Deadly See Scrolls, Gordon Hookey, 2011

Deadly See Scrolls Gordon Hookey began showing us his brand of art activism in the early 1990s. A developing presence at Boomalli in Sydney, and having engaged in numerous artists’ residencies in Australia and internationally, Hookey’s oeuvre has been an exercise in consistency, his practice being largely divided between painting, predominantly in oils, and 3D construction comprising a wide range of materials. Hookey, however, is quick to inform that he has ‘dabbled’ in photography, printmaking, and animation, and he regards himself primarily as a sculptor.

Spend any time with Hookey and you realise that he is passionate about his people; he is unfailingly Aboriginal. Hookey is also funny. His sense of humour is relentless, his penchant for puns always segueing into an ability to see the ‘funny’ in the direst of circumstances. And Hookey’s humour serves him well given his subject matter is rarely soft or pretty. He does not seek approval and he is no slave to trends. And while his use of worded text falls easily into punning humour, it is often laced with biting narratives that leave little doubt of Hookey’s politics or commitment.

Hookey created the Deadly See Scrolls for the proppaNow exhibition Putsch last year at the cavernous Tandanya gallery space in Adelaide. Showing the Scrolls at KickArts in Cairns this year as a stand alone installation gives the works and Hookey the opportunity to explore the capacities of such large scale works in a modern indoor gallery context.

Deadly See Scrolls has Hookey moving into new territory. Despite the commanding scale, compositionally they are comparatively minimal. When we think of Hookey’s paintings we think of large, vibrantly realised, metaphor-laden, compositionally busy oils that offer several visual takes on the one subject. While the Scrolls offer the vibrancy and puns indicative of his palette, Hookey has pared back his usual array of visual elements and forged, for him, new ground in terms of visual form, relying instead on some basic rules of design to visually compartmentalise the surface and to achieve a kind of optical play with perspective. The resulting experience for the viewer is one that draws you in through its play with scale, lighting and colour.

At a human level, Hookey’s Deadly See Scrolls have you looking up, constantly scanning them from head to foot. The boldness in both the scope of his palette and his language (he does not shy away from the use of expletives in previous works) gives the Scrolls a ‘graffitti-esque’ attitude. Certainly the scale of them suggests they may function better outdoors.

Hookey has said that he originally conceived of his Deadly See Scrolls upon seeing Australian media promotion for the Dead Sea Scrolls. For Hookey, the pun was obvious and immediate.

Formal construction and compositional structure of Hookey’s Scrolls also suggest the vertical scrolls in ancient China that were widely used to communicate and record history and events.

Vernon Ah Kee, May 2011

Gordon Hookey was born in Cloncurry, Queensland, and belongs to the Waanyi people. Hookey’s work combines figurative characters, iconic symbols, bold comic-like text and a spectrum of vibrant colours. Through this idiosyncratic visual language he has developed a unique and immediately recognisable style. Hookey locates his art at the interface where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures converge. He explicitly attacks the establishment and implicates our current political representatives.

He is widely travelled, having exhibited and undertaken residencies in several countries and currently lives and works in Brisbane, Queensland. Gordon Hookey is represented by Milani Gallery in Brisbane and Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne.

Deadly See Scrolls Red blood fall’n 2010 Black peace miss’n 2010 Blue plan it, blue moon 2010 Greenest of the green 2010 Long black shadow 2010 Oil on canvas with timber support 5000 x 2000 mm

Front and back image: Deadly See Scrolls, Red blood fall’n (detail) 2010.

Photography: Vernon Ah Kee

KickArts Contemporary Arts | 96 Abbott Street Cairns 4870 Tues to Sat 10 am to 5 pm | + 61 (0)7 4050 9494 | WWW.KICKARTS.ORG.AU

1500 mm

GORDON HOOKEY

DEADLY SEE SCROLLS

GORDON HOOKEY

DEADLY SEE SCROLLS

I was diagnosed with having a chronic artist disease, the dreaded horror vacui. So doing these minimalist paintings was supposed to be part of my treatment. But the vacant space in these artworks is not really void. They boast a depth of field that belies their scale. To achieve an illusion that the paintings look longer than they actually are, the background in each comprises a slow colour gradation from very light to intensely dark.

Gordon Hookey, May 2011

Red blood fall’n: the bloodshed in our struggles on our lands, the black Ace of Hearts, which is bleeding; the black heart. The black heart on your sleeve, the black Ace up your sleeve.

Black peace miss’n: double meaning, black puzzle piece floating above black shadow. The Australian Government from 1788onwards sees Blackfellas as jigsaw puzzle pieces. It destroys some, steals some, and the rest they expect Blackfellas to put it all back together.

Blue plan it, blue moon: obvious double meaning, firstly referring to the Earth and its colour; to environmental management. And secondly ‘blue moon’ suggests it’s not going to happen.

Greenest of the green: extremely, environmentally ecological, the little green frog. It is visible, you can hear it, a barometer for the well-being. When one thing disappears it always takes other things with it.

Long black shadow: the cliché of casting a long shadow. Previous generations make way for succeeding ones. The lone silhouette stands in front of the sun, the same sun that’s in our flag; the same black that’s in our flag; the same red that’s in our flag.