Bill Henson: The Light Fades but the Gods Remain

Description

Over thirty years have passed since Bill Henson made his iconic Untitled 1985/86 series. These mesmerising photographs cast a hazy procession of people and places from Melbourne's suburb of Glen Waverley, interspersed with dreamlike vignettes of Egyptian structures. Now, commissioned by Monash Gallery of Art, Henson has revisited his home suburb to create new work. While these photographs return to Glen Waverley, they show an environment that appears to have slipped out of linear time. Henson's new images are sumptuous and resplendent in their grandeur, offering a view of what is 'just down the street', but seem to come from another age. Together, the two series provide a glimpse into Henson's brilliant mind as he ponders the passing of time. The Light Fades but the Gods Remain, accompanied by an exhibition of both series of work at Monash Gallery of Art, celebrates an extraordinary artist at two stages in his career. The publication includes extracts by various authors who have had an impact on Henson, as well as text by Monash Gallery of Art Senior Curator Pippa Milne.

Bill Henson is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists. Born in Melbourne in 1955, Henson had his first solo exhibition, at the age of 19, at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1975. He has since exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas, including New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Montreal, Barcelona, Vienna and Amsterdam. In 1995, Henson represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, with his celebrated series of cut-screen photographs. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of NSW. In 2003, Henson's work appeared in Strangers: The First ICP Triennial of Photography and Video at the International Center of Photography in New York. In the same year he had a solo exhibition at the Centro de Fotografia, University of Salamanca, Spain. In 2005, a comprehensive survey of his work was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, attracting record visitor numbers for a contemporary art exhibition in Australia. In 2006, Henson exhibited a major body of work in Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Henson's images do not provide easy answers. Rather, they raise questions to ponder.-- "PhotoBook Journal"