抄録
During the last decade Australian painting has entered upon a new phase of development. Government patronage of arts has been substantial since 1973 under the Australian Council which has supported especially non-English-speaking-background artists, women artists and Aboriginal artists. It aims also to foster a national ,identity through the arts practice. Meanwhile figuration revived in painting to re-place abstract forms. The new directions in painting reflect social and political climates in Australia today: A skeptical attitude towards the white nationalist image of 'bush' landscape, an attempt to peer into the Australian reality of urban and suburban life, manifestation of cultural alienation or dilemma in rather Anglophilic Australian society, feminist protest against male chauvinism, satire upon modern technology and identity, a sense of place and correspondence with the environment, and most distinctively, emergence of Aboriginal painting which strongly expresses their original relationships to the land, adopting techniques and imagery of both Western and Aboriginal traditions. Minority artists are contributors to the versatile arts, gradually merging into and widening the `mainstream', Now how does such diversified arts relate to a National identity? A strong sense of personal identity is reflected in the paintings. The subject matter such as inequity or alienation evolves a question what a 'culture' means. It is problematic for Australians to share an identity. While a stereotype landscape is no longer valid, links to places will always be essential for individual identity. The key to the realization of a harmonious multicultural Australia lies in decision of the Australians how they would share the country.
