3 De Koonings, Olsen and Paella at the Beach

Happy Holidays, may your stockings bulge with art.

“…a surrealist scene of saffron coloured chickens…” John Olsen

Olsen’s Culinaria Cuisine of the Sun

Christmas arrived early for me this year in three parcel post satchels. Not exactly Santa down the chute but those puffy square bags make me squeal like a little girl at Xmas. The benefits of being old is that I don’t have to wait for the big day to arrive.

The first parcel was the biggest De Kooning book I’ve ever seen – the Malvern star of art books. Ensconced in a hard slip case and full of perfect coloured reproductions of his best.

The second satchel held two De Kooning second hand treasures, one cloth bound with the library card still in slipped in the back pocket time-travelled from the sixties. The other professing to be the first De Kooning publication.

De Kooning Smith College Museum of Art 1965.

Willem De Kooning by Thomas Hess 1959.

Borrowed by Shelley Rose on Feb 10 1966.

The third satchel held Culinaria by John Olsen. Cuisine of the Sun. This book was to be our Christmas dinner – drawing, painting and cooking in the sun – sand, saffron, cadmiums, paprika, burnt orange and paella.

The Hamptons 1953

Two great artists, De Kooning from the northern hemisphere where he spent Christmas in the Hamptons, and Olsen in the southern hemisphere comparing Watsons Bay to an Iberian fishing village, seem very relevant to this years sunny seafood xmas by the beach…with books.

Lost Dogs at Bondi SXS 2013

Red Centre: Carl Billingsley Photo: Clyde Yee

The pilgrimage to Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea is a highlight of the year for me.  It’s not just the sculpture, it’s the surrounds and the people and of course the dogs.  For more than 10 years I’ve been taking snaps and for the last few years my painting pal Jane has allowed me to couch-surf close to Bondi so we can make repeat visits.  It always starts with a late afternoon – the first glimpse of that turquoise water on a usually hot afternoon at Bondi Beach and then we take in each sculpture along the rocky edge -looking out for whales off the coast, snapping photos and talking art.  By sunset we are usually at Tamarama Beach where the sculptures end.  From there we press on even further to beautiful Bronte for an al fresco dinner then returning home exhausted,  for wine, a de-brief and art DVD’s.

by Marielthomas

Stephen King’s well deserved winning piece Fallout photo Clyde Yee

 

 

 

 

 

And in the morning we start again for a whole day this time ending with beer and chips at Bondi.  This year I lost my camera after the first afternoon so all my snaps of Bondi dogs and late afternoon shots are gone. I did get some hit and miss photos on my camera phone so I at least have some but this year I was impressed by others so I’ve decided to share those.  I’ve come to realise there are so many wonderful photographs already out there. I especially love this one of Rex -perfectly positioned under Fritz’s work Dream.

Rex by myeyeinlofi

Photos of Lucy Humphry’s and Matthew Hardings work have inspired us for next year to ease off on the wine Thursday night so we can catch sculptures at sunrise.   Mmm.. things we do for art! 

Elyssa, who I fondly remember as a sweet girl with a rat -now a fabulous sculptor.
Photo Jarrad Seng

Please visit Sculpture by the Sea site to see more wonderful images by better photographers than me.

My ordinary IPhone photo

Thank you Bert Flugelman a passionate sculptor, a great legacy
Photo Clyde Yee

David McCracken photo by Clyde Yee

Matthew Harding The Cheshire’s Grin tribute to Bert Flugelman Photo by Stephanie Burns

by deegee88

by pieces_of_lu

Shaking Off the Sand

This is now my third post about Sculpture by the Sea Bondi.  I thought I’d just about got it out of my system by now but once again serendipity takes over.  It is a tenuous link between the thick & sparse landscapes of JR Walker, Maitland and old beach chairs but that’s what happened.  It continues to happen all the time.

It began with a proposed trip to Maitland Regional Gallery to see John R Walker. The lack of suitable accommodation meant the trip was then turned into a sculpture by the sea 2 day event. I’ve been at the Sculpture by the Sea for almost 15 years. There is nothing harder than choosing a favourite. The difficulty comes from a variety of reasons – Bert Flugelman, Sir Anthony Caro, Stephen King, Dave Horton, May Barrie names that ooze sculpture, masters of their materials so varied and then the small unobtrusive works that connect with place so well. For me that was Lucy Barker this year and her webbed benches.

It reminded me of Aunty Bette who would paint her toenails bright red on a banana lounge, while sipping fluffy ducks and eating red-wrapped Nestle’s chocolate. Days of childhood memories where shorts had pom-pom fringing. The work was titled “Sea Change” and the smell of my slapped on sunscreen and salty Bondi breeze brought those days closer.

Today I stumbled across Lucy Barker’s website by accident. I wanted to thank the folks at Maitland Regional Gallery for the info on JR Walker. There I saw an exhibition coming up for Lucy’s work.

Say “AAargh…..!”

Yesterday I blogged about sculptural pieces in Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi.  Gradually my attention and photos turned from sculpture to the people. What an amazing event that brings people world-wide, free and is sometimes the only interaction with art. People that would never admire the work by going to a gallery, suddenly are looking for angles to take the right shots -rock-hopping to get the light or reflection.

For me it was the cultural aspect. Looking at works in isolation is only half the story.  It was obvious that works with people or animals drew in the bulk of the crowd. We humans want to see other humans. I wanted to photograph humans looking at sculptures that looked like humans.

It was the cultural mix that was so impressive about this year. The royal couple have taken it to Denmark and I think that has expanded the mix but the fact it is free, families can bring children and a swim at the end of it all, or in our case a cold beer at Bondi Pavillion.

 My last shot of the day was taken in a flash. I was part embarrassed and part proud. I happen to glance up when exiting the Icebergs at Bondi and kneeling above us a moslem in prayer.  Not wanting to draw attention I snapped this shot. It only reinforces the fact that art has a way of bringing all cultures together.

Please Don’t Touch!

Trying to choose the right image to go with this post was difficult.  Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi is an amazing spectacle -the coastline is phenomenal and the sculpture mostly amazing but I think this sums it up.  Gary Deirmendjian’s “do not….”. Each year the little black signs sit in front of colossal works quietly asking  the impossible.  How can you not touch a piece of pink fleshy angaston marble and feel the cool underside on a stinking hot day?  How can children not be drawn into  Chen Wenling’s lap of his grinning brilliant red giant?  Some just didn’t care, in fact “Surf in Fantasia” by Akiho Tata, three large granite pieces just meant that an old surfer could flake out didn’t feel like he was the only object on view.  

Probably the best by far didn’t need to be touched to connect with people.  There was a queue to take a snap with Jane Gillings “Provenance” a giant gilt frame filled with passers-by.   As I said it’s hard to choose but I love the shot of this giant nail firmly wedged in the rocks and vivid against the blue. In the distance a fisherman oblivious of what’s around him.

A Sculptured Kind of Day

Today has been one of those coincidence-type days. You know when you come across something by accident, then it happens again, then the book falls out of the bookcase and then someone in Denmark blogs about it. Well today it was all about sculpture. I love Sculpture by the Sea and go every year. I admire sculptors who work with sometimes extreme materials and go to extraordinary lengths for their work to get on site. Then if it has to go home -they certainly can’t store it under their beds or in the loft. They are tireless and talented.  This photo was from a work in 2007.