n Australia they still try to pigeonhole him as an Aboriginal or Indigenous artist – against his express wishes – and yet when he exhibits overseas he is simply treated as a contemporary artist. Though he was raised white, every time Gordon looked in the mirror he saw traces of his Aboriginal past, for he embodied the violent conflict of colonial history. He saw the attempted erasure – genetically, physically and historically – of a people. He saw all that and chose not to look away, thus denying his oppressors their victory.

Gordon Bennett: Richard Bell's tribute to the passing of an Australian art great

The death of Queensland artist Gordon Bennett is a huge blow to the Australian contemporary art world. Richard Bell pays tribute to his friend and inspiration

• Richard Bell
• theguardian.com, Saturday 14 June 2014 02.53 BST
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Meteoric rise: artist Gordon Bennett. Photograph: Milani Gallery

Gordon Bennett was born in Monto, Queensland, on 9 October 1955 to Grace and Don Bennett. During his early life, the family travelled widely for his father’s work, finally settling in the Queensland town of Nambour. Gordon attended Nambour State High School and thought of himself as an ‘average student’, yet he excelled in art, social studies and English. He was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.
In 1977 he married the love of his life, Leanne. They were together until his death on 3 June of this year. After doing a trade apprenticeship, in 1986 Gordon enrolled as a mature–age student at the Queensland College of Art, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988. From the moment he enrolled, he seemed to emanate a new energy. Art had become a tool to articulate the denial of his Aboriginal identity.
Like many others at that time, Gordon grew up unaware of his Indigenous heritage. His father Don was Anglo-Celtic but his mother Grace was of a mixed Indigenous background. As part of the stolen generation, she was raised in an orphanage to be married off to a white man. In those days blackfellas were banned from entering town, so the couple kept Grace's ethnicity a secret. All the while Gordon grew up surrounded by hideous racism. And when he found out he was part blackfella in his early teens, it triggered an identity crisis.

Gordon Bennett's Notes to Basquiat (911). Photograph: Milani Gallery

I first met Gordon in 1989. We were both new artists who'd been working outside of the art establishment – he at Telecom and I in the Aboriginal legal service. I remember first seeing pictures of his work. It was 1988 and there was already a buzz building around him. This was against the backdrop of the bicentennial, when us blackfellas were protesting against a nationwide party occurring at our expense. When I saw Gordon’s images they connected to everything that was happening. I came from an activist background, not from art school, and I think it was the first time I’d seen text used in paintings.
When I saw his work, a light switched on in me. I realised that being an artist was about more than just producing images. He showed me it was possible to make political art.
At that time Gordon was showing with the legendary Brisbane art dealer Peter Bellas, who picked up Gordon straight out of art school. Success came quickly: sellout shows, the 1990 Moet Chandon Art Prize, landing on the cover of Bernard Smith’s book Australian Painting, Sydney Biennales, a showing at the Guggenheim in 1996, and the many museums around the country vying to buy his work. In 2007 he held a survey exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. It was a meteoric rise and he deserved it. He was humble and he was good.
Sadly, Gordon died when his work was gaining significant ground internationally. He is one of a few Australian artists who is taken seriously abroad. In 2012 he showed in Documenta 13, and his work is being shown in the current Berlin Biennale. In Australia they still try to pigeonhole him as an Aboriginal or Indigenous artist – against his express wishes – and yet when he exhibits overseas he is simply treated as a contemporary artist.

Gordon Bennett's Possession Island. Photograph: Museum of Sydney

Though he was raised white, every time Gordon looked in the mirror he saw traces of his Aboriginal past, for he embodied the violent conflict of colonial history. He saw the attempted erasure – genetically, physically and historically – of a people. He saw all that and chose not to look away, thus denying his oppressors their victory. He did this at great personal cost but it was worth it, because he left behind one of the most significant and powerful bodies of work ever produced by an Australian artist.
In time, victory will be his. The humanity, beauty, vulnerability and strength of his work, all qualities he embodied as a human being, will continue to communicate to audiences for centuries to come.
Gordon is survived by his wife Leanne, his daughter Caitlin, his brother Brad and his mother Grace. May he rest in peace.

• Richard Bell is an artist, activist and founding figure of ProppaNOW, a Brisbane-based aboriginal art collective.

Notes to Basquiat Myth of The Western Man, 2001

Notes to Basquiat Cut the Circle II, 2001.

Home Decor (Preston + De Stijl = Citizen) Life in the Rhythm Section 1996

Home Décor (after Margaret Preston)

Mirror Altered Body Print Dismember Remember 2

Notes to Basquiat Cut the Circle II, 2001.

Notes to Basquiat Untitled  1999

Self Portrait (But I Always Wanted to be One of the Good Guys) by Gordon Bennett.

The coming of the light 1987