May 09, 2005
Bill Henson#3: interior landscapes
There is an retrospective exhibition of Bill Henson's work organized by the NSW Art Gallery. Thankfully, this exhibition is also on tour.
We have a review of the exhibition. An article in Pavement Magazine that I mentioned in an earlier post. We should recognize that Bill Henson is a major Australian artist.
What is suprising is how much landscapes dominate Henson's body of work:
Figures --sexualised, disenfranchised youth or adolescents--are then juxtaposed to the twilight atmosphere of the landscapes:
Bill Henson, Untitled #29, 2000-03
These edgy, sexually charged photographs are painterly and cinematic, and they are often about the gritty, casual events in the shadowlands of everyday life. This image, for instance, suggests adolescent prostitution. It is how many young girls make their money.
Other images are more expressions of personal sexual desire:
Bill Henson, Untitled #106, Untitled 2000-2003
We can see that the images do capture that fundamental moment of uncertainty, with one foot still in childhood, the other exploring an aspect of adulthood.
These sexual figures are located within darkened gloomy landscapes with touches of colour:
Bill Henson, Untitled #109, Untitled 2000-2003
I reckon the romanticism here is that of the interior landscape---made up of our past experiences, our fears and longings.
But what is the link between figure and landscape? Are these deliberately raised oppositions? Do they suggest that sexual desire can only be expressed in twilight zones? What are the twilight zones in our interior world of sexual desire?
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at May 9, 2005 11:49 AM | TrackBack