Art Talk: Tim Riley Walsh on Gordon Bennett

Join Tim Riley Walsh for a special floor talk focused on Gordon Bennett, one of Australia’s most significant and internationally celebrated contemporary artists.

Gordon Bennett (1955–2014), an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent, challenged racial stereotypes and consistently advocated for a more nuanced position beyond typical identity categories. Spanning painting, drawing, video, installation, sculptural assemblage and ceramics, much of Bennett’s multifaceted 30-year practice interrogates Australia’s documented history and national identity whilst engaging audiences in alternative perspectives.

This talk will commence at Gordon Bennett’s painting, Notes to Basquiat (Death of Irony) in Gallery 25 (Level 2), before considering the international context for Bennett’s practice in the Worldwide exhibition (Level 1).

Tim Riley Walsh is an art historian and curator based in Gadigal Nura/Sydney. Riley Walsh is currently Assistant Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. In 2019, he completed the first academic study of the archive of the late Gordon Bennett. Along with Angela Goddard, Riley Walsh edited the award-winning 2020 publication Gordon Bennett: Selected Writings. As the first publication to survey Bennett’s writing practice, Gordon Bennett: Selected Writings gives vital insight into one of Australia’s most critical and thought-provoking contemporary artists in his own words.

This program can be Auslan interpreted or Audio Described for people who are blind or with low vision. Please email access@nga.gov.au to book this service at least two weeks in advance.

Duration: 60 min including Q&A

Free bookings essential.