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Richard Bell

Born 1953, Charleville, Queensland, Australia. Belongs to the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang peoples. Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia.

A self-proclaimed propagandist, Richard Bell has established an international reputation for his acerbic wit and provocative voice, which probes into issues associated with race relations in Australia. Working across painting, video, performance and installation, Bell freely borrows from other artists, periods and cultures. His work comments on power relations within the art world, the appropriation of indigenous ideas and wider discussions about the legitimacy of the European colonisation of Australia. Bell's career has been characterised by concurrent accolades and controversy: his selection as the winner of the 2003 National Telstra Indigenous Art Award was overshadowed by the t-shirt, bearing the slogan 'White Girls Can't Hump', that he wore to accept the award. The furore was exacerbated by the publication of Bell's Theorem: Aboriginal art - It's a White Thing. This manifesto outlines Bell's stance on the exploitation of indigenous art in an industry largely controlled by non-Aboriginal individuals and institutions.

More recently, Bell has worked on two major video works Scratch an Aussie, 2008, featured in the 16th Biennale of Sydney, and Broken English, 2009, to be screened in a solo exhibition Richard Bell: I Am Not Sorry at Location One, New York, 2009. Bell's recent solo exhibitions also include Richard Bell: Provocateur, University of Queensland Art Museum, 2009 and Richard Bell: Positivity, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2006. His confrontational social and political commentary has also appeared in Terra Nullius, ACC Galerie, Weimar and Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany, 2009. A member of the indigenous artists' collective ProppaNOW which examines and confronts the positioning of Aboriginal people and culture within Australian society, Bell works to unsettle prevalent ideas about indigenous politics and cultural histories in Australia.

Venue: Shed 6