AG-NSW - Sydney Modern

By way of explanation, I took all these photograps. Some are photos of photos and models in the "Sydney Modern" exhibition, currently at the AG-NSW. Photo 4 was from outside the existing gallery.

Enlarge this first image. It covers an entire wall in the exhibit. The existing gallery is on the left, in the centre, a pale grey. To its right , a pale yellow, is the proposed new wing. Note that this plan bestrides the Eastern Distributor (or Cahill Expressway). It is a bridge of land. When the Cahill expressway bulldozed through The Domain in the late '50s it permanent;y split Macquarie's "demesne" from his Botanic Gardens. So the greenery to the left of the expressway is The Domain. The greenery to the right of the expressway is The Royal Botanic Gardens. I have chosen a shot which shows both the harbour bridge and the opera house, up in the top, right-hand corner.

The two images above, are computer-generated, from the exhibition. On the left, we are looking north down Art Gallery Road, from outside the current building. On the right, we are looking south up Art Gallery Road, from the pedestrain-crossing currently leading to the Wooloomooloo Gates of the Botanic Gardens. It covers a massive space.

To take this, I was standing where the new wing will be. It is a lovely expanse of land overlooking the Finger Wharf and the Garden Island Dockyards.

In the exhibit, there are models of the successful "concept plan". The concept is akin to a work of art. The architects concerned being keen that the physical surroundings enhance the experience. The successful concept was subitted by SANAA, an architectural and design firm based in Tokyo, headed by Kazuyo Sejima (right) and Ryue Nishizawa (left), with three partners Yoshitaka Tanase, Yumiko Yamada and Rikiya Yamamoto. Sydney-based landscape architectural practice McGregor Coxall is working with the Art Gallery of NSW and architectural practice SANAA to develop the landscape design concept for the Sydney Modern Project. McGregor Coxall is also working on the transformation of the hot-house pyramid in The Botanic Gardens for its Bicentennary next year.

AG-NSW - Ancient & Modern

Long-time followers of this blog will know how much I treasure the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AG-NSW). How I get a shiver down my spine as I walk up the steps to the entrance, through this glorious non-Sydney foyer, and then into the fabulously low-ceilinged ground floor.

Well, all that is about to change. The AG-NSW is adding a new wing. The way in which I have written that sounds too plebian. The AG-NSW is reinventing itself, sounds more accurate. I am a bit anxious about this. Positive, but tremulous. Not that this is going to happen tomorrow. They have taken a year to invite a dozen architects from around the world to present a concept plan, and to choose the successful concept. This is quite speedy, I suspect. Now, the winning architectural practice has to submit detailed plans and costings.

Today, I am featuring the building that houses the gallery at the moment. This is not going to be touched ... well except for where the two morph into each other. The way patrons will PERCEIVE this original building will be dramatically altered. And much, today, is all in the perception. For some reason, this new venture is called "Sydney Modern". I suspect it to be named AFTER someone. Probably a beneficiary of the Gallery, as so many of their new installations are so named. Tomorrow, detail about this new "wing".

Mahatma and the art of leadership ...

"Public Notice #2" Jitish Kallat Art Gallery New South Wales Foyer

On 12th March, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi gave a speech that marked the beginning of his "salt march", during which he walked 390 kms to the coastal town of Dandi in Gujarat. There he gathered salt and refused to pay the tax imposed by the colonial British government. This simple, and now famous, act inspired national civil disobedience, spurring an intensified Indian independence movement. Gandhi's legacy of non-violent protest continues to influence political action worldwide. In "Public Notice 2", Indian artist, Jitish Kallat renders Gandhi's historic speech in its entirety, letter by letter. Each letter appears to be made from bone, as though Kallat has exhumed these words from their historical resting place. As Kallat says: "In today's terror infected world, where wars against terror are fought at prime television time, voices such as Gandhi's stare back at us like discarded relics".

AG-NSW - the art of architecture

Although the art collection commenced in 1871, this building was only commenced in 1895, when the Government Architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, was handed the assignment to design a new (permanent) gallery. Two picture galleries were opened in 1897, and a further two in 1899. A watercolour gallery was added in 1901, and in 1902 the Grand Oval Lobby was completed. This has to be one of the better public buildings in this city. I inhale a sense of serenity and peace, the moment I take those few steps from the lobby to the expansive foyer. This shot was taken Easter Sunday afternoon.

Running about the braes with Robbie Burns

Squatting on the concrete steps beneath the plinth of the Robbie Burns statue along Domain Road, I wondered why on earth it came to be there. The statue. Sure there must be a Burns Society in Sydney. Well, the metal plaque on one of the garden seats in the attached garden mentioned the society. The statue has a grand location, along Domain Road, halfway between St Marys Cathedral and the Art Gallery of NSW. The Domain Trust must have been replete with Presbyterian Scots at some stage. Wily Scots, with lots of well-heeled benefactors.

The gardens surrounding the statue are being remodelled. They seem to be a smidge confused about whether they want annuals, biennials, or perennials. This large rectangular bed, in pride of place, is a case in point. Being filled with veggies, and all. Tempting to add a lettuce leaf or three to my Sub. However, the effect in the garden is impressively attractive.

Parallax

My contribution to the Weekend in Black and White community.

Ruiz vs Picasso - Would Pablo still rock?

Having been critical and disappointed by my first pass through the event that is Picasso, I took myself for a second appreciative meander this past weekend. The gallery was open as a venue for the Sydney Festival First Night, and this seemed a perfect venue for a less hectic (read noisy) Involvement. However, as they say, the house was packed to the rafters.

At the bewitching hour of 3pm, I bowled in and wandered through the ten rooms in a plan of my whim, sans headphones, sans cattledog. Well, yes, I enjoyed it more the second time - but I was FAMILIAR with the works then, wasn't I. Familiar with the order, with the breadth. The really good aspect, that comes through so very strongly, is how Picasso developed from a faithful representative drawer, to the pin-up boy of modern art.

So, I get myself a third ticket and see it again before it goes off to Canada.

And the subtitle? Ruiz is the surname of Pablo's father, while Picasso is the surname of Pablo's mother. Spanish tradition allows the child to take the surname of either, so I gather.



This is my contribution to Lesley's Signs, Signs meme.

Picasso unplugged

Oh dear, how do I say this?

There are 10 rooms of works, over 150 in total. Canvases. Drawings. Bronze statues. Wooden and metal constructions. But Edmund's fliers say 'masterpieces'. Forgive me, but not everything created by Picasso was a masterpiece. And whichever of his works are classified this way, are in museums around the globe, or private hands.

One has to read the small print: these works were mostly found in Picasso's house(s) after his death and used (in kind) to pay the taxes Pablo owed to the French treasury. Subsequently, they were housed in the Musee National Picasso in Paris. It is stretching it to say they are 'Picasso's Picassos'. Just as it is unfair to say they are the ones he could not flog. Quite a few of them are studies for eventual masterpieces. Drafts, if you will.

And then there is the exhibition. The staging.

Ten rooms; 150 works. In sequence. There is no emotional high-point to the exhibition. Like using a grader to make a highway: cutting off the hills; filling in the valleys; voila! Am I allowed to say it is like being processed through Ikea?

And, I had to wait in an ante-room with others who nominated the 10am time-slot, only to see what appeared to be a conga-line of ticket buyers at the front desk, just going straight in.

So, I have bought another ticket for Saturday 7th January, which is the Sydney Festival First Night. They have French music, and Spanish music, and wine, and food, and a doco about Pablo.

Because I could be wrong. This could just be a rush to judgement.

Room with a view

Looking east from the Art Gallery of NSW, taking in the suburbs of Potts Point and Kings Cross.

Vale Margaret Olley

Margaret Olley was a much-loved Sydney painter, Australian painter. She died in her sleep during Monday night. Her agent flew home to Brisbane Monday evening, and a neighbour found her body at 7am Tuesday. She was 88. She died at home. I took this photograph of her home this morning. She had lived there, mostly by herself, since the early '60s. That is fifty years. I am hoping that the AG-NSW figures prominently in her will, and that Edmund Capon will ensure that this terrace is preserved.


As age and life ravaged her body, making it difficult for her to walk, so her art closed in around her. Her home become her subject and, indeed, her canvas. I suspect that inside is a bit of a mess. More so now that her larger-than-life character is not there to bring it all to life. She was racing time to put the finishing touches to yet another exhibition. She loved her home, her garden, her friends, and her art.


I guess she would have to be described as an eccentric. She waged battles with alcohol and with depression, and won them every-so-often. She maintained she was cut out for neither marriage, nor children, but made do with a few solid relationships. She was the sort of character who took no prisoners, judging from some of the stories I have read in the press today. Straight questions received blunt answers. Pretentious questions were deflected. Twice she figured in the premier portrait competition in Australia, The Archibald Prize at the AG-NSW. Both times as the winning subject. In 1948 she was painted by William Dobell, and in 2011 she was painted by Ben Quilty.


In 1964, she set up her easel one street further over from her terrace, and painted this group of Victorian terraces at the bottom of Union Street, just up from Five Ways. I reproduced it today in photographic form for you. Olley herself was a wealthy woman through judicious investment in tenements/terraces in the early '60s in Paddinton. Just as the renovation phase got underway in earnest. The money she made, she invested in Australian art. Eventually she gave most of this art to various galleries.

I did not know her personally, but Olley was a joy. Thank you and farewell.


I took three of these images: the top terrace, the terraces in Union Street, and the AG-NSW. All the rest I pilfered from either the SMH, The Australian, the ABC or the AG-NSW. There was plenty out there today to 'borrow' from.

Sunday in my City - Water on tap

On Art Gallery Road, near Robbie Burns memorial

Top left: Victor Chang memorial opposite St Vincents Top Right: Hyde Park south, near War Memorial Bottom Left: Mid Central Ave, that joined Gardens with Domain Bottom Right: Grand Drive, Centennial Park

Water is the most precious of commodities. More precious than gold. More precious that shares. Nearly as precious as education, but not as precious as love. We drink it, we cook with it, we bathe in it, we launder in it, we flush with it. Human household uses. But there are also industrial uses and agricultural uses. Water was a marginalised natural resource that was taken for granted. But that is all changing.

Australia is an arid country, and it is not alone on the planet in that respect. Our rainfall pattern is around the coastal fringes, and obviously this is where the population exists. We have creeks, but not a plethora of massive running rivers. No Niles, Mississips. No Rhines, no Danubes.No Amazons, no Yangtzes. Our main river system, one that drains a massive area of the entire continent, is the Murray-Darling which is nearly 3,500 km long.

All three bubblers are in the Botanic Gardens, the two small ones are same bubbler from different angle

Consumers the world over, for the last decade, have been convinced that the only good water to drink is the water that comes in small plastic bottles. This may not be totally true, but it does have people taking water where-e’er they go, and drinking water more frequently. Drinking fountains (bubblers) went out of fashion when advertisers told us that they transmitted diseases and were unclean.

All the bubblers featured here are very close to the inner city, and in areas that were developed in the middle of the 19th century. There are bubblers all over our city and in our major parks. I lost count how many there are in Centennial Park. Nowadays, these are all connected to our main water supply.

Today, I feature the humbler bubbler. Tomorrow, the bubbler gets a roof over its head.

Near Mrs Macquarie's Chair overlooking the Opera House

A member of the Sunday in my City community.

Rodin at the AG-NSW

The second maquette for The Burghers of Calais, 1885. Cast in 1972.		The Burghers sacrificed themselves to Edward III in 1347 to save Calais from extermination at the hands of the English during the 100 Years War.
	In the indecision of that last inner combat which ensues between their cause and their fear of dying, each of them is isolated in front of his conscience.
They are still questioning themselves to know if they have the strength to accomplish the supreme sacrifice. Auguste Rodin		Dressed in sackcloth and wearing a noose around their neck, they trudged to the English camp and presented themselves to the King. At the intercession of Edward's Queen, the six hostages were spared