Gordon Bennnett travelled throughout Victoria with his parents for much of his childhood. In 1970 he moved away from the family's home in Nambour, Queensland, in order to undertake a fitting and turning apprenticeship in Brisbane. He took a job as a linesman for Telecom and held this position for eleven years. In 1986 Bennett enrolled at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane where he studied full time until he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the College in 1988.
Bennett's solo exhibitions number over fifty and his work is represented in major international contemporary art exhibitions in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and Japan. He was the recipient of a number of major awards including the Moet & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship in 1991 and the National John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize.
