Artist’s Background

Richard Bell is Kamilaroi, Ji’man, Kooma and Goreng Goreng, born in Charleville into the Kamilaroi tribe. Recent exhibitions include Jus’ Drawn, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda, 2010; Richard Bell: Provocateur, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2009; Scratch An Aussie, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, 2008; WINDOW SHOPPING, Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2007; Psalm Singing, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Group exhibitions include Terra Nullius, ACC Galerie, Weimar & Halle 14, Germany, 2009; Marella:The Hidden Mission, Penrith Regional Gallery,18NSW; Half Light, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 2008; Revolutions: Forms That Turn, 2008, Biennale of Sydney, Sydney,2008.19 Richard Bell has been selected as one of the artists whose work will feature in a major upcoming exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. 21st Century: Art from the first decade, will feature over 200 works by more than 140 Australian and international artists. Richard Bell is represented by Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland and currently lives and works in Brisbane.

Ideas and inspiration

Richard Bell was one of the founding members and was involved in the establishment of the group proppaNOW to support urban Aboriginal artists. As a leader of the first group of urban Indigenous artists whose work provided a means of expression during the period leading up to the 1988 bicentenary of white Australian settlement, Richard’s ideas challenged non-Indigenous artists who appropriated Indigenous imagery, particularly in relation to the perception of what was supposedly ‘traditional’ Indigenous art. 20 Described as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Australian art, Richard’s work examines the historical treatment of Aboriginal people after European settlement, addressing contemporary issues such as religion, art, government policy and others such as oppression, frustration and discrimination. Richard believes the work of urban Aboriginal artists is ‘classified’ and misaligned with traditional art making of another time and place. Richard Bell’s main influences are the American twentieth century Pop artists, Roy Lichtenstein, from whom he parodies the popular comic book and dot style, whilst also referencing and appropriating the work of Andy Warhol and Imants Tillers. He draws his main inspiration from general conversation with people in and outside of his own community, often within public places such as public bars. Richard regularly utilises comedy, satire and parody to illustrate the friction of the black/white divide and racist comments by politicians, such as the Queensland-based, former One Nation politician, Pauline Hanson. He also inverts his own black/white stereotypes for his photographic, video and performance work. Richard works across a range of media and methods including painting, digital printing, installation and more recently video and is involved in collaborations in performance art.

(Source: Jus’ Drawn: The proppaNOW Collective A Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts & NETS Victoria Touring Exhibition Written and researched by Shelley Hinton).

Interview with Richard Bell: "An ostrich will bury its head in the sand". (Source: The Art Life)

Bell's Theorum. Aboriginal art - It's a white thing!

In Life on a Mission, 2009, which includes the text, ‘I am not a noble savage’, Richard confronts the viewer with a strong message surrounding Aboriginal art and identity, challenging the pretext that the ‘authentic’ Aboriginal person is ‘of the bush’ or off the mission and their art is either a variation of western desert style painting or traditional barks and spears. (Source: netsvictoria.org.au)

 “Life on a Mission relates to the misrepresentation and oppression of Indigenous people in Australia and the world. The depiction of the aborigine as a ‘noble savage’ continues to this day. We are only ‘authentic’ if we are living ‘traditionally.’ Otherwise it is deemed we have lost our culture. This view condemns Indigenous people to poverty by segregating us and framing us as primitives with no place in contemporary life. Through both its medium and its message this painting refutes the image and idea of the noble savage.” (Richard Bell)

The series Me, me, me dreaming (with a little help from my friends), 2010 is a visually whimsical and naïve tribute to the late Indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye. While referencing the spaghetti linear style of Kngwarreye’s work and the Arnhem Land Oenpelli artists the work also addresses the selfish ‘me’ spirit and the art market.21 After Emily Kngwarreye passed away, Richard Bell observed how little the commercial art market cared. Instead, to his horror, he witnessed a money grabbing exercise by art dealers who were more concerned about finding a replacement ‘Emily’ as a result of their financial loss, than showing any concern for the immense sense of loss to Emily’s family and community at the time of her passing. Thereafter, Richard created an ongoing series named ‘Desperately seeking Emily’.

While the work appears whimsical, the sentiment is not and exposes the extent to which Aboriginal artists have been exploited and are often vulnerable at the hands of commercial art dealers. Scientia E. Metaphysica Bell’s Theorem (Aboriginal Art It’s a White Thing), 2003 was selected as the winner of the 2003 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin. Underneath a structured linear and free-hand sea of paint, Richard confronts the viewer with the quote, ‘Aboriginal Art It’s a White Thing’. The work parodies the art market and critiques the domination of the modern Western tradition in Australian art. (Source: netsvictoria.org)

Read the article about Embassy in The Guardian.

In the later video work Scratch an Aussie, 2008, Richard parodies the present day relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in a Sigmund Freud style psychiatrist’s room, with himself and Gary Foley in the starring roles. Through the creation of a black Sigmund Freud interlocutor (played by Indigenous rights activist, academic, writer and actor Gary Foley), Richard cleverly examines racist attitudes across generations. Complete with Persian rugs and the classic psychiatrists couch, Bell sets up a role reversal with white bikini-clad blondes expressing the way they feel they have been discriminated against by a dominant class. At times shockingly confronting, the work is extremely witty and provocative, leaving the viewer with an extreme sense of unease and discomfort.25 Initially created for the 2008 Biennale of Sydney, Scratch an Aussie has since screened across the country in numerous film festivals and exhibitions. (Source: netsvictoria.org.au)

Scienta E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorum), or "Aboriginal Art Its a White Thing" 2003

Following a previous work with the same name in 2002, Richard adopts and merges a number of artistic styles, from Jackson Pollock’s splashes to the text based conceptual work of Colin McCahon, Joseph Kosuth and the work of Imants Tillers. On the left hand side of the work, a raft of bigoted comments such as ‘I am not racist, I just don’t like aboze, wogz, slowpeds’ and so on, creates a powerful artistic statement, challenging a raft of conventions and prejudices. (Source: netsvictoria.org.au)

See paintings in exhibition You'd believe me if I was a white man.

Read Nicola Scott's review of this exhibition.

Bell’s critique of the domination of the modern Western tradition in Australian art, is also symbolised by the Roy Lichtenstein Made Men series. In works such as Big Brush Stroke (2005) he appropriates the style of Lichtenstein in large inkjet prints on canvas with cartoon characters with ironic comments in speech bubbles, sometimes with changed skin colours and colours of the Aboriginal flag.

Roy Lichtenstein's work is appropriated by Richard Bell.

The work of Richard Bell tackles the position of Aboriginal art and artists within the contemporary art world, directly criticising its appropriation by non-Aboriginal artists and its domination by white curators, critics, academics, dealers and collectors. Combining political bite and caustic humour, Bell’s works argue for greater Aboriginal control over Aboriginal art, and by extension, Aboriginal culture within Australian society.

The use of language and text is a regular strategy for artists addressing political ideas in their work, and one that Bell embraces. Bell’s four-panel workWorth Exploring? challenges the position of Aboriginal art and artists inside the art system, linking it to the historical legal status of European colonisation. With his trademark directness and humour, Bell uses a combination of painting and legal documents to raise complex questions of artistic authenticity, appropriation and reception, as part of a broad debate on Australian race relations.

Uz vs Them stages a highly stylised physical and verbal sparring match between two men—one of whom is portrayed by the artist. The men’s dialogue is based on their opposing intellectual positions and political declarations.

Source: Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia

In his satirical video Uz vs Them (2006) Richard parodies and continues the debate on the black/white divide in boxing ring.24 A homage to the boxer Anthony Mundine, the work presents Bell as a sleazy fight promoter verbally sparring with a white suprematist skinhead. The work explored issues surrounding identity, fame and Aboriginal people who, like Mundine, refuse identification as Indigenous sportspeople, in favour of identification with Islam and American gangsta culture. (Source: netsvictoria.org.au)