Abstract
The field of Gothic Studies concentrates almost exclusively on literature, cinema and popular culture. While Gothic themes in the visual arts of the Romantic period are well documented, and there is sporadic discussion about the re-emergence of the Gothic in contemporary visual arts, there is little to be found that addresses the Gothic in northern or tropical Australia. A broad review of largely European visual arts in tropical Australia reveals that Gothic themes and motifs tend to centre on aspects of the landscape. During Australia’s early colonial period, the northern landscape is portrayed as a place of uncanny astonishment. An Australian Tropical Gothic re-appears for early modernists as a desolate landscape that embodies a mythology of peril, tragedy and despair. Finally, for a new wave of contemporary artists, including some significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, Gothic motifs emerge to animate tropical landscapes and draw attention to issues of environmental degradation and the dispossession of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Highlights
Defining Gothic in visual artsBefore moving to an examination of key artworks and exhibitions that express the Gothic in Australia’s tropical north, it is necessary to review how “Gothic” has been defined in the visual arts
The field of Gothic Studies concentrates almost exclusively on literature, cinema and popular culture
It begins with the Medieval Gothic of the 12th-16th century in Europe, emerges re-invented as the Romantic Gothic of the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, and re-appears as a set of motifs employed by some modernist and contemporary artists dealing with dark themes
Summary
Before moving to an examination of key artworks and exhibitions that express the Gothic in Australia’s tropical north, it is necessary to review how “Gothic” has been defined in the visual arts. The show, Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination, featured Ghost of a Flea (c.1819-20) by William Blake (1757-1827), a disturbing “vision” of a tiny, scaly beast drinking blood from an acorn (see Figure 1);; and The Nightmare (1781) by Henri Fuseli (1741-1825), which portrays a monkey-like monster perched upon a sleeping woman In their analysis of the exhibition, the curators characterised the Gothic revival in the visual arts as reflecting “[a] taste for fantastic and supernatural themes”, which could become apparent in “the shocking and confrontational use of bodily horror”, “interest in sex and violence”, “sensationalism”, “magic, terror and romance”, “[sometimes comical] supernatural visions”, “fairies and fantasy women”, “apocalyptic themes” or “subhuman depravity” (“Gothic Nightmares”, 2006). Modernist and contemporary artists are unlikely to define their work as following a “Gothic style”;; rather, as Spooner and Williams have indicated, they tend to reflect Gothic sensibilities when dealing with dark or disturbing subject matter
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