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18 19 ARTLINES 4 | 2020 THE GORDON BENNETT STUDIO prize meant he had to be ‘on call’ throughout the residency to receive Australian journalists chasing a story, and several scheduled museum trips into Germany, Norway and the Netherlands were cut short because of these ongoing ‘promotional’ visits, which frustrated Gordon. He saw them as interruptions in his research and was never one to chase or embrace publicity. Over the three decades I knew Gordon, he rarely got excited at the prospect of art- world visitors to his studio space, and actively encouraged ‘work’ meetings off site, usually at his dealers’ galleries or on neutral ground. There were odd, enduring exceptions, with a few close friends invited over, such as theorists Ian McLean and Nicholas Thomas, when they were in Brisbane. The times I saw Gordon really enjoying the company of guests were few, like the day Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter came for an evening barbecue and singalong at the Samford Valley studio during the production of Artists Up Front (1997), a rare exception to his non-participation stance on media projects. Mainly, though, Gordon and Leanne were most relaxed when there was no ‘art agenda’, when Gordon could just be a goofy dad with his daughter Cait and her friends in the pool, or lame dancing in the studio to Eminem, while planning another work. Music in the studio was a frequent accompaniment to making art, and he loved hip-hop and rap, often painting with Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Public Enemy, 50 Cent or NWA in the background, especially in the later years. While he was interested in rhyme patterns, flow and pauses within passages of lyrics, Gordon was more focused on narrative effect, ‘word stacks’ and linkages — interests borne out visually in several of his works. Another major element of Gordon’s approach to running a studio was the importance of being able to separate ‘art’ from ‘life’, at least in the sense that his working space needed to be separate from his home. During his Macgeorge Fellowship in Melbourne (1993–94), Gordon spent time with artist Lin Onus. Lin operated two properties: one where he lived with his family, and the other, his studio at Upwey in the Dandenong Ranges. As Leanne recounts, it was after talking with Lin and seeing how he worked so productively away from home that Gordon became keen to build a dedicated studio on a vacant block in Samford Valley. 1 This would be a way to separate the two sides of his life, and allow him to switch off and spend quality time with family when he returned to Petrie in the evenings. The Samford Valley studio, completed in 1994–95, was a 150-square-metre standalone ‘shed’ with covered verandahs. It included climate control, storage racks and other purpose-built features. It was Gordon’s ‘dream scenario’. Visiting the vacant block, I can recall how excited Leanne was as she moved around the house slab and peg markings for the home-to-be, describing rooms and garden layouts. Gordon seemed focused entirely on how big the studio would be, relative to the house, and how far a walk it would be from the pool. When the new working space was complete — apart from the benefit of its vast scale relative to what he had grown used to — Gordon was able to better document finished works, build and store his own collection and focus on a growing interest that would soon shift his studio practice again: how computers Left Gordon Bennett in his Samford Valley studio, painting Notes to Basquiat: Harlequin 2000 / Photograph: Simon Wright Opposite, from top Bennett’s Hautvillers residence and studio, 1991–92 / Image courtesy: The Estate of Gordon Bennett / Photograph: Leanne Bennett; the Hautvillers studio, located in the Marne Valley, France, 13 June 1992 / Image courtesy: The Estate of Gordon Bennett / Photograph: Gordon Bennett ‘ The Hautvillers studio’s location in rural France, away fromcrowds or attention, was another benefit, and Gordon relished the privacy ’ social zone, like university, and he was never one to be camera-ready or eager to show off a new work, even to friends, fellow students or, later, dealers. His studio was especially off-limits to the neighbourhood as well as the news and art media. It was difficult for Gordon to deal with his remarkable early success on leaving art school and the sudden interest in ‘him’ instead of in his work, especially given an early decision to avoid interviews as much as possible. The subsequent announcement and documentation of his ongoing work Non- Performance 1992–2014 — a refusal to talk about his practice in public — gave him an added sense of privacy which, ironically, further aroused curiosity and interest in his art. Only a few years after graduating, Gordon won Australia’s biggest contemporary art award, the Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship, which had a profound impact on his studio practice. Between July 1991 and June 1992, as part of the prize, Gordon and Leanne resided at a rustic, two-storey Moët & Chandon property in Hautvillers, on the outskirts of Epernay, France. Larger living and working spaces were a welcome sight. This new, albeit temporary studio with ample walls, high ceilings, light and open plans would also become a pivot point from which the couple took short trips into European centres for gallery and artists research, and inspiration. Two dedicated trips to Amsterdam in 1990 and 1992 to experience Vincent Van Gogh’s 100- year celebration exhibition and Piet Mondrian’s works close up in Den Haag, especially the Suprematist compositions, as well as days spent in the Stedelijk Museum meant Gordon could quickly return to the Hautvillers studio and work up a dramatic new series, including some of his most famous paintings. The studio’s location in rural France, away from crowds or attention, was another benefit, and Gordon relished the privacy. There were still challenges, however. Being the recipient of the