Christian Thompson AO

Christian Thompson AO
Australian, born 1978; lives and works in Melbourne

Dead as a door nail 2009
C-type print on Fuji Pearl Metallic Paper; edition of 5 + 2AP
Courtesy of the artist, Yavuz Gallery, Singapore/Sydney, and Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne   
© Christian Thompson AO

In Dead as a door nail Christian Thompson AO appropriates McCubbin’s Down on his luck 1889, drawing attention to the (historical) Eurocentric framing of Australian art history. The European landscape becomes the context for the artist to explore his First Nations and British heritage.

The tartan-clad and bearded Isaac from Bampton, Oxfordshire (from where the artist’s maternal ancestors originate), assumes the seated position of the prospector in McCubbin’s painting while the axe leaning against the log references McCubbin’s The pioneer 1904. Thompson rewrites the narrative of the outsider or pioneer struggling in a foreign landscape: the comical personae he assumes, and the temporary dwelling constructed from painted branches suggest his integration with a new location has been effortless (in contrast to the evident trials and despair of McCubbin’s settlers of the Australian landscape).