SEXY AND DANGEROUS II, 1997
BROOK ANDREW
printed 2006
duraclear print on Perspex
144.5 x 108.0 cm
Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide
Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 2006
Brook Andrew: Eye to Eye, Monash University Art Museum, Melbourne, 4 April – 23 June 2007; Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest, Sydney, 18 August – 14 October 2007; The John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, 4 April – 30 May 2008 (another example, illus. in exhibition catalogue, pp. 6, 11)
Brook Andrew is a contemporary artist whose conceptual approach to his art production focuses on how we view images. In both his use of mediums, print, neon and photo-media and in his investigation of power relationships, particularly global ideas of cultural and race constructions, he quietly confronts the viewer. His often seemingly benign work will house an underlying assault on conventional values. Ashley Crawford has observed that Brook Andrew's photography 'is imbued with a gentle poetry and a savage anger at the same time, a strange balance that he describes as extremely powerful... a finely honed aesthetic sense, humour and tough political social commentary are Andrew's signature.'1
Sexy and Dangerous II 1997 is the twin of Andrew's most well-known work Sexy and Dangerous 1996, first exhibited in 1998 at the Ian Potter Museum University of Melbourne, where it was awarded the RAKA prize. In 1999 the National Gallery of Victoria acquired a copy of Sexy and Dangerous for its permanent collection.
Both works subvert anthropological representations of Aboriginal men, re-contextualising them out of the museum diorama and into a space which is both sexy and dangerous, political and poetic. The work highlights one of the central tenets of Andrew's practice, described by him as being 'the joy and the mystery of art. That we can somehow work out a strategy of conveying the world or parts of it. In many cases, art has been a moveable social justice system; a system that condenses and clarifies questions about morality, nationhood, personal expression, beliefs, etc' So maybe it is a loop - a loop where artists address and imagine other possibilities.'2
1. Loxley, A., 'The Battles continue: Brook Andrew', in Ryan, J., (ed.) Colour Power: Aboriginal Art Post 1984 in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2004, p. 142
2. From a conversation between Brook Andrew and Maria Hlavajova, ‘The Imagined Place Down Under’, in Brook Andrew: Theme Park, Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, The Netherlands, 2008, p. 22
CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE