Richard Bell Exhibtion Review by Maggie Bowcock

If sounds could be shown through colour, a cacophony of sounds would leap from the myriad of patterns and colours of the over- scale series of paintings in the Richard Bell Exhibition at Josh Milane Gallery in Brisbane.These paintings, consist of patchworks of designs, flat shapes, colours and texts which all clamour for recognition, along with bullseye symbols which reference the ‘pop- art’ culture and gestural marks which draw on the western ‘expression abstraction’ tradition of artists such as Jackson Pollock. While the artist is aboriginal, the style of the work is contemporary and eclectic. In true post modern style the artworks seem to cavort around in an array of appropriated genres utilised with impunity to suit the artist’s purpose.

Bell’s work is irreverent, ironic, and poignant. It invites the viewer to engage with his aboriginal perspective: that of a culture living under occupation in a political and social climate that has traditionally ignored and, at times deleted the aboriginal voice, as reflected in the title of the exhibition, you’d believe me if I was a white man. Random selections of colour, 'including fluorescent colours, because they are considered ‘trashy,’ (Bell,2011) - lash out at so- called arbiters of good taste, and the power brokers of art in our institutions. This is reinforced in the work western art does not exist.   This work questions the authority and relevance of western traditions in our art institutions when our geographical region is so ethnically diverse.

The works are also dominated by biblical texts, such as, The Ten Commandments, which are used satirically to not only reinforce the fact that the legal system of Australia is founded on the tenets of faith of the early colonisers, without reference to the aboriginal culture, but also to remind us that those same carriers of laws, such as, ‘thou shalt not kill,’ actually killed the original inhabitants en masse. This double entendre continues, as, ‘thou shalt not steal’ ironically references the stealing of lands, and of children in the sad tale of post- colonial Australian history.

Bell has referred to himself as more of an activist than an artist. This is somewhat evident in the smaller works where, perhaps the message dominates and the aesthetics are more contrived, lacking the comparative energy of the larger scale works.

 This exhibition, nonetheless, invites the viewer to listen to the voices of aboriginal intellectuals, such as Richard Bell, whose work, so passionately articulates his position on European/Aboriginal relationships. This position may be seen as encapsulated in the biblical verse that gives title to one of his works, The first shall be last and the last shall be first.