Bill Henson is often referred to as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. His vision is exacting, the photos are unforgettable. The imagery is painterly, cinematic and raw. Light is always considered and controlled. One of the reoccurring themes in his work is ’sleep’ and many of his figures appear laying down or reclining. The majority of his work features dark black tones, slightly tinted with blue, red or yellow haze. Brighter light is strategically controlled to uncover a detail of a facade, a portion of a face or a section of landscape.
I first saw Henson’s work at the Passages De L’Image exhibition at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio, 1990. The images shown there left a memorable impression on me. The exhibition was curated by Raymond Bellour, Catherine David and Christine Van Assche, at the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris. Following Paris and Columbus, the exhibition travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Fundacio Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona.
In 2005 The Art Gallery of New South Wales put together the first major survey of Bill Henson’s work titled Bill Henson 3 Decades of Photography.
Bus stop featuring advertising for the exhibition, 3 Decades of Photography.
The front facade of the AGNSW featuring banners for the show.
Judy Annear, senior curator of photography at the Art Gallery of New South Wales worked closely with Bill Henson to select more than 350 images from more than a dozen series, which explore the major themes of his work from 1974 until now.
The exhibition detailed a cross-section of Henson’s work from early duotones to the vagabond junkyard wasteland series, the cut and paste series he created for the Venice Biennale to his current Untitled series of images. The earlier works were shown in rooms with plenty of light whereas the later works were exhibited in spaces with increased drama brought about by careful consideration of light, wall color and composition.
Following the AGNSW show, the exhibition moved to Melbourne where it was shown at the National Gallery of Victoria from April 23 to July 10. Henson staged his first solo exhibition at the NGV in 1975 at the age of 19.
Images from the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition, Melbourne.
These are really big spaces. To give you an idea of scale, most of the figures shown in the rectangular works are near 1:1 human scale. Each of the images is 127×180cm with a thick wood frame — not an easy show to install (or de-install). I like the slightly offset stacking of the frames and the groups of five.
Bill Henson
Untitled #52, 2000/2003
LMO SH103 N19
type C photograph
127 x 180cm
Edition of 5
Part of the exhibition included a video (about 27 minutes) in which Henson described some of his creative process and inspiration. I recall how he conceives an idea in his head, then has to get it out in his work. If he’s able to see it in the real world he’ll shoot it there, otherwise he’ll build a set to focus on the image in his mind’s eye. Many of the images featuring the small sparkling lights were controlled environments built within Henson’s studio.
Official artist site here.
AGNSW Film Series titled Bill Henson: Inspirational Cinema.
Henson is represented by Roslyn Oxley9.