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Lot Essay
See: R. Horne, Bill Henson - Untitled 1983-84, Hobart, 1987, unpaginated and M. Heyward, Bill Henson/Photographs, Sydney, 1988, illus. pp. 62-63 for another example of these images.
The images from this series of Henson's photographs from 1983-84
"basically fall into two broad categories: there are images of contemporary existence and images referring to the art and architecture of a certain epoch of the past. If for the moment we ignore the nature of those images of contemporary life, we can firstly concentrate on that strongly stressed thematic duality, of people in the here and now and artefacts from a particular moment of the past...
There is, in these two thematic lines, an obvious contrast. We look at the decorative motifs, at the elaborate mouldings, lights, ornamentation: and at these people, often naked, smeared with filth, existing in decaying environments...the contrast is blatant, wealth and poverty. Taken to a deeper level than the simply economic, a contrast of power and powerlessness." (R. Horne, op.cit., unpaginated)
The images from this series of Henson's photographs from 1983-84
"basically fall into two broad categories: there are images of contemporary existence and images referring to the art and architecture of a certain epoch of the past. If for the moment we ignore the nature of those images of contemporary life, we can firstly concentrate on that strongly stressed thematic duality, of people in the here and now and artefacts from a particular moment of the past...
There is, in these two thematic lines, an obvious contrast. We look at the decorative motifs, at the elaborate mouldings, lights, ornamentation: and at these people, often naked, smeared with filth, existing in decaying environments...the contrast is blatant, wealth and poverty. Taken to a deeper level than the simply economic, a contrast of power and powerlessness." (R. Horne, op.cit., unpaginated)