Brett Whitely Exhibition, July 2009

The Brett Whitely exhibit at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (Victoria, Australia) during July 2009 was a small showing of his life's work. With only one or two paintings from roughly each decade or so during his life. I have, therefor, supplemented my information by further research of his other works before writing this commentary.

Brett Whitely Exhibition

The exhibit began with a self portrait produced in his teens, demonstrating his skill in composition, form, colour and light and shade. It is interesting and informative as a portrait allowing a glimpse of the real person behind the face. A very mature painting for someone so young.

As the viewer is led around the exhibit, the story of travel through Europe and the USA unfolds revealing the influences of many surrealist and abstract artists of the period.

The more "structured" works with a focal point drew my attention, pulling my eyes into the work to find my own meaning in it. The tour guide at this point made note of his brief employment in advertising as a graphic artist and quickly dismissed it as requiring no artistic ability and "just pressing buttons all day". Something which as both a Graphic Designer and Fine Artist, I found most offensive.

We were then led on to the later works done in Europe. At this point I personally started to lose a connection with his paintings. They started to connect less and less with the viewer, becoming more vague and open to interpretations from the tour guide that may or may not be accurate.

I found it personally disappointing that there were not more examples of Whitely's landscape and bird paintings which, to me show some of the fine influences of Norman Lindsey and Sydney Long. The couple of examples on show were captivating. The swift and light strokes have movement and life, the works are inviting and the viewer is drawn in with feelings of freedom, warmth and serenity. The colours in some are vibrant and alive, warm and "loose" in application.

As his life was, it seems gradually taken over by addiction, the "connection", harmony, and balance seems to disappear to be replaced by art with no focus, where the viewer is left to meander around a painting trying to find a point to it, anywhere to have their eye drawn to or something to connect with. Some if not most of the balance of the works on display failed to attract my attention for long. The strongest message that I came away with was that whatever "vision" an artist had through the distortion of drugs, it does not connect with me.

Picasso is touted to have said that in his later works he was selling "bullshit for the busioure" and to some degree this is the impression I got from this exhibit.

Is it true that artists (of varying disciplines) are allowed to if not encouraged to "go to the edge" or self-destruct in order for certain people with their own self interests (money and ego) to take advantage of them? The more I hear and read critiques and opinions of the whys, hows and value of art the more I wonder why anybody listens to some of these people and why artists allow themselves to either. Are we really looking at what artists truly are, or are we looking at more "bullshit for the busioure" done in attempt to fit in to a culture and commercial realities of the time.

Brett Whitely was a naturally gifted and talented artist who slid down the slide of self destruction with his drug addiction and took his talent with him. I can't help wondering about him and many other artists, what they could have achieved, if only ...

Janice Mills

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