art

Melbourne Now

August 18, 2023 in New Adventures

Perspective on a flat surface
2016
cotton, wool

I'd not been to the NGV at Federation Square for some time. I had seen that Melbourne Now was on, kinda via a promo email from Globe Shoes before my trip to Canberra.

It's only got two more days to run, and still had a good amount of people wandering through it today (Friday 18th August 2023).

Covering all levels of gallery at NGV Federation Square it shows off contemporary local artists. In some of the spaces there was also historic art like landscapes etc.

There's weird art installations and traditional art, along with fashion and an odd VR thing that people were waiting for, but I couldn't find info on until a looked it up, and it's something I would not wish to experience.

Wandering around it made me want to see more art stuff, so I guess that's good.

A spring morning near Fernshaw

Sky whispers

The planet

Canberra 2021 road trip - 2 - National Gallery of Australia

June 04, 2021 in Travel

I've driven to Canberra twice in the past neither of which I had GPS in my vehicle so I must have just written myself instructions to navigate.

It's not tricky to navigate in Canberra, but I certainly appreciated having my phone plugged into my ute with CarPlay giving me Google Maps directions to the National Gallery of Australia (underground car park). There weren't too many places with awkward directions, but it was appreciated having that (metaphorical) hand guiding me.

There's no outward indications that there is an underground car park for the National Gallery. It's opposite the National Gallery rather than being underneath it, and it's got a park on top of it.

It's located at Parkes Place East.

The sign says it's 2.0 metre height clearance, but driving through it definitely feels lower. Going down the ramp there is a left corner and then you're in the car park. It's two long lanes to park with the option turn at two locations.

Be careful exiting the car park, there is a slight dog leg from the exit lane which requires a left and then you need to be straight on to get your window level with the ticket machine which is at the car park level (there is a barrier at street level that opens automatically). Don't follow really closely in the line to exit, as you need that extra car length to manoeuvre properly to line up with the ticket machine.

Exiting the car park on foot is either lift or stairs, both depositing you to the entrance of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA).

I'd gotten there early, and mindful of the COVID conditions, didn't want to try and enter the exhibition too early than what my ticket read.

So I went for a little wonder around outside.

The High Court of Australia is just across from the NGA, and it has a nice view of Lake Burley Griffin also.

Canberra 2021 - 2 - Canberra-High Court-3.jpeg

There were a few school groups at the NGA as well, many congregated outside. A bunch of high school kids shouting "wanker" to anyone (including me) as they walked past them.

Inside there were a lot of older people in the NGA and the exhibition I was there to see as well.

The exhibition itself was…fine?

About 10 years ago I visited the NGA to see the exhibition "Masterpieces from Paris" which included Van Gogh's Starry Night, and that was a really moving exhibition. I remember being able to lean in quite close to look at Starry Night, see the globs of paint, the 3D-ness of the painting, something I'd only ever seen in print or on a screen. Seeing it in person was a moving experience for me.

This exhibition Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London was somewhat…underwhelming.

Although still insightful, the different ranges of artists and styles on show were broad and really explained and displayed a lot.

I feel a saw a lot of different styles.

The two drawcard paintings Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Monet's Water Lillies were…good?

Both paintings I learnt from the information cards beside were one of multiple versions of the paintings.

Although the version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers was one of two that was signed by the artist himself.

So that was interesting and notable seeing that.

Monet's The Water-Liliy Pond was kinda underwhelming.

Probably because I've seen different versions of this artwork, this version (one of more than 200+) was somewhat odd.

It's quite oddly shaped, while it does show the bridge and the lily pond below, it doesn't show the banks of the pond.

The information beside the artwork claims "this shows it floating above the water". But to me, it just seemed an odd perspective, like the painting had been poorly cropped.

The exhibition is three and a half rooms, with paintings generally on three of the four walls. There is one half room covering “The Grand Tour” as one of the tour people described a grand tour as a "kind of gap year" (where {the tour guide said} the people on it were expected to churn out paintings while on it).

There were some large and interesting paintings of Venice in this room.

Overall it was the other paintings that really enlightened me on the styles of the periods covered, not those draw card paintings that were on display.

One slightly detracting thing were the tours that were being run of the exhibition. One was alright by a woman who seemed professional and part of the NGA, she had an official looking lanyard at least and spoke with knowledge and authority (and not in too much of a loud voice), and had a small gathering of older people with her.

The other was an American woman, and she had a raised voice, had to keep checking the information plaques on the wall, didn't speak with much authority and was kind of annoying. I tried to stay away from her, but it did get close to irritating and kinda ruined the self discovery of the art works as I wandered around looking at them.

You exit through a gift shop, not THE NGA gift shop, that's downstairs near the exit. This gift shop was just for this exhibition. There were various books, mugs, water bottles and other collectable things related to the art work. Plus other things like tea towels and napkins that seemed to tout their Australian-ness, but when you looked closer the might be designed in Australia, but their actual manufacture was a little less clear.

Tasmania road trip 2017 - 5 - MONA

January 01, 2018 in Travel

Leaving Old Beach heading for Hobart was a rather relaxing and easy drive along the eastern side of the River Derwent. Old Beach being on this side of the river, it made for a less busy journey into Hobart.

I had previously plotted and researched my route into Hobart, so already knew where I was going – the Market Place car park, and where to turn – the Officeworks on Brisbane street. I'd written out these instructions for myself, mostly because I dislike a GPS and would rather know where I was going than be listening for the GPS to tell me. Easier to plan regarding traffic flow etc than laying in wait for the GPS to tell me. It was surprising, driving into the car park, how much reserved car parking there was, I thought I might reach the roof before I found a car parking spot, I finally did, on level 8.

While I could have driven to MONA from my accommodation, I'd decided that it was an experience, and I would have the whole experience, which included getting the ferry, the MR 1 to MONA itself.

I was on the first ferry of the day, having risen early the previous days I knew I'd be up to take the trip it made that day.

As the ferry set off, I knew I was right, that going on the ferry was definitely part of the theatre and experience of the MONA.
I ventured out to the back of the ferry first, where the 'cattle class' sheep lay, and the cow.
But I also ventured out to the front of the ferry, the very front in front of the bridge where, it was quite...bracing. I had to come in, it was such and properly zip up my jacket, pull on my Spirithood properly and keep my hands in its pockets, and then I was ready to face the wind, it was amazing to stand out on the prow, while it was somewhat cold it was definitely an experience, especially as no one else seemed willing to brace it; I stood alone.

As the ferry arrived at what seemed to be a somewhat unassuming dock, it slowly revealed itself; the 100 or so steps up from the ferry left me a little bit breathless but I managed to make it to the top of the stairs without needing to stop.

Although I was slightly perturbed when, having got to the top I found you had to journey downwards into the depths of the gallery. I again took the stairs down, while there was a lift, the stairs allowed a better look at the world that I was descending into.

Sally, Stewart and Zoe, whom I met on the West Coast Wilderness Railway said that once was enough for MONA. The fervour with which other people talked passionately about MONA had made me weary of going, and my expectations weren't really set at any real point before I'd arrived. Even as I descended down I wasn't sure exactly what was going to be revealed within.

I think the problem, that some people have with MONA is that they're not sure how to contextualise it into their preconceived ideas of art.
A bit of a wanky sentence I know.
To which I mean that some people I'd spoken to proper to coming said that once was all you needed and that it even wasn't worth the price of admission.
Zoe whom I met on the West Coast Wilderness Railway said she'd been once and that was enough and she was glad she didn't have to pay (she was from Launceston).

A lot of the artists whose works are on display at MONA aren't traditional artists, in that they're artists in that they create art work, but might not be recognised by the "elite" as artists.
This I quite like, because it's very unconventional art, and it's challenging.
The question I began to wonder though as I wandered around was what makes art...'art' and what are the mad scribbling of those with mental illnesses, the overly medicated or those just huffing paint fumes?

The latter had some art in MONA and had been huffing paint fumes and then went on to do some art.

I think some might say that, perhaps that means it isn't art, not "proper" art.
To which my retort would be then what about Van Gogh? He had a mental illness, was committed for a time and eventually took his own life, which basically puts him in the same field as a lot of the people on MONA.

There was one piece which the audio commentary noted that the Tate Gallery in London said wasn't contemporary, because the artist wasn't notable enough.
MOMA - the Museum of Modern in New York disagreed and they had this artist's work, which was all about some devil children but was actually about how the artist was abused in care as a child.
One piece had been assembled by MONA, because it had been in pieces when it was discovered.
This was one of the more traditionally arty pieces, in that the drawings were fairly easy to read and look at, the figures had a cartoon-like quality to them, but they were all as devils or other things like that.

How I imagined the Burrow in Harry Potter.

There were some art works that were in the borderline area between art and...I don't want to say rubbish, bit stuff that depending on the context you wouldn't say wasn't art and was instead just stuff that people make.
It's certainly unique like paper and cardboard models or random science fiction guns made out or found objects.
But is it art?
That it's in a gallery certainly suggests that it is art.
That it's been presented etc means it has meaning and has people looking at it.

It made me think, about what is art, and what isn't art, and I think that may be why people, some people, don't like it. Because it's not clear in what it is (or isn't).

The gallery of the Museum of Everything is divided into themes, slightly leaning more towards concepts of belief and spirituality. But then it veers off into concepts of science fiction and flight and weapons, then off into the home and other themes like creatures and animals.

Coming out of the Museum of Everything gallery there was a gift shop and a Frenchman offering tea and biscuits.
My first instinct was to refuse, because that's basically my first instinct for everything when food is offered. I prefer to make a choice, than be offered something.
But I was persuaded, basically because I have looked at attending MONA as an experience, rather than just a visit to a fancy location.
It was a little bit surreal.
Very surreal actually, sort of like Alice, in reverse, being drawn back out of wonderland by magical tea and biscuits.
It was all served in a dainty cup and saucer.
It was gold coin donation.
It was, as I continued to walk around, just the thing, it really felt restorative and prepared me for what was to come.

The wall of cunts, and other weird things.

Cloaca was really an assault on the olfactory senses. It basically reproduces a stomach, it's even fed twice a day and then the end result is that it shits itself.
It really smells like bacteria feeding.
I'd read about something like it in the past, so I knew the theory behind it. The seeing and smelling it was something else though. I had to hold my breath and go in and have a look.
It's not quite gag inducing, but it's close. That smell of bile and other things. And it's all these to witness in clear ovoid chambers, it sort of looks like a milking room, except they're essentially stomachs.
It's very weird, very arty and very...post apocalyptic science fiction sort of thing, like this is the way one day in the future we'll get eggs. That's what I thought when I read about this exhibit on 'The O' app, that they'd somehow worked out how to make an egg. But no, it's just good art work that shits itself.

Another exhibit which I walked into and then out of and then back into, was 'white library' or something like that. It was a room with books in it. But all of the books were white. The same white, their covers and everything.
There was nothing to suggest what they were about. They were just stark white books.
I found it weirdly intimidating, that these things, these books should have context, but they didn't and your eyes slide around the room looking for some hint of context from this room, from the books inside the room, and instead you're almost assaulted with the lack of anything, with the lack of suggestion or of context, of anything, and I really found that disturbing.
Maybe it's because I like books, and am used to reading along the shelves of a bookshelf looking for something I recognise, or something that interests me. But here in this artwork there was nothing of that, just white, blank books that didn't say anything, didn't give anything to their environment, it was just...nothing.

Overall, I found MONA a bit overwhelming. It's an assault on the senses and really is an art experience. It's almost like no other art experience I've had before.
It was all a bit too much to take in during one sitting. I walked through, trying to take it all in, but with the audio commentary, app with additional notes and what you see before you, it's all just a bit too much to take in.
I fully intend to revisit MONA, I think it will take at least another visit to appreciate it all, but probably several visits to really take it all in.

As the ferry arrived back at Hobart I was very, extremely glad that I had caught the first ferry of the day the 9:30 am, which had been very quiet, with no queue to get on, and the ride there and back had a very casual feel to the ride.
Arriving back in Hobart I saw a very long queue to get onto the ferry with everyone looking eager and a little annoyed at having been kept waiting. I think having more people around would have changed the vibe of the ferry and the experience to MONA.

Van Gogh and the Seasons

June 08, 2017

Seen through the screen of a camera, heard through the audio tour and experienced via the gift shop.

The Van Gogh and the Seasons is at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) until 9th July 2017.

I visited the NGV on Tuesday 6th June 2017 around 1:00 pm, and I was glad I went mid-week and in the middle of the day, I can’t imagine how insufferably busy it would be on a weekend of public holiday.

I don’t know if I’m a traditionalist or what, but I like to appreciate the art for what it is, that thing on the wall. Yes, some context is nice, but I didn’t need, nor want to watch the narrated movie experience that everyone seemed to sit down and diligently watched at the beginning of the exhibition.

Next you walk through prints of art works which set the scene and tone for the Seasons exhibition. I have a somewhat narrow view of prints, that they’re good for your home, they may even be good for collecting, but if I’m out in a museum or art gallery context, I want to see the original. I understand the need to set context, but this seemed more like they needed something to pad out the exhibition, that this room was as much about buffering the crowds as it was information delivery.

Then finally past a mesh curtain and you’re into the main gallery.

Once in there I was struck by the somewhat surreal nature, not of seeing the art work, but of the people in there viewing it and how they interacted with the art work.
There were four different types of people in there seeing the art work.
Those following a guide who seemed to be explaining, with a little more detail what was on the placards beside the art works.
Those with headphones on, listening to the audio guide.
People taking photos, and seemingly viewing the art work long enough to take a photo.
And then there were the people that were doing none of these things, and were simply looking at the art work.

I was in the small last group, just looking at the art work, I admit, I did take a few photos, of the crowds, not of the paintings.

To the people taking photos, some I wanted to scream at, there was one guy, who had headphones on for the audio guide and was taking photos with a separate camera. It also made a noise when it took a photo, 3 seconds worth. <camera takes photo> ‘Click, Click, Click’. I was ready to scream, or at least ask him politely to turn off the sound effect, but instead I just studied the paintings for a little longer until he moved on to the next area.

The people listening to the audio guides, they perplexed me, it seemed like they were stuck on rails. I would guess that the audio guide allowed for a certain amount of time, or narration to explain the art work, during which time the people would stand in front of the art work looking at it for the set amount of time and then they moved off, as though on cart’s breaks had been let off carrying them on their rails to the next piece of art work.

Those with a guide, some inexplicably also had headphones for the audio guide, I don’t know why. These people with a guide were at least all contained within one group, so once they cleared away from one art work you could stand in front of it and appreciate it.

The people taking photos, with their phones and in one or two cases with an iPad mini or phablet, I just wanted to tell them ‘don’t use the digital zoom, it’s not going to improve the image, just move closer’, but I didn’t want to engage with them. I could sort of understand that they wanted to capture their experience of being there. But buying the book at the end of the exhibit would present them with much nicer photos than what they captured with their phone cameras. Also, they like the audio guide people seemed to spend enough time in front of the art work to frame it up and capture it on their phones before moving off. It didn’t even seem like some of them actually looked at the art works themselves, not with their own eyes. They took photos of the description placard, maybe even read it, then they looked at the art work, but just enough to...I dunno, see it for a moment.
I just thought, what’s the point of that.

I wanted to see the art work, to experience it in the flesh, with my own eyes. See it as a three dimensional object, see the paint blobs, the brush strokes, the passion that was in the paintings.

There were flat wood plinths in front of the art work so you couldn’t stand in front of the art works themselves. The plinths were maybe 800 mm wide, but they did have a gap underneath so I tucked my feet underneath and could lean forward and look at the art work close up, to see the blobs of paint, to experience the art works in person. This is what I wanted, I wanted to see, to experience them, not through a screen, filter or audio visual experience. Just with my own eyes, not curated into an experience.

I knew going into the exhibit that it was organised by seasons, it is after all what the exhibit is called. But I’m still not sure I really enjoyed it, presented like that. I think I would have preferred a linear experience, to see Van Gogh’s art work presented through a linear time scale; beginning with his early work and finishing with his later work so you could see a development in style. Rather than experiencing the exhibit through tone.
In presenting it through tone and setting it did make me look and appreciate Van Gogh’s style more, looking at the similar styles he used or composition through the different works. It also made me realise I’d missed out on a lot of Van Gogh’s work that isn’t colourful painting.

I’ve seen some Van Gogh art work before, in 2010, in Canberra at the ‘Masterpieces from Paris’ exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, https://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/MasterpiecesFromParis/ it wasn’t just Van Gogh, it was other art works from the Musee D’Orsay as well.

I rate that a better experience than at the NGV, perhaps in part there were fewer people, and there was definitely a lot less people taking photos (though it was 7 years ago, so a lesser acceptance of it). But it just felt like a more respected experience of the art work.
Also, seeing the art work there, gave me an emotional response, I felt moved by the art work I saw there. Especially The Starry Night which seeing in person just blew me away, it was a moving experience seeing it. It was just so different, so many textures, so much more depth than all the prints, reproductions and whatever of it. In fact all the art work I saw there, had depth, texture and reality to it.

The quote in the gift shop 'The way to know life is to love many things'

At Van Gogh and the Seasons, this too was the case, you could see the texture, the difference, the physicality to the art work that you do not get seeing it published in a book or presented online.
But none of it moved me, none of it gave me those pangs of emotion upon seeing the art work.
Some art work did give me window into Van Gogh’s earlier work that I hadn’t been aware of, in particular his drawings, these I found fascinating and an art style that I’d not seen from Van Gogh popularised much.

I think it’s a great opportunity to see Van Gogh’s works, especially as it’s in Melbourne, although even if it wasn’t in Melbourne I would likely make the effort to go and see an international art exhibition if it were within Australia somewhere, if it were of a notable artist such as Van Gogh.

MICF 2014 - Hannah Gadsby - “The Exhibitionist”

April 16, 2014

12th April 2014 - 7:00 pm

Hannah Gadbsy's show was something I booked relatively blind. I've seen her past 2 or 3 shows and really enjoyed them.
This was also a show, going into it that I didn't know much about.
I don't even really recall reading her page on the MICF website, I just booked it based on liking her previous work.
She is also someone who doesn't have a podcast and doesn't frequently appear on any podcasts. Which means unlike my previous outings where I've seen comedians who I know something of or about I really didn't know what I was getting going into Hannah's show.

It was surprising, and funny.
I also felt like I learnt something.
It did also make me think about fair use, Creative Commons and image licensing. This wasn’t raised in the show, it was just something that came to mind for me while watching it.

Hannah's show, is about legacy and exhibition, her show behind called “The Exhibitionist” kinda wraps that up.

There are a lot of bad photos in this show, and not just of Hannah.
There's also a feeling of a lecture, with amusing things.

I think "The Exhibitionist" is my favourite show of the MICF. It was unexpected, it was gloriously funny, but it was different sorts of funny. It wasn't just one sort of funny, there were laughs from insight, laughs from revelation and laughs of weirdness. I also felt that I learnt something, and I wasn't expecting that.