Paddy Bedford
In opening the summer exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney last night (December 5) the former Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane AC KBE, described the artist Paddy Bedford as "a truly great Australian". According to the MCA's director Elizabeth Ann McGregor, Bedford refers to the revered ex-GG as "my brother from Canberra".
It was an emotional occasion, witnessed by the 80-something-year-old artist from a wheelchair, but looking as dapper and cool as an elderly Blues Brother in a navy pinstripe suit, black fedora and shades. He acknowledged, with appreciative amusement, McGregor's greeting to him in the Gija language.
"I bet it's the first time he's heard Gija spoken with a Scottish accent," McGregor joked. More than that, it's probably the first time the artist heard a non-indigenous leader even attempt to honour him in his own language.
An easier task also fell to McGregor: conveying a message to the assembled art throng from the prime minister. It is the first time Mr Howard has ever sent a message to the MCA, McGregor noted. Only a cynic would think of 2007 as an election year.
In recent year Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art has been the instigator of some of the finest and most influential exhibitions of indigenous contemporary art seen in this country.
Think Kathleen Petyarre and Dorothy Napangardi - artists whose work, lent from collections around the world, dazzled viewers who had not had the opportunity ever before to see such work in such abundance.
This year, for the first time in a significant public space, it is the acknowledged master and elder custodian of law and story of the East Kimberley contemporary school, Paddy Bedford, whose work illuminates the spaces of the museum at Circular Quay.
Like so many major indigenous artists, Bedford took up the western tools of brushes, canvas, oils and gouache very recently - just the past eight years. In doing that he has transferred his lifetime of knowledge and experience of ceremony and country to a medium that the rest of us can enjoy, if not fully understand.
[page]As Sir William Deane explained to the MCA crowd, the influence of artists such as Paddy Bedford is incalculable.
"I was in Paris in November," Sir William said. "The best thing about this time of year, as many of you know, is that you can avoid the queues. Well, our taxi pulled up at the new museum (Musee du Quai Branly) and we were astonished to see a long queue and a notice that there would be an hour delay to enter.
"Once we did, we were able to experience the work of a truly great Australian and to understand what Europe and Paris is queuing up for."
Paddy Bedford, alongside Lena Nyadbi, Judy Watson, Gulumbu Yunupingu, John Mawurndjul, Tommy Watson, Ningura Napurrula and Michael Riley, in an exhibition curated by Brenda L Croft and Hetti Perkins, are the first artists to be exhibited at the unique Quai Branly museum which is dedicated to the art of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
Meanwhile, back at the MCA, Sir William Deane made a characteristically heartfelt speech and the crowd responded with equally characteristic enthusiasm and affection. Between them, the revered artist and one of the Queen's most cherished representatives (another: NSW Governor, Prof. Marie Bashir was also present) combined to make it an evening to remember and feel good about.
The exhibition is at the MCA until next April before touring to Queensland and WA and Victoria. It's a comprehensive survey of Bedford's dynamic eight year career and clearly depicts his experimentation with colour and form and the development of his themes and ways of depicting them.
The canvases are sumptuous and sparse, complex and visually arresting. Their messages and underlying mysteries have taken a lifetime to learn and many lifetimes to express. To the uneducated eye they are simply beautiful and invite hours of contemplation.
Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art to April 15, 2007, free admission; a comprehensive publication documenting the art and its stories will be available this week, as will a catalogue raisonné; check out www.mca.com.au
