Richard Bell: Uz vs. Them

Abstract

Richard Bell, one of Australia's most collectable leading contemporary artists, has established a significant reputation as a political commentator and an "enfant terrible" in Indigenous art over the past two decades. This stunningly illustrated catalogue features more than 26 colour plates of his provocative and often humorous works. With their bold use of images and text, they force viewers to face the troubling issue of racism in Australia. Bell's inspiration is complex and multi-layered. He is an avid appropriator, borrowing from other artists, periods, and cultures, including Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, and Aboriginal painter Emily Kam Kngwarreye, among others. He works across a wide range of media, including painting, performance, and video, producing powerful messages that confront and unsettle: about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians' relationship to each other, about their country's history and about art itself. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Richard Bell: Uz vs. Them: Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, Massachusetts, September 14-November 20, 2011; University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, Kentucky, February 12-May 6, 2012; Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, September 13-December 9, 2012; Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana. March 1-May 5, 2013