Bell's Theorem and More

As an Indigenous man I enter Richard Bell’s latest show at Josh Milani Gallery with a sense of solidarity. The four major paintings in this exhibition form a new part of his Bells’ Theorem series. Each painting employs his characteristically boisterous and chaotic visual language of ‘strategic’ colour clashes, fractured focal points, mechanical patterning and poignant and witty appropriated text to address Indigenous socio-political issues with which I identify.

In these works Bell draws on the wisdom of an ‘old Aboriginal saying’ when the first of the four paintings tells ‘ask and ye shall receive’. Another work suggests ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first’. There is faint reassurance in the statement that Bell knows ‘not just greed and fear’. And the last of the four epic paintings claims unflinchingly that ‘Western art does not exist’. Titled Prelude to a Trial (Bell’s Theorem) this painting, with all its implications, has been described as Bell’s ‘master work’. It is a painting with a purpose and it seems to await a reply. As though anticipating critical response, this show’s clever title-You’d believe me if I was a white man- acts as a pre-emptive counter argument even before any work can be viewed.

Aboriginal voices within contemporary Australian art (including Richard Bell’s) are often diminished and subtly dismissed when labels like ‘angry’ and ‘aggressive’ are misused in describing their work. These labels represent narrow subjective reactions to provocative work and reveal less about the artists and artworks in question than they do of those who insist on the use of these labels. Bell’s paintings however, could be more perceptively described as combative in the sense that they challenge and confront accepted notions and conventions but with balance, delicacy, and even positivity.

As in previous Bell’s Theorem works, the left sides of these four compositions deliver a black voice in text overlaying a darkened void, while the right sides offer balance in the form of white text to complete the obvious binary opposition. Here, where a white background has remained negative space in earlier works, Bell has made use of metallic and pearlescent off-whites to extend his mechanical patterning to the edges of the canvas and magnify the chaotic surface of three of these four paintings. Together with the buzz of florescent blocks that seem to reference electric signage, the group of works in the main exhibition space are loud and flashy in a way that engenders a strong performative element.

There are also six smaller works shown which each operate as extensions of the Theorem works. These paintings derive an almost musical rhythm from the alternation of black and white sequences of text painted over colourful backgrounds and flattened shapes. While the smaller paintings in this exhibition continue the dialogue generated within the four larger Bell’s Theorem paintings, they are less concerned with delivering content and appear to be more about engaging with issues through poetic representation.

These new paintings further develop a dialogue that Bell has been stimulating for around a decade. Within these developments Bell indicates that he has not yet finished combating myths of history and long-held preconceptions when he alludes to a future trial in one of his titles. I enthusiastically await a follow-up to this potent new body of work.

Dale Harding