A Big Mixed Bag of Lollies

Anish Kapoor Memory

Multiple exhibitions in one venue can sometimes be a mixed bag of lollies.  There’s usually the big musk stick that pops out the top of the bag and draws you in and then there are the ones  at the bottom, the three for 5 cent  jubey things.  My trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney was like that.

Anish Kapoor proved musk stick-like to be as good as it looked. Something sweet and distinct at every bite, leaving a unique taste in your mouth.  The promise of more sweets inside was the huge mirror dish reflecting Sydney Harbour on a perfectly blue hundreds-and-thousands sparkly day.  Having been impressed by his work for a long time I was hoping for the best and I got better. As usual looking at the works on line, in books, on DVDs doesn’t cut the musk stick.

At the same time the other exhibition South of No North jubes proved to be strawberries and cream. Delicious with no fan-fare, three for one. The exhibition was based on works by Noel McKenna, Wiliam Eggleston and Laurence Aberhart. Noel McKenna’s work has always made me smile. From his doggie poster series to big things. This was a wonderful exhibition and although it is hard to compare the  monumental work of Anish Kapoor, there was a similarity in the complete paring down of subject and the strength in simplicity. I especially loved these small tiles of simply drawn ordinary objects and one of the best known useful products ever deserving to be lauded in glazed ceramic : liquid nails.  It was also wonderful to see his influences in Aberhart and Eggleston.

So my little bag of MCA mixed lollies proved to be quite sweet . It wasn’t too sickly and way too tempting to refuse.

If you hadn’t tried this before, click here for my Doggie Quiz inspired by Noel McKenna.

How Much is that Doggie

Spanish Poets, Bacon, Whisson and Me

I still can’t make up my mind if it’s the hippy mentality of “It all has to mean somethin’ man” or there is a quantifiable reason behind it.

Today Anthony Bond, curator of International Art talked about the upcoming Francis Bacon exhibition. Once again a link pops up – this time by the way of Frederica Lorca poetry.

Less than a week ago I was flicking through a book of Lorca’s poetry laid on a table in the Ken Whisson AS IF show.

 

 

 

So here it is, an elegy for a Spanish Bullfighter.

At Five in the Afternoon

At five in the afternoon.
It was exactly five in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A frail of lime ready prepared
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death, and death alone
at five in the afternoon.

And so the path continues, it was Whiteley led me to Bacon, Bacon led me to Muybridge and no doubt that path will cross others and meander back to the start.

Don’t Stand in Front of the Painting

MOMA Stranger and Duchamp

I have seemingly collected some great photos trying to take snapshots of art works. Just as I press someone looms into the shot. At the time I usually just take another, I’m certainly not an avid photographer, it’s more for research on the painting that I was looking at. What I have found though is I really love these photos of strangers.

 

 

 

MCA Louise Hearman and Harry Who

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biennale Sydney and Betty Bob-up

Guggenheim & Whosit Face

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More recently I’ve been trying to take the strangers on purpose. If you happen to read this and you are my stranger – thanks you’ve made my day.

MOMA Picasso and nancy no name

Biennale Sydney Photos

Here are some shots from the Biennale. I visited 3 locations – Cockatoo Island, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Biennale Sydney: All Our Relations..at least you can pick your friends

Li Hongbo on Cockatoo Island

I was excited at the presentation of the new Sydney Biennale: All Our Relations. I blogged it. This last weekend I visited.

I think the verdict is still out for me. It’s a bit like Christmas, you get a hint of a present but when it’s unwrapped it was far better in your imagination.  Maybe I need to play with it a bit.

But that really isn’t fair, some works were amazing and exceptional and I love the hype and the discussion over works.

After a whirlwind of Cockatoo Island, Art Gallery of NSW and Museum Contemporary Art it was more like Christmas dinner, a lot to digest. Perhaps a post-visit nap is in order.

Later all our relations will go home and we’ll have fond memories of them.

Roadtrip between the Old and New

Last weekend it was the new MCA on Sydney Harbour, all white and glittering, smick and slick.

This weekend was the National Gallery Canberra, all orange and autumnal, crackling underfoot, old and gold.

They are about  280 kms in difference but as they say, a world away, a pack of Jelly Belly Jellybeans, mandarins and a couple of Freakonomics podcasts.

I enjoyed the Renaissance, I was desperate to see Titian and Raphael but was more impressed with the early gothic painters and some of the lesser known. Of course Titians’ composition was important – Aida Tomescu had shared her passion of his structure that influences her work- the old meets the new. There was one small Titian painting and there would have to be more to make any sort of lasting impact on me.Fortunately composition can be studied in books and on-line but in the flesh it is so much more important about the quality of the paint.

This is why I felt drawn more towards the Gothic art, small tightly fascinating work, textural and smoothed, glistening and flat.  It’s the sort of art that has always held a fascination for me, perhaps it may be the flattened areas compositionally that has proven intriguing. I did reference this art in a previous work of mine for the Meroogal Womens Art Prize but I am also fascinated by the small Persian paintings that have the same appeal.

Once again the NGA had the drama of deep dark colours but that’s whole other freakonomic blog!

By the way thanks Artshub for the tickets that I won – almost as good as the years supply of Tim Tams I won a while back.

Mapping Room

I love maps, my last 2 blogs were about my love of the new MCA so I decided to add the two together. I admire the planning in exhibitions, working out where to hang what but even better are maps to explain.  I think my all time favourite was the room map of the William Kentridge exhibition that was held at the MCA in 2004. It was an inspirational exhibition and the large room map was just as impressive. Coincidently Annandale Galleries has a current exhibition on his work that I should make an effort to see.

I tend to keep ephemera, room pamphlets, newspaper clippings and always a postcard. I think of myself somewhere between obsessive, hoardish and knowledgeable. I also think most artists tend to do the same, collect, exhibitionalia.

So when I started putting this blog piece together (God help me! Am I now blogging about blogging?) I went on the search for the mother of all room pamphlets for that exhibition in 2004.  Prior to blogging, I was a sketchbook scribbler so I thought this shouldn’t be too difficult as the sketchbooks are in some semblance of order. A3,A4, A5, A6, Hardbound, leather, unusual, trains, travels and moleskin – then years. Unfortunately the ladder was obscuring the bottom of the bookshelf where the A5 2004′s lived.

My next avenue was the Kentridge books, I have a small collection and I sometimes keep noteworthy pieces of paper in there. Damn! Anne-Marie has borrowed those. Aah! Yet another avenue – the postcards. Yes, now there are the large and small, indigenous Australian, Australian, International, freebies and gifts -all in little white boxes. I took a punt and went the large international (plus it was on the bottom shelf). So I have this….. a postcard from 2004 with my thoughts at that time and my current postcard from last weekend-a view of the harbour by Eugene Von Geurard and yet another postcard commemorating the opening-a special scratchie edition by TMOD (funnily enough these have been my birthday cards of choice between my daughter and myself and I have a collection of these).

And as a result I was so happy to read the back. It wasn’t the room catalogue but it was enough to jog the memory maps. In the meantime I clutched at an old sketchbook, wrong year but conveniently placed between the ladder rungs and a quick flick showed the early rumblings of my current lake series. Mmm -that’s going to be useful for later.

I would love to design a room brochure for my internal workings.

MCA Circles my Heart

The new MCA was just as impressive inside and out,so here’s a few shots just to entice you in to check out the new additions to the shack.

As with all renovations, I’ve started with the old. Like Hossein Valmanesh’s The Lover Circles His Own Heart, the MCA whipped around my old cold throbber and I came up with a few photographs to warm the cockles of others.

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De-cop This Sydney

I hadn’t planned a trip to the MCA but the harbour beckoned, you couldn’t help but be drawn in. The ferry driver made an announcement to say we had to wait for a berth at Circular Quay. So we rocked gently, heads turned skywards like wary ducks to watch the signwriting plane chalk up the blue.

Out to the right we could take in the new building floating with us, beside the old maritime building.  I am over the moon with this new building.  It’s light, it’s airy, it’s unpretentious and most of all inviting. The hoards that cling to the edge of the quay to wander and are led unsuspecting.  Inside the area is what you expect a holiday shack by the water to be, full of views, games , shells and families with happy creative kids.

The lift is delightful, glass suspended over the harbour and it whips you all too quickly to the top and the new interactive rooms are full of goodies to keep everyone occupied. The cafe delivers on all fronts, open, friendly, views to die for and food and service faultless.

 

 

 

 

The director herself Elizabeth Ann MacGregor was in front of us having an easy Sunday lunch, maybe the Salmon & Pecorino Tart? All that hard work and planning now in full swing, Marking Time and bringing Sydney what it deserves.

The exhibition area in the old building is brilliant, the works flowing and relevant.  Contemporary curation must be the most exciting whirl of ideas.
The combination of Lindy Lee’s Sun Salutations with Gulumbu Yunupingu, Garak  The Universe, Katie Patersons lightbulb instillation and the mesmerising The Party is Over by Elisa Sighicelli where fireworks footage rewind and become night stars give us a taste of more to come.

Pens,Pencils & Men with Moustaches

There is a secret society of Pens & Pencils, famous artists that meet at the SH Ervin Gallery. We can only hazard a guess at who they may be -the pencils are the younger members and the pens the elders of the group.  I recently read another wonderful article Palettes Loaded and Lines Drawn by Nick O’Malley regarding another meeting of creative minds, Book Club.  One of the members,  Noel McKenna has been a long time favourite artist of mine and I am a proud owner of a small sketch of his that was made in a swap at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney. I was drawn to this article due to my recent visit to the Ken Done Gallery in the Rocks. Ken Done, another member has long been poo-pooed by the art world but his recent  paintings screamed light and colour and looking at them made me happy.  That’s what it’s about. I’m all for angst and there is nothing better than a Kathe Kollowitz sketch but I’ve snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef and to capture that is pure joy. There is nothing wrong with happiness in art.

Their meetings sound like pure joy as well. I wanted to share this article, my own little bit of show and tell.