You wouldn't believe him if he said it any quieter -- a review of Richard Bell's "You'd believe me if I was a white man" exhibit at Milani Gallery

Standing in a room surrounded on all sides by Richard Bell’s large-scale, text-based works, one is both confronted and in awe of his latest show “You’d believe me if I was a white man” at Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Bell himself admitted that he created the works and installed them in such a way  because he himself wanted to see what it felt like to be surrounded by such “incredibly loud paintings” (1). Yet with bold statements such as ‘The first shall be the last and the last shall be the first’ juxtaposed over layers of multi-coloured panels,  splatters and text; “overwhelming”, “intimidating”, “empowering” and “thought-provoking” are also appropriate descriptions.

Installation shot of ‘You’d believe me if I was a White Man’, Milani Gallery,
2011, http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artwork/installation-view-178

Installation shot of ‘You’d believe me if I was a White Man’, Milani Gallery,
2011, http://www.milanigallery.com.au/artwork/installation-view-178

Each work in the main gallery of Milani is a continuation of Bell’s Theorem (2), which asserts that Aboriginal Art has been reduced to a white Australian commodity. First unleashed on the art world in 2002 as a written work of art, Bell’s Theorem has continued to inspire and be represented in many of his incredibly loud paintings. The most well-known of these works is undoubtedly Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell’s Theorem) of 2003 which proclaims ‘Aboriginal Art Its A White Thing’. Another equally bold statement found in Bell’s current exhibition that appears to both endorse and disprove his 2003 proclamation is ‘Western Art Does Not Exist’ in Prelude to a Trial (Bell's Theorem).

 
While Bell’s 2003 work declares that Aboriginal Art is overpowered by western civilization, his 2011 work appears to denounce the existence of such a power. How can Aboriginal Art be a white (western) thing if Western Art does not exist? Could it be that Bell is further proving through Prelude to a Trial (Bell's Theorem) that western (white) civilization has monopolized and plagiarized not just Aboriginal Art but the art of other civilizations to create its own? To the point that there is no such thing as original western art. The greatest example of this is Picasso’s use of what were at the time considered primitive pacific curiosities to create Cubism, one of Western Art’s most famous movements. Closer to home, famous Australian artist Immants Tillers continues to appropriate and misrepresent Aboriginal Art in his own work. Indeed, the art of other civilizations has only recently been acknowledged as worthy of being placed in art institutions which still predominately house and celebrate ‘western art’.


With this in mind, one can be in no doubt that Bell is still championing for equality and recognition of Aboriginal Australian Art and will continue to produce his incredibly loud paintings to represent voices unheard and challenge society’s complacent acceptance and stereotyping of art. “You would believe me if I was a white man” while both a taunt and a challenge, is also the title of Bell’s most exciting body of work to date.

 By Jessica Row

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(1) Said in a talk to students from Queensland College of Art at Milani Gallery on 5^th August, 2011

(2) Bell’s Theorem can be read here: http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/great/art/bell.html

‘You'd believe me if I was a white man’ exhibited at Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia from 22nd July 2011 to 6th August 2011 and can be viewed online here:  http://www.milanigallery.com.au/exhibit/youd-believe-me-if-i-was-white-man

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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.