Scientia e metaphysica (Bell's theorem)

This work is part of an oeuvre that Richard Bell has been exploring over the past few years, with blocks of what he described as colour field studies arranged 'like liquorice allsorts, overlaid with sprays of Pollock-type paint', or in others the references are Emily-Kngwarreye-style calligraphy – with messages including 'I am not a winner', 'The meek inherited the earth (but lost it)', 'Life is a death sentence' and 'I am not sorry'. These works belong to his series from Bell's theorem as does this work in which the dominant message is 'Aboriginal art it's a white thing'. In his lengthy manifesto, Bell critiques the Aboriginal arts industry, which he considers treats art like a commodity – the industry is a product of the times, run largely by white people, which together with other market factors condemns it to non-Aboriginal control. This is the crux of the message in Scientia e metaphysica (Bell's theorem). The title is also a pun on the actual Bell's theorem, a mathematical theory relevant to quantum physics and the perception of reality © Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory