Home décor (after M Preston) #18

Gordon Bennett was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and European descent who, conscious of the colonist designation of 'self and other', identified as neither. Bennett articulated cultural fluidity in contemporary society through a post-modern practice characterised by appropriation from many sources that repositioned and questioned notions of the authentic and original. To this end, he 'questioned' through the pluralist nature of his work the representational frameworks of national narratives and mythologies presented in history books and museum displays [1]. 'Home décor (after M Preston) #18' 2012 belongs to Bennett's 'Home décor' series which he began in 1995, but expanded upon in 2010 - it is one of the last paintings that he produced before he died in mid-2014. Bennett's overlaying of Margret Preston's 'Aboriginalised' imagery with early 20th century De Stijl compositions signalled his engagement with the history of 20th century 'primitivism', of western artists enriching thei