"It's definitely one of those faces that tell a million stories and you can see every kilometre that he's walked in his life." - Blak Douglas, artist.
A portrait by Aboriginal artist Blak Douglas, aka Adam Hills, shortlisted in this years Archibald prize is trying to flip the notion of what is Aboriginal art on its head.
Douglas's portrait of Aboriginal elder Max Eulo is a large scale artwork made up entirely of different sized circles and dots. Combined, they reveal a striking and intricate painting of Eulo's face.
"It was such an intimate affair when I painted him. When you meet uncle Max and you look at his face it's definitely one of those faces that tell a million stories and you can see every kilometre that he's walked in his life," Douglas says.
"It's such a charismatic and arid face and you immediately know that you are talking to someone that has been a lot of places and that's what I tried to convey with the multitude of dots, and the whole thing is dotted with various apparatus."
Entitled Smoke and Mirrors (Uncle Max Eulo), Douglas says that while the artwork is a tribute to Eulo it is also a commentary on the commercialisation of dot paintings and in particular the misappropriation of them by artists from areas where dots are not traditionally used.
"I try and take the dot to the nth degree and just make it so basic in its application and just try and pull the viewer away from that comfort of whitefellas looking at dot paintings and immediately identifying that as Aboriginal art," he tells BuzzFeed News.
Hill's provocative, politically motivated works are identifiable by there bright colours and stark imagery portraying Indigenous injustice, disadvantage and the violence of colonisation, and have won acclaim from critics.
Hill says the creation of alter-ego Blak Douglas is a way of escaping his politically motivated art and says that his new style of painting as Douglas, which includes the Eulo portrait, has been liberating.
"People are captivated by it. It's almost like you walk into uncle Max’s face and you walk those steps with him. This is by far the most satisfying artwork I’ve ever done."
