Exhibited at GBK Jonathan Jones ‘Revolution’ is to me the most important piece of indigenous art I have seen. The reason being, it actually engaged me long enough for me to look past the aesthetic of the piece and pursue the conceptual pathways of the work. This however creates a problem. What does it mean if the only piece of Aboriginal art I can react to doesn’t employ any of the techniques and materials of traditional indigenous artworks? Rather it looks like a product of contemporary post-modern thinking in materials choices.

Walking in and through the installation, ones first thought is on the interplay between light and space created by four dominant pieces; fluorescent tube structures arranged into the shape of a diamond turned on an obtuse angle. The four light structures are surrounded on two walls by low hung graphite drawings of the chemical structures of salt. The two works without knowledge concept or intention are linked on a visual level through their use of line, my first instinct was to look through the negative space created by the light structures (as in the inside of the diamond) and see what shapes would be made when the lights intersected with the graphite drawings. I paid no attention to this gesture and I guess it really isn’t an important thing to do when viewing the work. However, on a conceptual level when I thought about it, the act of looking through one of the works and seeing how it interacts with the other brings up pathways of thought that I didn’t think were there.

The owner of GBK spoke about how the light structures resemble traditional aboriginal design boats, these boats would have a fire pit in the middle so the light that is shined and reflected is reminiscent of this light and first contact with the colonialists. However I’m not so interested in the ideas and themes of the pieces, but the way Jones presents these ideas and themes to us in a non linear way, they aren’t just presented to us for so that we may consume them. They’re embedded in the materials and positioning of the work. Like the decision of fluorescent rather than neon light, neon being the more vibrant and used for advertising, it sends a message whereas fuoro is understated, everyday and subtle.