reference to the energy and intensity associated with Van Gogh’s expressive brushstrokes and brilliant colour contrasts which create a powerful and explosive effect. Bennett has replicated Van Gogh’s unique painting style and use of texture throughout much of the painting. The texture is prevalent throughout the whole painting, and especially noticeable in the night sky section, although it is lacking in the area of the bed and especially in the depiction of the statue heads.
The bedroom that Bennett references evokes a feeling of peace and harmony but is contrasted to the violent conflict that involves complex and intersecting personal and cultural

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry Lawson

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In what ways are people and their experiences brought to life through the distinctively visual?…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Van Honthorst’s use of lines within this work of art, makes the girl seem to fade into the dark background of the image. The texture in this painting is characteristic of seventeenth century northern European art. The texture within this work of art is realistic as though what is in the painting could be touched and feel like silk on the sleeves of the dress and the feathers look like they feel soft and fluffy. There is a great range of value within this piece, the background of the painting is very dark while the girl in the painting has very pale skin making her stand out from the dark background. This image is asymmetrical, the way that the girl is seated and holding the oval portrait make the painting unbalanced, the image would be symmetrical if the girl was facing forward rather than a three-fourths view of her. The emphasis in this painting is her face and her smile, her pale face against the dark background really stand out, her rosy cheeks and big smile make it easy to spot across the room. This painting is realistic, she is proportionate and she looks like any other girl that one might see. Over all, this painting is pleasing to the eye and had a wonderful texture, and…

    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Outsiders Essay

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novel the Outsiders, Randy Adderson, (a Soc) decides not to fight in the rumble against the Greasers. I believe that he is a hero for the following reasons.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In what ways are people and their experiences brought to life through the distinctively visual?…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All spiritual beliefs in Aboriginal culture relate back to the idea of creation and dreaming. The dreaming is the ongoing cultural and spiritual progression that informs identity and knowledge, which is expressed through traditional indigenous art. This reflects a spiritual connection to the land, which is represented by signs and symbols as well as other various techniques, which are unique to traditional indigenous art. Signs and symbols can represent a particular location, object or landmark, or a particular story or totem that would be specific to a particular tribe, corroboree or dreamtime story. In traditional indigenous artworks, there is no perspective or fixed vanishing points for landscape artworks because indigenous Australians do not see their environment as a landscape, but their particular world and universe. They create a concept of place by using signs and symbols to create a map-like artwork, which represents their particular ‘world’ and universe. Essentially, traditional indigenous Australian artists are painting their spirituality, by expressing their connection to the land through signs, symbols and their world.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In what ways are people and their experiences brought to life through the distinctively visual?…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gordon Bennett Artist

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The emphasis on making ‘art about art’ which is the focus of his non-representational abstract paintings, contrasts clearly with the focus on social critique that was integral to Bennett’s earlier work, and is intended to provoke viewers thinking and opens up new possibilities for understanding the subjects he…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In what ways does the distinctively visual influence your understanding of people and events within texts?…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Students explore the role of textual features in the shaping of meaning in specific contexts. They develop the communication skills necessary for a wide variety of personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace contexts. Composition focuses on analysing and experimenting with textual forms characteristic of the specific contexts. These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This time it simply reproduces my bedroom; but colour must be abundant in this part, its simplification adding a rank of grandee to the style applied to the objects, getting to suggest a certain rest or dream.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To being with the prominent part of the portrait is the white settler’s perception which is observed unmistakably in first glimpse, the picture of the striking sunset, buildings and houses serenely assembles next to one another. It is the aboriginal’s viewpoint being the truth is shown in the exterior of the painting that the Europeans are capturing owned land, Aboriginal land.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The most important element is how the shape of the human is faded and is being constricted. The lack of colour in the artwork shows the depression and loneliness of Aboriginal Australians who were separated.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gordon Bennet Analysis

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He uses other artist's images and gives them an entirely different meaning. The art world would call this appropriation. The outsider was painted in 1988, with the dimensions of 290 by 180cm, and was painted on canvas using oil and acrylic paints. My interpretation of the artwork is that its showing conflict between his duel heritages. An example of this is shown where there is a mix of European art strokes and Aboriginal dot painting. His aboriginal self has no head which suggests he's lost his aboriginal identity. The two white heads lying on a bed in front of the figure, suggest he has lost his connection to his white heritage to some extent. His hands are also white even though the rest of him is depicted as being Aboriginal. This means he has been at the mercy of white hands. Overall it implies he is alienated and unconnected to both sides of his…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The second, most striking demonstration of the use of abstraction in this painting is Van Gogh’s simplification of the form of the elements of the scene – the stars, buildings, the mountains, the trees, etc. Van Gogh’s signature stylistic use of brush strokes is extremely simple. Consequently, nothing in the depiction of this small village is given much detail. In lieu of rendering a painting which attempts to replicate the exact detail of the village as he once perceived it, Van Gogh purposely exchanges detail…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays