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00:00A place of golden beaches and bodies, barbecues and bikinis, endless empty land.
00:17Sydney Harbour. But art and culture?
00:20Australia has been my home for over 30 years, and I've often thought about the first settlers who landed here on this fatal shore over two centuries ago.
00:37To these strangers, this place seemed utterly devoid of civilisation.
00:42Of course, they were wrong. But how could these often reluctant arrivals make a new life, let alone come to feel at home in an empty, disturbing and distant wilderness?
01:01I want to explore how art and artists play their roles in this unfolding drama.
01:08From early settlement till today, I'm taking a trip deep into the art of Australia.
01:17This is one of the great icons of Australian art.
01:22I'll be looking at the work of significant artists, both past and present.
01:27What is it with this lurid, lurid yellow?
01:32Their work reveals much about Australia's identity and how it's evolved.
01:38She's going up, she's going down.
01:41For me, Australian art has always been a big part of the quest to make sense of this vast continent and our place in it.
01:51Its haunting landscapes.
01:53Its ever-present dangers.
01:58Its dramatic and controversial history.
02:02And, of course, its great beauty.
02:05Australian art reflects the development of a unique and incredibly diverse culture.
02:24Holding that.
02:25Who's for an ice cream?
02:26It's a great story.
02:31This is my journey into how it all happened.
02:35The story of the art of Australia.
02:37The story of the art of Australia.
02:37I love it here.
03:05the Sydney Opera House is Australia's most recognisable cultural icon,
03:11a cathedral to the arts.
03:14On the surface, it proclaims Australia as a modern, progressive country,
03:20a land with its own pride and identity,
03:24no longer isolated on the edge of the world.
03:34I remember so well my very first visit to Australia.
03:51And, of course, I was brought here to the Opera House.
03:54I walked into this fantastic building.
03:57I saw a terrific performance of Baden Butterfly.
04:00And then I came out here afterwards,
04:02on this terrace overlooking the harbour to have a drink.
04:06I looked around and I thought, wow, I've arrived.
04:18But as a newcomer, I sensed a peculiar tension.
04:24The building is the vision of a Danish architect, Jorn Utzen.
04:28The decision, in 1957, to hire a foreign architect
04:34to design such an important icon exposed a fundamental anxiety,
04:40the cultural cringe.
04:44The idea that culture had to be imported
04:47and that European culture was somehow superior.
04:50In Australia, in the 1950s, this notion was commonplace.
04:59There was growth and prosperity.
05:02The suburbs sprawled and the world were shrinking.
05:05For the first time, Australia was becoming less isolated.
05:08More than a million new migrants arrived and they were no longer just British,
05:18but Greek, Italian and Eastern European.
05:22The new medium of television deepened the connection to the wider world,
05:27but also brought the worry of the Cold War
05:30as the influence of American culture grew.
05:33But this exposure proved to be a double-edged sword.
05:42Whilst artists could travel more easily to find inspiration overseas,
05:46trailblazers like Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd,
05:50who'd done so much to create Australia's artistic identity,
05:54left for London.
05:55And that was the problem.
06:00If you had to leave to make it as an artist,
06:03then Australia must be a cultural backwater,
06:07a place where art and artists were viewed with some suspicion.
06:14In some ways, this anxiety had always been there.
06:19In the convict period, the pictures of Joseph Lycett
06:22tried and failed to present Australia as more than just a prison.
06:29Though the magnificence of the place fired imaginations,
06:33it took the entire 19th century
06:36before the Impressionists really captured Australia's essence.
06:44Then, in the 20th century,
06:46two world wars and a profound loss of innocence
06:49helped inspire the masterworks of modern artists
06:53like Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.
06:56But now, they worked abroad.
07:00The irony was,
07:02as Australia worked ever harder
07:04to overcome its cultural anxiety,
07:07the deeper the artistic identity crisis became.
07:11From the 50s to the 21st century,
07:14the convulsions and controversies that resulted
07:17shaped out and enabled Australia to find cultural recognition
07:21and come to terms with its own place in the world.
07:25The story of how this happened begins far away from the art scene,
07:43on Bribey Island, off the coast of Queensland,
07:47where an artist had made his home in a thatched hut.
07:50A man who came to art late, in his 40s.
07:56His name was Ian Fairweather.
08:01He was a recluse who shunned the art world.
08:05Ironically, he was one of the first artists
08:07to introduce Australia to a radical international art form,
08:13abstract painting.
08:14In 1953, Ian Fairweather came here.
08:28Up till then, he'd been the most extraordinary itinerant.
08:33From Scotland, to Canada, to China, to Australia,
08:37the Philippines, back to China, back to Australia.
08:40On one occasion, he nearly even lost his life
08:43on a crazy raft journey to Indonesia.
08:47But back to Bribey Island he came and made his home here.
08:52Glad to be back in the sun, he said, in the friendly bush.
08:59A maverick, way ahead of his time,
09:03Fairweather brought his artistic influences to bear
09:05on a subject previously ignored by Australian art.
09:10It's Asian neighbours,
09:12their peoples, landscapes and spirituality.
09:18This ambitious work, Anak Bayan, or Son of Country,
09:24measures nearly two and a half metres wide.
09:27It was painted on Bribey Island in 1957
09:31under primitive conditions.
09:33It's the name of a busy street in Manila
09:36where he lived during the 1930s.
09:39It's an abstract map of Filipino people
09:43thronging in the street,
09:45with glimpses of Cezanne,
09:47but with a tenacious line drawn straight
09:50from the expressive force of Chinese calligraphy.
09:56This is the exact spot where Ian Fairweather had his shack.
10:00Marked now, for some peculiar reason,
10:05by a very large rock.
10:08He was the artist's artists.
10:10They saw him as the godfather of abstraction,
10:14an eccentric, a hermit, an inspiration.
10:17The artist who painted this portrait of Fairweather
10:25praised him for providing a physical and spiritual bridge
10:29into another world.
10:33His name was John Olsen.
10:37In 1956, as an adventurous 28-year-old,
10:42Olsen travelled to Spain.
10:43Instead of staying overseas,
10:53like Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd,
10:55he returned in 1960.
10:58Influenced by Fairweather
10:59and the colours and vitality of Mediterranean culture,
11:03he painted this picture,
11:05Spanish Encounter.
11:06Olsen tells the story
11:14that he painted this in five hours one night.
11:18He'd had a row with his girlfriend that night
11:20and she'd gone to bed
11:21and Olsen stayed up all night painting this.
11:27It's full of wonderful hints and reminiscences
11:30of his time in Europe and Spain particularly.
11:32You can see in here little hints of Picasso,
11:35of Miro, of Dubuffet, Tapies,
11:37all the artists he loved.
11:39Of course, the result is a picture of incredible,
11:41I think, vitality and exuberance.
11:44He can't stand in front of this picture
11:46and not be moved by the sheer emotion of it all.
11:50He's flexing his muscles, he's flexing his mind,
11:52he's flexing his imagination on the canvas.
11:55Look at this line going down here
11:56and these lines across here.
11:58There's tremendous expression, tremendous energy.
12:02It's a very bold painting.
12:04Nothing like this had been seen before.
12:06So when it was first shown in Sydney,
12:08it generated huge excitement.
12:10And the artist looked at it and said,
12:12maybe this is the future of Australian art.
12:17Today, John Olsen is the grand old man of Australian art.
12:21Back then, he was at the forefront
12:23of the abstract revolution.
12:25He was fighting to take Australian art
12:28in a whole new direction.
12:30I felt everything was open.
12:33It was just an open field
12:35and I felt that there was more to do in Australia.
12:41And what I brought back was the confidence
12:46and the feeling that I'd seen the best that Europe had to give.
12:52Yeah, and that was...
12:53And that liberated me.
12:54Yeah, exactly.
12:55It was inspiration, inspiration liberates.
12:57Exactly right.
12:58So, so, I was cheeky.
13:02A lot of your fellow artists thought you'd gone a bit mad,
13:05a bit bonkers, didn't they?
13:07Well, that was their problem, not mine.
13:10Ooh.
13:10Olsen fought for abstract art's acceptance.
13:15It was fresh, energetic and modern.
13:23Another group flew the flag for more traditional figurative art,
13:28representing the real world.
13:30In many ways, it was an aesthetic battle between past and future.
13:43One side standing for tradition,
13:45the other demanding change.
13:50Before long, these revolutionaries used abstract art
13:54to redefine traditional Australian themes, like the landscape.
14:19Like Olsen, Fred Williams had experienced the latest trends in Europe.
14:24But in the late 1950s, when he returned to Australia,
14:28he joked to friends that he wanted to paint the gum tree.
14:32At the time, nothing could have been more unfashionable.
14:39Undeterred, Williams took abstract art into the bush
14:42and, like the Impressionists of the 19th century,
14:46developed a radical new way of seeing the landscape.
14:49In silver and grey, you can see Williams' unique interpretation
14:55of the Australian bush.
14:59Never before had the landscape been so poetically distilled
15:03like a visual haiku.
15:06Here, Williams has scattered his symbolic motifs of the bush
15:09across the canvas like seeds across a field.
15:13It is an abstract painting,
15:16but I think it beautifully evokes the mood and texture
15:20of the Australian bush.
15:24Yet, just as Williams was perfecting his own Australian abstraction,
15:29another trend from abroad would drive abstract art
15:33to greater extremes.
15:34It happened during a period of great social and political upheaval.
15:50As Australia began to turn away from its British roots,
15:54young people started rebelling against traditional values.
15:58Women demanded equal rights,
15:59and large numbers protested against Australia sending troops
16:03to fight in Vietnam.
16:10America was on the march in the Cold War,
16:13and art was part of a charm offensive.
16:17In 1967, a hugely influential exhibition,
16:22Two Decades of American Painting,
16:24toured America's Asian allies,
16:27Japan, India and Australia.
16:29This was a chance for Australian artists here
16:34to see works by the stars of American abstraction.
16:38Jackson Pollock,
16:40Mark Rothko,
16:41Willem de Kooning.
16:48New York had become the epicentre
16:50of the abstract art movement,
16:53and its influence was spreading.
16:56Painters flock here,
16:57and all schools of art,
16:58abstract expressionism,
16:59abstract expressionism,
17:00romantic realism,
17:02drippers and splatterers.
17:04The best and the worst can be found here.
17:07Australian artists turned to America for inspiration.
17:13Sid Bull was there, soaking up the energy.
17:16I'd gone to America,
17:19and I saw the greatness of American art.
17:22What was the real excitement about it?
17:24It was the breakaway from Cubism at the time,
17:28throughout the world,
17:29in America especially.
17:30You had people like Mark Rothko.
17:32Franz Klein,
17:33Barnett Newman,
17:34all those guys.
17:35Using colour to its extreme,
17:38they saw how colour can be flattened and expansive.
17:41When Ball returned to Australia,
17:51he started spreading the news.
17:54This extreme version of abstract art,
17:56colour-filled painting,
17:58was where it was at.
18:00Being Australian and painting Australia
18:03was irrelevant.
18:05Soon, other Australian artists,
18:07eager to be part of the movement,
18:09joined him.
18:10In 1968,
18:12they caused a major sensation
18:14at the newly opened
18:15National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
18:21This is the great moment
18:23in the story of Australian art.
18:25That's the famous poster of the field.
18:26You designed the poster, didn't you?
18:27I did, indeed.
18:28It caused a lot of controversy.
18:31The field was the very first exhibition
18:34at the new gallery.
18:37The board of trustees
18:38had wanted a retrospective
18:40by the impressionist Arthur Streeton.
18:42But, instead of gum trees,
18:45they got this.
18:46A gallery lined with silver foil
18:48and 74 ultra-abstract works.
18:53It split the art world.
18:56For supporters,
18:57this was a pivotal moment.
19:00Abstraction moved from the margins
19:02to the mainstream.
19:03Australian art was shedding its parochialism.
19:10But, for many,
19:11it felt like a step too far.
19:14It was too derivative
19:15and said nothing about being Australian.
19:18Artists like John Olsen
19:28were sidelined by the new wave of abstraction.
19:32His Five Bells, for example,
19:35a great celebration
19:36of the fertile inner life of nature
19:39was deemed to be too Australian,
19:42with all these lines going all over the place,
19:44too messy.
19:45It wasn't clinical enough.
19:47It was not abstract enough
19:50for the new order.
19:55Now everything in Australian art
19:57was being challenged.
19:59It was a full-blown cultural revolution.
20:03Many artists rejected painting
20:05and sculpture altogether,
20:07embracing performance, installation,
20:09conceptual and environmental art.
20:12art was splintering
20:16into a myriad of styles.
20:19Yet still,
20:20a nagging doubt remained.
20:22If it was from elsewhere,
20:24it was somehow more clever,
20:26more relevant,
20:27more happening.
20:28And the foreign influences
20:30just kept coming.
20:35In October 1969,
20:38something quite remarkable
20:39happened here.
20:40in this bay,
20:43just a few kilometres south
20:44of the city of Sydney.
20:47Christo,
20:48the great rapper,
20:49and his wife,
20:50Jean-Claude,
20:51came out here
20:52and wrapped those cliffs.
20:55In fact,
20:55it was more than that.
20:57They wrapped no less than
20:58two and a half kilometres
20:59of the coastline.
21:01They came from Paris
21:10at the invitation
21:11of Hungarian-born
21:13businessman and collector
21:14John Kaldor.
21:15He wanted to bring
21:16artists to Australia
21:18to introduce the public
21:20to the best contemporary art
21:21from around the world.
21:22They used 95,000 square metres
21:36of fabric
21:37to wrap these cliffs.
21:38There were 15 professional mountaineers
21:41and there were over 100 students
21:43to help tie the fabric down.
21:46The public was astounded,
21:53not just by the scale,
21:55but by the sheer audacity
21:57of the project.
21:59Although it isn't my cup of tea,
22:01I should imagine
22:02that to many thousands of people
22:03it would be their cup of tea
22:04with cream added into it.
22:06I think it's a great thing
22:08to have happened here
22:09and I think it will do Australia
22:11and its artists.
22:12It's a great deal of good.
22:13Very exciting.
22:14The great fact that it's chosen
22:15somewhere like Australia
22:16which is pretty often that
22:18to most people.
22:19This was one of the most
22:20outstanding events
22:22in the history of contemporary art.
22:24It was no local event,
22:26it was a worldwide event.
22:31Christo and Jean-Claude
22:33made their names
22:34here at Little Bay.
22:35but quickly moved on
22:36to greater success,
22:38wrapping buildings
22:39and monuments
22:40around the world.
22:47The wrapping of Little Bay
22:49had a huge impact
22:51on the local art scene.
22:53It was the largest artwork
22:54in the world
22:55but it was a hard act to follow.
22:58The cultural crisis of identity
23:00for art in Australia
23:01was growing.
23:03How should it move forward?
23:05The crisis came to a head
23:09in 1973,
23:12a pivotal year
23:13when one of the artists
23:14who'd helped define Australian art
23:17returned from London.
23:19Even for the best artists,
23:22transcending their Australian-ness
23:24was problematic.
23:25Arthur Boyd made his name
23:29Arthur Boyd made his name
23:30in the 1950s
23:31when he came here
23:33to the Northern Territory.
23:36The trip inspired
23:38his half-caste bride series.
23:41It had catapulted him
23:42to fame
23:43here and in Britain
23:44where he'd lived
23:46for most of the next 20 years.
23:48But now he was back
23:52and suffering
23:53an existential crisis.
23:59For Boyd,
24:00being an Australian
24:01had become
24:02a creative millstone,
24:05restricting
24:05his artistic freedom.
24:06He worried
24:08the younger generation
24:09of abstract artists
24:11simply felt
24:12paintings like his,
24:13even painting itself,
24:15were no longer relevant.
24:17He painted a series of works
24:19expressing his torment.
24:24The most sinister
24:26is Interior
24:28with Black Rabbit.
24:29For me,
24:40this picture
24:40sums up the dilemma
24:42that Arthur Boyd
24:43had been struggling with
24:44for three decades.
24:46In fact,
24:47I suspect that's him,
24:49the crumpled figure
24:49in the corner,
24:51weighed down with history,
24:53here in the dark,
24:55out in the glaring light
24:56of the landscape.
24:58It's a painting
24:59that speaks
25:00eloquently
25:01and powerfully
25:02of that sense
25:03of dislocation.
25:10Boyd was frustrated.
25:13No matter how good
25:14his art was,
25:14he was always being
25:15pigeonholed
25:16as an Australian artist.
25:18He wanted to be
25:19recognised as an artist,
25:21not just an Australian artist.
25:24It was the same old problem,
25:27how to be Australian
25:28and beyond Australia
25:29at the same time.
25:39Later in 1973,
25:41the Queen arrived
25:43to open
25:43the Sydney Opera House.
25:48However,
25:49behind the celebrations,
25:51the cultural cringe
25:52had erupted
25:53into full-blown conflict.
25:56The daring design
25:58by Danish architect
25:59Jorn Utsen
26:00epitomised the tensions
26:02between Australia's
26:04yearning to be noticed
26:05and the anxiety
26:06that its homegrown culture
26:08was terminally parochial.
26:13Utsen had already resigned
26:15in disgust
26:16long before its completion,
26:18feeling his vision
26:19had been fatally compromised.
26:21Then,
26:23in the very same week,
26:25a fight broke out
26:26over yet another
26:27cultural import.
26:39When the National Gallery
26:41of Australia
26:42bought this painting,
26:44Blue Poles,
26:45by American abstract expressionist
26:47Jackson Pollock
26:48for a record price,
26:50it was for many
26:51the last straw.
26:53A major controversy erupted.
26:56Many demanded answers
26:58to why Australia
26:59had shipped in culture
27:00at such premium prices,
27:03especially art
27:05that looked like this.
27:07When the government
27:08finally agreed
27:09that it could be purchased
27:10for 1.3 million Australian dollars,
27:14there was the predictable
27:15outcry in the media.
27:17The conservative
27:18and often arch-shy press
27:20had a field day.
27:22Would you pay
27:231.3 million dollars
27:24for this?
27:26Believe it or not,
27:27we have discovered
27:28a piece of work
27:28at Hawthorne
27:29that rivals Blue Poles.
27:33On the other side
27:34of the divide,
27:35Gough Whitlam,
27:36the first Labour
27:37Prime Minister
27:38in over two decades,
27:39was keen to prove
27:40Australia's
27:41cultural independence
27:42and cosmopolitan taste.
27:45He pushed through
27:46the purchase.
27:52But as the battle
27:54raged over Blue Poles,
27:56one artist in Sydney
27:57was completing
27:59his masterpiece.
28:00A painter
28:01whose work
28:02held the promise
28:03that Australia's
28:05cultural inferiority
28:06might just be overcome.
28:09His name
28:10was Brett Whiteley.
28:12Australia had never
28:21seen anything like him.
28:28Trained in Sydney,
28:29he had lived in London
28:30when it was swinging
28:31in the 60s
28:32and hung out
28:33in New York
28:34at the Chelsea Hotel
28:36with Andy Warhol
28:38and Bob Dylan.
28:39He was Australia's
28:41first rock star artist.
28:45The Whiteley Studio.
28:50When I arrived here,
28:52the first artist
28:52I really wanted to meet
28:54was Brett Whiteley,
28:55the enfant terrible
28:56of Australian art.
28:59And I met this
29:00mercurial,
29:01quicksilver person
29:02whose mind
29:03just jumped
29:04all over the place.
29:06And I look at this wall.
29:07This is Brett Whiteley.
29:08It's full of all
29:09those quirky moments
29:10with this darting
29:11mind of his.
29:12Look here.
29:14He wrote there,
29:14Oysters Think.
29:16And up there
29:16is my favourite.
29:18Life is brief,
29:19but my God,
29:20Thursday afternoon
29:21seems incredibly long.
29:25You know,
29:25he might have looked
29:26a bit like Harpo Marx
29:27and been this
29:28mercurial character,
29:30but he was a
29:30very serious artist.
29:32and he was also
29:33the most wonderful
29:34spontaneous draughtsman.
29:40In the late 50s,
29:42Whiteley had travelled
29:42to rural New South Wales
29:44to paint the old
29:45mining town of Sephalla,
29:47a favourite
29:47of Australian painters.
29:50Although it's a charming,
29:51rather conventional work,
29:52it did help him
29:53to win
29:54a travelling scholarship.
29:56In 1960,
29:58aged just 21,
30:00Whiteley headed to London,
30:01where he found
30:02a more positive attitude
30:03to artists.
30:06My generation
30:07feel,
30:08when they come to London,
30:10that there is
30:10a specific
30:11professional attitude,
30:12a type of behaviour
30:13towards what they're doing.
30:15In Australia,
30:16they've got to justify
30:17their basic social position
30:19as being artists.
30:22He shot to stardom
30:23when this work
30:24was bought
30:25by the Tate Gallery
30:26in 1961,
30:28making him
30:29the youngest artist ever
30:30to enter the collection.
30:34But by the time
30:35he came back
30:35from nearly a decade away,
30:37he was painting like this.
30:39This is the most amazing,
31:02revolutionary,
31:02and explosive painting
31:04you could possibly imagine.
31:06nobody has seen
31:08anything like this before
31:10or since.
31:13Its title,
31:13Alchemy,
31:14for a start,
31:15means that transmutation
31:16from base lead
31:17to gold.
31:19But it turns out
31:20to be
31:20Brett Whiteley's
31:22great autobiographical
31:23journey.
31:25It starts here
31:25with birth,
31:26these great
31:27voluptuous figures.
31:28It moves to the
31:29nightmarish visions
31:30of the 16th century
31:32painter
31:32Hieronymus Bosch
31:33and these lurid,
31:36gaping teeth.
31:38And then we get
31:38a glimpse
31:39of Brett himself.
31:41And then into
31:42a moment of calm,
31:44arcadia,
31:44the landscape
31:45of the bird.
31:50But right in the middle
31:51is the word
31:52it.
31:52What does it mean?
31:54Does Brett know
31:55what it means?
31:55Does anybody
31:56know what it means?
31:57It's great design.
31:58But he says,
32:00it,
32:01it's the progression
32:02to the next thing.
32:14In the 1970s,
32:16his star
32:17was in the ascendant.
32:19No one could match
32:20his prolific output,
32:22his bravura,
32:23the sheer energy
32:24and colour
32:25of his work.
32:28In the 60s,
32:35when I first
32:36found myself
32:37as a painter,
32:39abstraction
32:39and the idea
32:40that one
32:41could and should
32:42paint that way
32:43without the baggage
32:45and clutter
32:46of figuration
32:47from the past
32:48was a very liberating
32:49and extraordinary
32:50sort of feeling.
32:52But that soon
32:53changed.
32:55Ultimately,
32:56Whiteley found
32:56abstraction limiting.
32:58and went on
32:59to create
32:59his own
33:00erotic,
33:01lyrical style.
33:03However,
33:03as the years
33:04went on,
33:05being the bad boy
33:06of Australian art
33:07took a terrible toll.
33:09In 1992,
33:10aged just 53,
33:13he was found dead
33:14from an overdose.
33:16The hope that Whiteley,
33:18with his paintings
33:18acclaimed both here
33:19and abroad,
33:21would help overcome
33:22the sense of
33:23cultural inferiority,
33:24was never
33:25fully realised.
33:26I spent many
33:31and often
33:31languid
33:32afternoons
33:33in this room
33:34with Brett Whiteley,
33:35chatting about
33:36this and that,
33:37about art,
33:38of course,
33:39people,
33:40politics,
33:41space travel
33:42and the world affairs.
33:45There was not much
33:45that Brett
33:46wasn't actually
33:46interested in.
33:48And that's really
33:49the first Australian artist
33:51to sort of comfortably
33:52strut the world stage.
33:55He really was
33:57interested in everything.
34:03And I also think
34:04that it's quite impossible
34:06to meet anybody
34:12else quite like him.
34:19I often think
34:20that Brett's work
34:21really resonated
34:22because of its
34:23deeply Australian
34:24sensibility.
34:26He painted
34:27the outback,
34:27the harbour
34:28and this picture,
34:31his tribute
34:31to the indigenous
34:32bar painter
34:33David Yirrawala.
34:35Yirrawala
34:40had received
34:41international acclaim.
34:44Picasso said,
34:45that is what I've been
34:46trying to achieve
34:47all my life.
34:51Whiteley met
34:52Yirrawala
34:53in 1971
34:54and felt
34:55a strong affinity
34:56with the ceremonial
34:57leader
34:58from Arnhem Land
34:59in Australia's
35:00far north.
35:02Like all
35:03indigenous Australians,
35:05Yirrawala
35:06had been granted
35:06citizenship in 1967.
35:10But he wasn't
35:11the first.
35:13More than a decade
35:14earlier,
35:15one Aboriginal man
35:16had captured
35:17the nation's attention
35:18with his paintings.
35:20For this,
35:21he became
35:22the first
35:22indigenous Australian
35:23to be made a citizen
35:25and granted
35:26equal rights.
35:27Albert Nemetjira
35:30was taught
35:31to paint
35:32on the mission
35:32where he'd grown up.
35:38His watercolours
35:39of the bush
35:39made him famous,
35:41but some
35:42in the art world
35:43dismissed them
35:43as too derivative,
35:46too European.
35:49Meanwhile,
35:50Yirrawala's
35:51extraordinary
35:51bark paintings,
35:53though praised,
35:54was seen
35:55as primitive
35:56artefacts
35:57and consigned
35:58to tribal
35:59sections
35:59in museums.
36:03Indigenous art,
36:04like the people
36:05who made it,
36:06just couldn't win.
36:09Land rights!
36:10When do we want?
36:11Now!
36:13By the time
36:14Whiteley met
36:15Yirrawala,
36:16the land rights movement
36:17was already
36:18gaining momentum.
36:19art was a driving
36:23force in this
36:24process,
36:25art that bloomed
36:26in the desert,
36:28a movement
36:28that would
36:29ultimately
36:29help Australian
36:30art surmount
36:31its ongoing
36:32identity crisis
36:33and claim
36:34its distinctive
36:35place in the world.
36:44It's amazing
36:45to think
36:45that a world-famous
36:47art movement
36:48started here,
36:50in this tiny
36:51community
36:52out in the
36:53middle of nowhere,
36:55even if it is
36:56a spectacular
36:57nowhere.
36:58The so-called
37:19discovery
37:19of Aboriginal
37:20art
37:21has become
37:22the stuff
37:23of legend.
37:24In 1971,
37:26art teacher
37:27Geoffrey Barden
37:28came to the
37:29remote Aboriginal
37:30community of
37:31Papunya
37:31in the
37:32Northern Territory.
37:34He found a
37:34desolate
37:35and dispirited
37:36settlement,
37:37played by poor
37:38living conditions
37:39and racial
37:40tensions.
37:42Intrigued by the
37:43children's
37:43sand drawings,
37:45Barden encouraged
37:45the elders
37:46to paint their
37:47ancestral dreamings
37:48on this wall
37:50with modern
37:50acrylic paints.
37:52This is new.
38:08The original
38:091971 mural
38:11was painted over
38:12by the local
38:12authorities,
38:14so Barden
38:15had the idea
38:16of giving the
38:16artists
38:17small canvas
38:18boards to paint
38:19on.
38:19The tradition
38:21was, of
38:22course,
38:22sand painting,
38:23by its very
38:24nature temporary,
38:26but that, of
38:26course, was
38:27the point.
38:31Transferring their
38:32imagery onto
38:33permanent wooden
38:34boards and
38:35canvases created
38:36a problem.
38:38On one hand,
38:39recording their
38:40stories was a
38:41way of preserving
38:42Aboriginal culture,
38:43but on the other,
38:45these sacred images
38:46were not meant
38:47for outsiders.
38:56They hit upon
38:57an ingenious
38:58solution.
39:00The dots that
39:00often surrounded
39:01their images
39:02in the sand
39:03were used to
39:04obscure certain
39:05aspects of the
39:06paintings.
39:08Over time,
39:09dots and dot
39:10painting developed
39:11from being merely
39:12a masking device
39:13to a fully
39:14realised
39:15aesthetic feature.
39:18The sacred
39:18imagery and
39:19symbolism was
39:20adapted,
39:21new colours
39:22were used,
39:23and suddenly
39:24there was an art
39:25that was ancient
39:26in tradition
39:26and modern
39:27in appearance.
39:33Walprey man,
39:35Michael Nelson
39:36Jagamara,
39:36had been a
39:37buffalo hunter,
39:38a truck driver,
39:39and a drover,
39:40before he took up
39:41art at the age
39:42of 30.
39:44His grandfather
39:46had taught him
39:46sand and body
39:47painting,
39:48but Papunya,
39:50he learnt the
39:51new style.
39:51No, that's alright.
39:53That's okay, mate.
39:54This is a yam one,
39:55no?
39:55Oh, yeah.
39:56But that's the yam
39:57in the middle,
39:57is it?
39:57Yeah, that's the
39:58main root.
40:01This is an old
40:03story.
40:04Yeah, a very old
40:05story, this one.
40:07But being done
40:08in a very modern
40:09way,
40:09you didn't create
40:12this image.
40:13This was handed
40:14down to you?
40:15Yeah, handed down
40:15from generation
40:16to generation,
40:17yeah,
40:18from the family
40:20line.
40:21Yeah.
40:21Yeah, your fathers
40:22or grandfathers
40:23like that,
40:23you know,
40:24to us.
40:24And have you
40:25passed this?
40:25Yeah, yeah,
40:26we just pass it
40:27on when they grow
40:27up, you know,
40:28because they're
40:28kind of little
40:29grandchildren.
40:30They're all
40:31learning to paint,
40:32are they?
40:32Not yet.
40:34Not yet.
40:34Jagamara moved
40:39to Papunya
40:39in 1976.
40:41He learned
40:42to paint
40:43his dream
40:43time stories
40:44from some
40:45of the big
40:46names of the
40:46Papunya art
40:47movement,
40:48artists like
40:49Tim Lurer
40:50and Clifford
40:51Possum
40:51Japaljarri.
40:57Two years
40:58after he
40:58painted his
40:59first picture,
41:00he won
41:00the first
41:01National
41:01Aboriginal
41:02Art Award
41:03with this
41:04work,
41:05Three Dreamings.
41:07Suddenly,
41:08Jagamara
41:08found himself
41:09at the
41:10epicentre
41:10of an
41:11international
41:12art movement.
41:15It's amazing,
41:17isn't it,
41:17to think that,
41:18you know,
41:18from the
41:20beginnings
41:20of this
41:21whole,
41:22you know,
41:22Papunya
41:23school in
41:23the early
41:2470s,
41:24it became
41:25known around
41:27the world,
41:28didn't it?
41:28Yeah.
41:29How do you
41:30feel about
41:30that?
41:32Oh,
41:32good,
41:32yeah,
41:32I'm proud
41:33of it.
41:34That's
41:35right,
41:35we'll show
41:35the work.
41:36Yeah.
41:37That's
41:38our background.
41:39Your work's
41:40been included
41:40in those
41:41shows in
41:42Paris and
41:43in Japan.
41:44Everywhere,
41:45Germany.
41:46Germany,
41:46yeah.
41:51The revolution
41:52that started
41:53in Papunya
41:54soon spread
41:55to other
41:55indigenous
41:56communities.
41:57An
41:58incredible
41:58diversity
41:59of art
41:59began to
42:00emerge.
42:01Each
42:01region
42:02had its
42:02own
42:03distinctive
42:03style.
42:07These
42:08splashes,
42:09it's your
42:09trademark
42:10now,
42:10isn't it?
42:11Yeah,
42:11it's my
42:11trademark.
42:12Yeah.
42:15Indigenous
42:16art stars
42:16emerged,
42:17each with
42:18their own
42:18individual
42:19styles,
42:20like Emily
42:21Inwari,
42:22who didn't
42:22start to
42:23paint seriously
42:24until she
42:24was 80.
42:26Her large,
42:27bold,
42:27abstract
42:28paintings
42:28took the
42:29world
42:29by surprise.
42:32While
42:33Rover Thomas,
42:34a stockman
42:34turned artist
42:35from the
42:36Kimberley region
42:36of Western
42:37Australia,
42:38became known
42:39for his
42:39striking use
42:40of block
42:41colour.
42:42These works
42:43strongly evoke
42:44senses of
42:45place,
42:46meaning and
42:47tradition,
42:48but are
42:48fashioned in a
42:49contemporary way
42:50that appeals on
42:51purely aesthetic
42:52grounds.
42:52they began
42:54to fetch
42:54the sort
42:55of sums
42:55reserved
42:56for A-list
42:57Western
42:57artists.
42:59For so
43:00long,
43:01Australian art
43:01had been
43:02searching for
43:02an identity,
43:04searching for
43:05a way to
43:05be recognised
43:06internationally
43:07and yet
43:08still be
43:09Australian.
43:11But now,
43:12suddenly,
43:13here was an
43:14art style
43:14abstract enough
43:15to fit among
43:16the white walls
43:17of the modern
43:18art gallery,
43:19but authentic
43:20enough to be
43:21utterly Australian.
43:22As Robert
43:23Hughes said,
43:24the last
43:25great art
43:26movement of
43:26the 20th
43:27century,
43:28Australian art
43:29was set
43:30free.
43:32Celebration
43:33of the
43:33nation
43:34Give us
43:35a hand
43:36Celebration
43:37of the
43:37nation
43:38Let's
43:38make it
43:39great
43:39As Australians
43:40celebrated the
43:41bicentenary of
43:42European settlement
43:43in 1988,
43:46Indigenous culture
43:47was recognised
43:47and embraced
43:49as part of
43:50the national
43:50story.
43:52Australians
43:54could take
43:55pride in
43:56the achievements
43:56of Indigenous
43:57art.
43:58It made
43:59people aware
44:00of the depths
44:00of wisdom
44:01and experience
44:02that lay
44:03behind this
44:04creativity.
44:07In 1988,
44:09as a symbol
44:10of its commitment
44:11to reconciliation,
44:13the government
44:14commissioned an
44:15important work
44:16of art,
44:17a mosaic,
44:18for the new
44:18Parliament House
44:19in Canberra,
44:20from Michael
44:21Nelson Jagamara.
44:23He reworked
44:24his painting,
44:25Possum and
44:25Wallaby Dreaming,
44:26into a massive
44:27mosaic.
44:29Almost 200
44:29square metres,
44:31it has 90,000
44:33hand-guillotined
44:34granite pieces
44:35in a kaleidoscope
44:37of colours.
44:38For the government,
44:40their links
44:41with Aboriginal
44:41art were vital,
44:44a sign of respect
44:45for Indigenous
44:46traditions and land
44:47and an acknowledgement
44:49of past mistakes.
44:51By the early 90s,
44:53the political will
44:54to address these
44:55past mistakes
44:56was firmly
44:57on the agenda.
44:59Surely we can find
45:00just solutions
45:01to the problems
45:03which beset
45:04the first Australians,
45:06the people to whom
45:07the most injustice
45:08has been done.
45:09In 1993,
45:11after an epic struggle,
45:13Indigenous Australians'
45:14rights over their
45:15traditional lands
45:16were finally recognised
45:18in law.
45:20At home,
45:22Australian Indigenous
45:23art offered
45:24a celebration of country
45:26and a tool
45:27for reconciliation.
45:29But abroad,
45:30it became a powerful
45:31cultural export.
45:35By now,
45:36Aboriginal art
45:37was internationally
45:39fashionable.
45:40The corporate world
45:41was quick to take advantage.
45:44BMW called on
45:45Michael Nelson
45:46Jagamara
45:47to paint
45:48one of their cars,
45:50just as they'd
45:51asked the likes
45:52of Andy Warhol,
45:53Roy Lichtenstein
45:54and Alexander Kowler.
45:56and in 1994,
46:05I received an unusual
46:07request
46:08to launch
46:09a jumbo jet
46:10and play a small part
46:13in helping to send
46:15Indigenous art
46:16to the world,
46:17quite literally.
46:19Launching a jumbo jet
46:21is not a task
46:22normally found
46:23in a gallery director's
46:25job description.
46:27But this
46:28is no ordinary
46:29aeroplane.
46:30This was
46:31a flying work
46:32of art.
46:36The 747 was painted
46:38by artist and designer
46:40John Moriarty,
46:41commissioned by Qantas
46:42to liven up
46:43their livery.
46:45Like other companies,
46:46Qantas wanted
46:47to be associated
46:48with Aboriginal art,
46:50but this was special.
46:51This was the nation's
46:52flagship carrier,
46:54exporting a celebrated
46:55art movement
46:56around the world.
46:59This is that
47:00very plane.
47:02It's been completely
47:03repainted, of course,
47:05but a trace
47:06of its history
47:07remains
47:07in the little
47:08motif
47:08of the kangaroo.
47:14Today,
47:15Indigenous art
47:16is still playing
47:16a role
47:17as cultural ambassador
47:18at a huge exhibition
47:20in Brisbane,
47:21the 7th Asia-Pacific
47:23Triennial,
47:24APT.
47:32This is a recent work
47:34by Michael Cook,
47:36one of the five
47:37Indigenous artists
47:38chosen to have
47:38to represent
47:39Australia.
47:41His witty
47:41photo montages
47:43comment on themes
47:44of colonisation
47:45and what it means
47:46to be civilised.
47:51Turning the colonised
47:53into the coloniser.
47:59Just as America
48:00used abstract art
48:02as a PR tool
48:03during the Vietnam War,
48:05at the APT,
48:07Aboriginal art
48:07is being used
48:08as a calling card,
48:10a means of building
48:11the connection
48:11with Australia's
48:13Asian neighbours.
48:16This is a unique event.
48:19There is no other art exhibition
48:21quite like it
48:21in the world.
48:23It's about the art
48:24of Vietnam,
48:25of India,
48:26of Indonesia,
48:28of Mongolia,
48:28of Afghanistan,
48:29of Korea,
48:30Bali,
48:31and Australia.
48:32It really is a declaration
48:34of how Australia
48:35sees itself today.
48:38No longer focused
48:39on Europe and America,
48:41but here
48:42in the Asia Pacific.
48:43the APT has brought
48:54a very fresh view
48:55of the art,
48:57heritage,
48:58and creativity
48:59of the region,
49:00this region
49:01where Australia belongs.
49:05For me,
49:06the APT
49:07illustrates perfectly
49:09Australia's transformation
49:11from British colony
49:13to modern society,
49:15of how Australia
49:16has moved beyond
49:17its European roots
49:19to embrace
49:20its geographical
49:21and cultural realities.
49:24Who we are in Australia
49:26has changed,
49:27and so has Australian art.
49:29I am always captivated
49:37by Bill Henson's
49:39beguiling,
49:40layered,
49:40and slightly unsettling
49:42images.
49:43They're not concerned
49:44with being Australian.
49:48Your art
49:49is completely universal.
49:51You're dealing
49:52with universal issues.
49:53You're not dealing
49:54with peculiarly
49:55Australian issues.
49:56That's how it feels
49:57to me, certainly,
49:58but look,
49:59you know,
49:59no-one's outside
49:59their time and place.
50:05There are inevitably
50:06traces of
50:08who you are
50:09and where you are
50:10and when you were
50:11in everyone's work.
50:13I mean,
50:13it's there
50:13in any artwork
50:14you want to look at,
50:15but I don't think
50:15that it's certainly
50:16not a preoccupation
50:17of mine
50:18to be, you know,
50:20thinking about
50:21where I am
50:22or thinking about
50:23Australia.
50:23Rosemary Lang's
50:33often confronting
50:35images demand
50:36attention.
50:40And that
50:41is her intention.
50:43She disturbs
50:45complacent reality.
50:48Her profile
50:49as an artist
50:49has grown
50:50both within
50:51Australia
50:52and abroad.
50:53But what's
50:54also changed
50:55is Australia's
50:56attitudes
50:57towards artists
50:59and their role
51:00in society.
51:02It wasn't
51:03something that
51:04was cherished,
51:05that is,
51:06to be an artist
51:06within one's culture.
51:08Working as an artist
51:09here,
51:10I would be
51:11treated
51:11one way
51:13and then
51:13working as an artist
51:14when I was elsewhere
51:15I was treated
51:16completely differently,
51:17wonderfully.
51:19But back here...
51:19OK, so that's interesting.
51:21Back here
51:21it was just like...
51:22What was the difference?
51:24It's better off
51:24saying you're a cleaner
51:25than saying you're an artist.
51:29Today,
51:30being an artist
51:31in Australia
51:32is something
51:33to be celebrated.
51:35Art here
51:35has never been
51:37more lively.
51:38There are more
51:38artists,
51:39more galleries
51:40and more exhibitions
51:42than ever before.
51:46For a young country
51:48like Australia,
51:49having an equally
51:50young culture
51:51used to cause anxiety.
51:53But today,
51:54it's truly liberating.
51:57And there's
51:57an amazing irony
51:58in all this.
52:01Australia has
52:02always imported
52:03and borrowed
52:04a rich variety
52:05of influences
52:06from overseas.
52:08This now makes it
52:10the perfect place
52:11to be at the forefront
52:12of contemporary culture,
52:15which is
52:15global
52:16and gregarious.
52:21In Australia,
52:23maybe the future
52:24has already arrived
52:25at a place
52:26that redefines
52:28the term
52:28art gallery.
52:29like the Sydney
52:34opera house,
52:35it's a piece
52:36of art
52:36in its own right.
52:41A subterranean
52:42world
52:43in an unfashionable
52:44working-class suburb
52:46of Hobart
52:47in Tasmania.
52:49Welcome
52:49to the Museum
52:50of Old
52:51and New Art,
52:53Mona,
52:54a museum
52:55that's forcing
52:55people to see
52:56art in a completely
52:57different way.
53:01Is it
53:02a crazy
53:02collection of curios
53:04arranged without rhyme
53:05or reason,
53:06or the ultimate
53:08expression
53:08of contemporary
53:09culture?
53:21It is
53:22distinctively Australian
53:23precisely because
53:25it can absorb
53:26influences
53:27from anywhere.
53:28There's something
53:29wonderful about
53:30this place.
53:31It's absolutely
53:32one of a kind.
53:34It could only
53:35have happened here.
53:37It's the unique
53:37vision
53:38of a maverick
53:40Aussie millionaire
53:41who made his fortune
53:42in, that's right,
53:44gambling,
53:45who has no time
53:46for the rules
53:47and is driven
53:48only by his amazing
53:49instinct for risk.
53:51His name
53:52is David Walsh.
53:54It's his private
53:55gallery and
53:56collection and
53:57he can pretty much
53:58do whatever he
53:59wants with it.
54:00Now, whenever I
54:01come down here,
54:02I think, my God,
54:03does anybody
54:04see the world
54:05as David Walsh
54:06sees it?
54:07Does anybody
54:08see the world
54:09as anybody
54:10else sees it
54:11is my question
54:12and I kind of
54:13think that we're
54:13trying to portray
54:14some of that
54:15message here
54:15by being anarchic
54:17and by attempting
54:18to...
54:19Turn the tables.
54:20Yeah, a public
54:22collection tends
54:23to have an
54:26air of authority,
54:27you know,
54:27the state behind
54:28it, the notion
54:29of wisdom built in.
54:30One of the things
54:31that we do at Mona
54:32that really a public
54:33gallery can't do
54:34is we can mess
54:36with artists,
54:37we can reinterpret,
54:38we can put one
54:39work inside another
54:40work, we can try
54:42to make the whole
54:42thing a Disneyland,
54:44you know,
54:45we can try
54:47to entertain.
54:48Some people
54:49are offended,
54:49some find it
54:50disgusting.
54:51I've had some
54:52letters from people
54:53that said that,
54:54you know,
54:54it changed their
54:55life.
54:58For two centuries,
55:00Australian art has
55:01been looking for a
55:02place of its own
55:02amid a welter
55:04of foreign styles.
55:06With the exception
55:06of Aboriginal art,
55:08it has depended
55:09on adopting and
55:10adapting ideas
55:12that originate
55:12elsewhere,
55:14picking the best
55:15and giving them
55:16an Australian
55:17twang.
55:18For so long,
55:19that was seen
55:20as a problem,
55:22as if Australian
55:23culture was always
55:24behind the times.
55:25But Mona
55:26is unashamedly
55:28postmodern.
55:30It copies,
55:31it appropriates,
55:33it rearranges art
55:34and our lives.
55:36And, of course,
55:37it confronts our
55:39obsession with sex
55:41and death.
55:53The story of
55:55Australian art
55:56since the 1950s
55:57has been the
55:58tension between
55:59wanting to express
56:00something distinctively
56:02Australian and
56:03wanting to be
56:04truly international
56:06and to bring down
56:07the boundaries
56:08between what art
56:10is and can be.
56:12And I think
56:13that's exactly
56:14what David Walsh
56:15is doing here
56:16at Mona.
56:24At the heart
56:25of the museum
56:26is a giant snake
56:28made up of
56:29over 1,600
56:30individual paintings.
56:33It's by one
56:33of my favourite
56:34Australian artists,
56:35Sydney Nolan.
56:38When I look
56:39around this place,
56:40I feel Nolan's
56:41dream to develop
56:42a uniquely
56:43Australian vision
56:44has been realised,
56:46but in a way
56:47he could never
56:48have imagined.
56:50Nolan's snake
56:51is a dreamtime
56:53being,
56:54a reminder
56:54that far from
56:55being a cultural
56:56backwater,
56:58Australia is
56:59actually home
57:00to humankind's
57:01oldest continuous
57:03artistic tradition.
57:04when Europeans
57:09arrived,
57:10they had no
57:11idea of this.
57:13Regardless,
57:14art continued
57:15to reflect
57:16Australia's
57:16dramatic evolution.
57:20Perhaps
57:20art never
57:21stopped being
57:22about coming
57:23to terms
57:23with this
57:24extraordinary place,
57:26even though
57:26the obsession
57:27with referencing
57:28Australia
57:29has long gone.
57:31from the moment
57:34I arrived here
57:36nearly 35
57:37years ago,
57:38my journey
57:39into art
57:40has helped me
57:41to understand
57:42what this country
57:43is about,
57:45what it is
57:46to be Australian.
57:48Art explores
57:50the heart and soul
57:51of this country
57:52in ever more
57:54interesting ways,
57:55how its diversity
57:56of peoples
57:57express their feelings,
57:59sentiments and instincts
58:00for the land,
58:02for each other,
58:03for our lives.
58:05The art of Australia
58:06is a conversation
58:07with the past,
58:08the present
58:09and the future.
58:10It's a conversation
58:11to which there is
58:12no end.
58:14Plenty of debate,
58:15discussion,
58:16controversy
58:17and fulfilment,
58:18but no ending.
58:20There will always
58:21be more
58:22to this story.
58:23Our conceptual art season
58:35continues on BBC4
58:36with the work
58:37greeted with suspicion,
58:38outrage and wonder
58:40at the Tate Gallery.
58:42Bricks,
58:43next.
58:43The Tate Gallery
58:45is a part of the
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