Brett Whiteley documentary pulls no punches on a visionary artist and his many demons

REVIEW: Whiteley is an exemplary documentary that chronicles the extraordinary life, times and art of the late Australian painter.

WHITELEY (M)

Director: James Bogle (In the Winter Dark)

Starring: Brett Whiteley, Wendy Whiteley, Arkie Whiteley, Robert Hughes.

Rating: Four-and-a-half stars

Verdict: Painting himself out of the box and into a corner

A COMPREHENSIVE cinematic chronicle of the extraordinary life, times and art of the late Australian painter Brett Whiteley is long overdue.

This exemplary documentary — one of the finest produced on home soil in recent times — has made the wait absolutely worthwhile.

Director James Bogle utilises a basic, no-frills approach, wisely surmising that Whiteley’s spellbinding visual gift will speak for itself.

What emerges from the film — which uses audio recordings of the artist himself and those close to him as a refreshingly direct form of narration — are contrasting portraits of the same individual.

Just as Brett Whiteley was a man ahead of his time, he was also a man running out of time.

The versatility of his ever-evolving style and the prolific rate of his output are given a full, rounded and rousing context here.

The documentary Whiteley examines Brett Whiteley as an artist and a man.

Just as importantly, so too is Whiteley’s self-destructive dependence on alcohol and drugs, which he believed both fuelled his talent and would ultimately send him to an early grave.

The doco’s detailed coverage of Whiteley’s formative years of an artist is a revelation. In Australia of the early 1960s, he may as well have been from another planet, such was the unique visual sensibility he unleashed on a scene clearly not ready for it.

The documentary Whiteley is exemplary, one of the finest produced in Australia for many years.

Equally fascinating are Whiteley’s intensively creative periods of exile in London, New York and Fiji, the ripple effects would be felt throughout his works for the rest of his life.

Powerful, moving, frustrating and true to the maverick, masterful spirit of its subject, Whiteley is a highly recommended documentary experience.

Originally published as Brett Whiteley documentary pulls no punches on a visionary artist and his many demons