Chris Pease

CHRIS PEASE 2015

CHRIS PEASE 2015 March 2015

Possum (goomal) was hunted for its meat and fur. Because of the abundance of Peppermint trees around the area of Dunsborough, it would have been an important resource for the Wardandi people.

In addition to providing meat, goomal could be used to make Nulbarn (a rope like girdle made from Possum hair). Peppermint trees (which are the prime environment for Possums ) grow primarily in coastal areas that are very desirable for real estate development. This work looks at the relationship between past, present and future. In particular the development of high-density housing and its impact on our perception of land and its' cultural history.

Chris Pease Possum Hunter, 2014 oil on canvas 200.0 x 130.0 cm

Until 1944 Nyoongar people could not apply for citizenship. The Nyoongar men in Flora and Fauna stand in Neo-classic pose. Indigenous people were commonly painted in the Neo-classic style during early 1800’s as an attempt by European visual artists to translate the indigenous to the familiar.

Rather than wear a traditional Nulbarn (Possum hair girdle), he uses a belt and skin. This mixture of tradition and colonial wear can be found in Daisy Bates’ studio photographs in the 1890’s.

The figures in each of the four works stand amongst varied flora and fauna – both native and introduced – a wry reminder of the Government Act which covered Indigenous peoples until 1967.

In Flora and Fauna One, the man stands amongst the indigenous kangaroo (in the style of George Stubbs),with fox (the introduced hunter) and sheep (the economic and real estate provider). The wallpaper is made of Clematis Linearifolia (Old Man’s Beard), which grows around Dunsborough and Meelup.

Chris Pease Flora and Fauna One, 2014 oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm

In Flora and Fauna Two, the kangaroo stands with rabbits (the introduced pest) and the native numbat. The wallpaper is made of Clematis Linearifolia (Old Man’s Beard) which grows around Dunsborough and Meelup.

Chris Pease Flora and Fauna Two, 2014 oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm

In Flora and Fauna Three, the kangaroo stands with fox (the introduced pest) and Quoll.

The wallpaper is made of Pittosporum Ligustrifolium, which grows around Dunsborough.

The gum from this slender tree can be eaten.

Chris Pease Flora and Fauna Three, 2014 oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm

In Flora and Fauna Four, The Nyoongar man adorned in traditional body paint stands with Rooster (guardian of the flock), Black Swan (the state government) and Rabbits (the introduced species). The Black Swan is the official bird emblem of Western Australia. It appears on the state Badge and well as the Coat of Arms of Western Australia. The plant is Frankenia pauciflora (Seaheath).

Chris Pease Flora and Fauna Four, 2015 Oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm

Developing ideas from the Flora and Fauna series, these two works parody the idea of the ‘Noble Savage’ and the legal classification and rights of Nyoongar people. The city of Perth was declared a prohibited area between 1927 and 1954. Aboriginal people could only enter the city if they obtained a ‘Native Pass’.The works are influenced by mid-century kitsch paintings and imagery. The Nyoongar men stand with cocktails in one hand and a Kylie in the other.

In Martinis after Lunch, the figure stands with a Kangaroo (in the style of George Stubbs) together with Rooster and Rabbits. The plant that wallpapers the background is Fumaria capreolta, an introduced climbing herb that is found throughout the South-West.

In Cocktails by the Pool, the Nyoongar man adorned with traditional body paint stands alongside a Sheep and Rooster holding a Martini in one hand and a Kylie in the other. The plant Olearia axillaris (Coastal Daisybush) is found along the South-West coast.

Chris Pease Martini’s after Lunch, 2015 Oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm Chris Pease Cocktails by the Pool, 2015 Oil on canvas 70.0 x 43.0 cm

The work is a depiction of Wardandi Men around a campsite. The super-imposed image is a floor plan for a generic two-story apartment.

The rapid growth in coastal real estate and development has irrevocably changed our relationship with coastal regions, highlighting issues of sustainability and accessibility.

This work looks at our relationship to land past, present and future. In particular land development and its impact on our perception of country and cultural history

Chris Pease Open Plan Living 2, 2014 Oil on Canvas 40.0 x 65.0 cm

Chris Pease Noble Savage One, 2014 oil on canvas 65.0 x 100.0 cm

Chris Pease Noble Savage Two, 2014 oil on canvas 65.0 x 100.0 cm

A pair of oil paintings with a sublime backhand.

Chris Pease’s Noble Savage diptych is a ferociously comical investigation of the 18th to early 20th century European notion of the idealised, uncivilised Aboriginal.

For centuries Indigenous people across the world were considered to be of no greater significance than livestock. By picturing his aboriginal subjects sitting astride cattle, Pease echoes the mid 18th and early 19th century fashion for stylized portraits of prize animals.

The inclusion of a reproduction of Stubbs’ famous kangaroo, exhibited in London in 1773, further emphasizes the view of the indigenous population as a new species to be marvelled at by an English public keen to see curiosities discovered on the other side of the globe.

The aboriginal men and kangaroos in Noble Savage share the landscape with cattle and rabbits reflecting the rapidly changing natural environment following colonisation. The five rabbits brought over on the First Fleet multiplied at a furious rate, and in just seven years six cattle that had escaped from what is now Sydney’s Domain became a wild herd of more than 100, discovered grazing on land across the Nepean River. The expedition – led by Governor John Hunter - to track down the livestock confirmed fertile soils ripe for cultivation in today’s Camden, assured the Colony’s expansion and sealed the fate of the indigenous population.

Still in place as late as 1971 in Western Australia, the Native (Citizenship Rights) Act 1944 stated that Aboriginal people had to apply to become citizens in their own land. They had to prove that they had severed all ties with extended family and friends, were free from disease, could speak English, had been ‘civilised’ in behaviour for two years, could manage their affairs and were industrious in their habits.

These two paintings show Wardandi men choosing to reject citizenship. Instead they ride, proud and kinglike through their country.

SOURCES & LITERATURE Indigenous Art from South Western Australia 1833-2002

by Brenda L. Croft, Janda Gooding, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, 2003 Ter Ellingson: The Myth of the Noble Savage, University of California Press, 2001 Anna Haebich: For Their Own Good, Aborigines and Government in the South West of Western Australia 1900-1940, University of Western Australia Press, 1992 First Fleet Cattle. The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 13 Aug 1932: 9. Web. 19 Jul 2013 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16889435.

Andrew Jewell: Livestock in Art, catalogue essay for English Rural Life’s major exhibition on livestock painting, Portraits of Animals, 1964

CHRISTOPHER PEASE Born 1969, Western Australia Lives and works in Dunsborough, Western Australia SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015 Flora and Fauna, Michael Reid, Sydney 2013 New Works, Michael Reid, Sydney 2012 Welcome to Country, Gallerysmith, North Melbourne.

2009 Goddard de Fiddes, Perth 2008 Goddard de Fiddes, Perth 2005 Goddard de Fiddes, Perth 2003 Goddard de Fiddes, Perth 2000 Goddard de Fiddes, Perth GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2014 Family Matters Holmes Ă Court Gallery at Vasse Felix wine estate

Margaret River

2013 Australian Landscape: Present in the Now, Michael Reid, Berlin 2010 17th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2009 Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, AGWA

Cultural Warriors, Katzen Centre, Washington DC

2008 Melbourne Art Fair

Cultural Warriors, National Indigenous Art Triennial:

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia

2007 Cultural Warriors, National Indigenous Art Triennial:

National Gallery of Australia

Contemporary Nyoongar Painting,

Goddard de Fiddes Gallery Artists Exhibition, Goddard de Fiddes

2006 Melbourne Art Fair

Right Here / Right Now. National Gallery of Australia

Bunbury Regional Gallery

Ellenbrook Gallery, Western Australia

2005 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award,

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

2004 Melbourne Art Fair, Goddard de Fiddes

Works from the Collection, John Curtin Art Gallery

2002 Group show with Ben Pushman and Sandra Hill, Goddard de Fiddes

19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award,

Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

2001 Mine Own Executioner, Mundaring Art Centre

Wide Open, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery

AWARDS 2002 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander

Art Award General Painting Award

COMMISSIONS 2006 Royal Netherlands Embassy Aboriginal Project 2004 Perth Convention Centre COLLECTIONS National Gallery of Australia

Holmes Ă Court Collection

National Gallery of Victoria

Kerry Stokes Collection

National Museum of Australia

Artbank

Art Gallery of Western Australia

Perth Convention Centre

Queensland Art Gallery

BHP Billiton Art Collection

Parliament House, Canberra

Murdoch University

City of Perth Art Collection

Curtin University

Wesfarmers

Private Collections

Edith Cowan University

CHRIS PEASE 2015 March 2015