Billy Benn

Billy Benn Perrurle (1943-2012) was an Aboriginal landscape painter from Artetyerre (Harts Range) in the Northern Territory. As a teenager, he spent time at Urapuntja (or Utopia), a site that has been home to a great many Central Australian indigenous artists. Aged just 10 he began working unpaid in a mica mine in exchange for food and clothing, and he later worked on sheep and cattle stations. Only in the 1980s did he begin to apply the lessons of his father, an accomplished carver of sculptures, boomerangs and spears, when he joined the ‘Bindi Inc.’, an organisation that aimed to support, advocate and provide employment services for disabled persons in Alice Springs.

Benn’s work developed dramatically as he transitioned from a full-time sheet metal worker and part-time painter on discarded and recycled materials, to a full-time artist with solo exhibitions and a recipient of prestigious prize. He used cloth, glue, paint and his own fingers to create tactile and personal landscapes that were rarely exhibited before the important Beyond Passions exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, that featured works by people with disabilities. In the wake of that show, where all of Benn’s work sold, the Mwerre Anthurre Artist collective was founded around his talent and tenacity.

Benn’s undulating landscapes have been compared to Turner, Cezanne and Van Gogh for his modern take on the theme of landscape and country. Yet Benn never saw any paintings by these Europeans, thinking only of Albert Namatjira as being a truly great painter. His landscapes delight in colour, pairing brilliant blues with the earthy reds and browns of the Central Australian landscape. Flat foregrounds soar into towering mountain ranges, though the spiraling or fluid application of paint means they appear welcoming rather than imposing.

Benn’s work is represented in major collections across Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Museum and Art Galllery of the Northern Territory, as well as many private collections in Australia and overseas. Benn died in 2012.