AustLit

A member of the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang communities (https://www.mca.com.au/collection/work/200843/), Richard Bell has been an exhibiting artist since the early 1990’s (http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artist/richard-bell?do=cv). A member of the Brisbane-based Indigenous arts collective proppaNOW (http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/calevents/kd/proppanow) Bell has become a prominent figure in the contemporary Australian art scene, earning himself a national and international reputation as a provocateur.

Since his first major solo exhibitions, ‘Black + White Thing’ (1991) and ‘This Black + White Thin’ (1991) Bell has explored the complex issue of race-relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. While originally responding to topics such as racial discrimination, his body of work has evolved to focus on how the art market, both nationally and internationally, seemingly exploits Aboriginal Art for its perceived cultural merit, rather than recognising it as a legitimate artistic style (http://www.global-contemporary.de/en/artists/95-richard-bell). In his 2003 painting Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell’s Theorem) Bell has emblazoned the text ‘Aboriginal Art - it’s a White Thing’ in the center of the canvas, giving visual emphasis to support his view of the commodification of Indigenous Art, while at the same time confronting those who control the art market – coincidentally the people who are most likely to be viewing the artwork (https://www.mca.com.au/collection/work/200843/). The use of text is a reoccurring motif in Bell’s work, as is the use of flat blocks of black and white paint on the canvas, bluntly and unapologetically representing the cultural divide that still exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (http://www.global-contemporary.de/en/artists/95-richard-bell).

“Aboriginal Art is bought, sold and promoted from within the system, that is, Western Art consigns it to “Pigeon-holing” within that system. Why can’t an Art movement arise and be separate from but equal to Western Art – within its own aesthetic, its own voices, its own infrastructure, etc?” - Richard Bell

Milani Gallery - http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artist/richard-bell