Week 4

Lin Onus

This week our reading was an article on Aboriginal artist Lin Onus, who is one of the most stand out aboriginal artists i have seen so far. He uses such vibrant colours and urban techniques in comparison to other Aboriginal artists, with a lot of detail and contemporary meaning behind his work. We were asked if we thought his work was about loss or reinvention. Most of the class agreed that his work was a combination of both, but mostly about our reconciliation of our cultures and living together as Australians, such as 'Fruit Bats' (pictured further down in this blog), which portrays this perfectly. His work is interesting because it speaks about how he lost his chance to learn first hand about his culture, but he put effort in to find people who would teach him and now through reinvention of traditional styles and methods, Onus produces artwork which has the same cultural meanings as traditional works, with a contemporary urban spin.

(Above) Ginger and my third wife approach the roundabout, 1994, synthetic polymer paint on Belgian Linen (now showing in the touring exhibition ‘Spirit of the Land’)

Lin Onus was born of the Yorta Yorta people in 1948, and died in 1996.

Lin Onus combined urban with traditional aboriginal art, he liked to challenge the Eurocentric view of history and in its place provide an alternative vision, an alternative history. When criticized for mixing traditional and urban iconography inappropriately he refuted the notion of ‘appropriation’ insisting that it was based on the false premise that Aboriginal art is a traditional form that should remain static, and fixed in time, in order to remain pure. Mixing politics with art was always apart of Lin Onus’s work, by using a successful mix of humor and political views. In the Dingo series (pictured below), Onus portrays the natural characteristics of the animal and its treatment since European settlement.  The depiction of harmless animal behavior is contrasted by the intervention of ‘Trap’ (on the far right side of the picture below, and larger in black & white).

(Above) Dingo Series, 1989 (synthetic polymer paint on fiberglass, wire, metal)

Onus successfully combined urban and traditional aboriginal art, with his varied mediums and techniques. His installation Fruit Bats, 1991, (pictured below) consisting of a Hills Hoist carrying a multitude of fiberglass bats painted with rarrk, a ceremonial Arhnem Land crosshatch design. Highlighting that everywhere in Australia, if you look hard enough, you can see Australias caborignal culture. Onus, was imparting his knowledge that, beyond the immediately apparent there is another dimension, a Dreaming reality that anyone can become aware of if only they open their eyes and their minds to its presence.

Onus's work doesnt only refer to the historical encounter between 'blacks and whites', but also refers to local aboriginal politics between aboriginal people themselves. During his final years he was the most visible of all Aboriginal artists in his many roles which included being Chairman of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council, a founding member of the artist’s copyright agency Viscopy and an eloquent speaker enlisted by peak arts bodies to act as a spokesman at the National Press Club and other prestigious gatherings. Above all, Lin Onus was an artist who made ‘no distinction between the political and the beautiful’. His contribution changed forever the perceptions about the nature of Aboriginal Art, and put urban Aboriginal art onto the Australian cultural map.