Bruce Petty

A visual onslaught of artistic ideas, showing how art relates to and intertwines with our daily lives.

Art, personified here as an opera-singing Valkyrie, hang-glides down from the clouds to check on the state of the arts in Australia – from painting, writing and music to dance, theatre, puppetry and sculpture. Featuring John Bell, Anna Volska, Reg Livermore, Rory O’Donohue, David Gulpilil and the work of Thomas Keneally and Patrick White among others, this is a phantasmagoria of filmic effects.Read More »

A satirical enquiry into the origins of media, their distribution and their effects on the way we behave.

Those familiar with cartoonist Bruce Petty’s award winning film Leisure will enjoy the same sharp wit brought to bear on another institution, the media. This three-part film is a satirical enquiry into the origins of media, their distribution and their effects on the way we behave. The first part provides a brief history of print, radio, television and film. The second part proposes that a market-placed media produces the problem of monopolisation leading to mediocrity. Finally, Petty produces a caricature of the way ideas form in the mind from reading print, as distinct from passive looking and listening.Read More »

Bruce Petty, one of Australia’s greatest political cartoonists, created an Oscar-winning film from his inventive and amusing exploration of the history of work and leisure.

A fast-paced, humorous and thought-provoking film using animation by Australian newspaper cartoonist Bruce Petty. This Oscar-winning film emphasises the use of leisure time as an important aspect of life in our society today. Planning for recreation and leisure time should be undertaken both on a personal and on a public level.Read More »