Art art art
Jul. 19th, 2010 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theotherlexThere is art in Sydney. Lots of great art.
I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art this morning. They have a great exhibition there. One piece is a whole series of bonsai plants with the bonsai torture equipment still attached, and card describing all the things that have been done to them (in Chinese). They all also have bright yellow tags that I think might be quarantine related.
Also four ceramic pieces, grotesque collections of human forms and organic shapes. A series of drawings that were reminiscent of botanical drawings, but of surreal organic shapes, with occasional bits of mechanical stuff in there, too.
There were several video installations, most of which I didn't get, but two were awesome. One was blank screen showing the subtitles for audio of extinct, nearly extinct and threatened languages. There was an African language, a lullaby, for which there is no translation. The Welsh Romany sounded wonderful. There was a companion series of 24 etchings showing the cadence of short phrases of each language. The second was three videos, each showing a group of Thai villages or farmers looking at and discussing a classic western painting (a Van Gogh, a Manet, and a Millet). You could see the painting and the backs of the Thai people discussing it, with subtitles, and very low sound, so you couldn't really tell who was speaking. It was brilliant to see how universal those paintings are not.
There was also art from the Ömie people in Papua New Guinea, which was gorgeous. Similar too and very different from the X-ray style Indigenous Australian art.
And an exhibition drawn from the MCA's permanent collection curated by the guy in charge of the whole Biennale. They have some great stuff.
Then I had lunch.
Then I went back to the Art Gallery and wandered through their permanent collection and the Asian art that they had as part of the Biennale. It was really interesting. They have great Australian art, too. Preston and Nolan and Tucker. I really only wandered in there because I thought I saw a Fred Williams, which I did! There were lots. And some great modern art from artists I hadn't heard of before.
I also checked out the catalogue for the Abstraction exhibition. It looks good, so I think I'll go on Wednesday, when it's open late.
It rained on me, so I didn't do the walk through the Gardens to the art there, but went to the Library instead, where they had an interesting photography exhibition and really small collection of art books in their open reference section. I also had to sign in the book I had with me, so I read some more of that: reading = yay!
Tonight's entertainment in Border Security and Highway Patrol. Much easier viewing than The Silence of the Lambs, but I might just have a cup of tea and then go to bed to read my book.
I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art this morning. They have a great exhibition there. One piece is a whole series of bonsai plants with the bonsai torture equipment still attached, and card describing all the things that have been done to them (in Chinese). They all also have bright yellow tags that I think might be quarantine related.
Also four ceramic pieces, grotesque collections of human forms and organic shapes. A series of drawings that were reminiscent of botanical drawings, but of surreal organic shapes, with occasional bits of mechanical stuff in there, too.
There were several video installations, most of which I didn't get, but two were awesome. One was blank screen showing the subtitles for audio of extinct, nearly extinct and threatened languages. There was an African language, a lullaby, for which there is no translation. The Welsh Romany sounded wonderful. There was a companion series of 24 etchings showing the cadence of short phrases of each language. The second was three videos, each showing a group of Thai villages or farmers looking at and discussing a classic western painting (a Van Gogh, a Manet, and a Millet). You could see the painting and the backs of the Thai people discussing it, with subtitles, and very low sound, so you couldn't really tell who was speaking. It was brilliant to see how universal those paintings are not.
There was also art from the Ömie people in Papua New Guinea, which was gorgeous. Similar too and very different from the X-ray style Indigenous Australian art.
And an exhibition drawn from the MCA's permanent collection curated by the guy in charge of the whole Biennale. They have some great stuff.
Then I had lunch.
Then I went back to the Art Gallery and wandered through their permanent collection and the Asian art that they had as part of the Biennale. It was really interesting. They have great Australian art, too. Preston and Nolan and Tucker. I really only wandered in there because I thought I saw a Fred Williams, which I did! There were lots. And some great modern art from artists I hadn't heard of before.
I also checked out the catalogue for the Abstraction exhibition. It looks good, so I think I'll go on Wednesday, when it's open late.
It rained on me, so I didn't do the walk through the Gardens to the art there, but went to the Library instead, where they had an interesting photography exhibition and really small collection of art books in their open reference section. I also had to sign in the book I had with me, so I read some more of that: reading = yay!
Tonight's entertainment in Border Security and Highway Patrol. Much easier viewing than The Silence of the Lambs, but I might just have a cup of tea and then go to bed to read my book.
