Anja

Today I discovered Anja Mulder, via Seesaw.

 

  

  

  

  

 

 Love her pictures. Love Seesaw.

Ron Mueck

Today we went to the Ron Mueck exhibition at the NGV. His work is truly astonishing - I've never seen anything like it.

The realism of his works, both oversized and miniature, is so great that it really messes with your mind .... even when examining them up close, it's difficult to accept that the subjects are sculpted artworks rather than real people frozen in some bizarre Lilliputian world.

Upon entering the exhibition (having passed the tiny but perfect 'Dead Dad'), we faced the rather confronting form of a giant new-born infant, umbilical cord and hair still glistening with placental matter (!)

What an introduction to Mueck's world!

While I absolutely love all of his pieces, I think my favourite is the Wild Man.

"Wild Man shows signs of extreme anxiety, even terror; he grips the stool and his toes press down onto the floor. The artist has made him look doubly vulnerable. Despite dwarfing us mere mortals who look at him – he is nearly three metres high – his state of ongoing fear elicits a sympathetic response from us. Instead of our feeling intimidated by him, he seems intimidated by us."*

    

 

 

Photos cannot do justice to the wonder of these sculptures .... if you ever have the chance to see a Mueck exhibition, go go go!

 

Image sources:
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3 
Photo 4
Photo 5
Photo 6
Photo 7
Photo 8
Photo 9
Photo 10

*Wild Man blurb from here

The London Jungle Book

Found at BibliOdyssey:

"Bhajju is a brilliant artist from the Gond tribe in central India, and this book is a visual travelogue of his impressions in London. With radical innocence and great sophistication, Bhajju brings the signs of the forest to bear on the city, turning London into an exotic jungle." [back cover blurb]

"I have combined the rooster, which is the symbol for time in Gond art, and Big Ben, which is the symbol of time for London. I have turned the dial of Big Ben into the eye of the rooster, because it seemed to me that Big Ben is like a big eye, forever watching over London, reminding people of the time. Symbols are the most important thing in Gond art, and every symbol is a story, standing in for something else. So this painting was the easiest for me to do, because it had two perfect symbols coming together."

 

"The heaviest animal I have ever seen is an elephant. So that is the creature that came to mind when I painted the plane. A plane taking off is as much of a miracle as an elephant flying. I have put the trees upside down in the sky, and the clouds below, because flying turned my world upside down."

 

"Everyone was a foreigner - all kinds of skin colours and all kinds of hair. I had seen foreigners before - some of them had visited my village to look at our paintings, but now I realized that something strange had happened. My colour was different, my language was taken away from me ... I myself had become a foreigner!"

 

"Although I liked the underground very much, I still preferred to get to to work everyday by bus, because one stopped right outside my door. [...]
I have turned the Number 30 bus into a dog, because like a dog, it was a faithful and loyal friend to me. London buses look very friendly too, and fit in with the good spirit of the faithful dog."

'The London Jungle Book' © Tara Publishing 2004
(in association with The Museum of London)
Art: Bhajju Shyam
Text: Sirish Rao & Gita Wolf (from Bhajju's oral narration)
Design: Rathna Ramanathan*, Minus9 Design*

Find more delights at Tara Books ...

Race day

Three things I've never done before:

1. Travel by train from Melbourne to the Macedon Ranges

2. Attend a horse race

3. Display or wear Australian patriotic paraphernalia, especially on Australia Day
(for me this conjures up images of racist bogans (rednecks/chavs) behaving like morons .... I know it needn't, but it always does)

 

Thus, today was a day of firsts. Serena had organised a marquee at the country races, so we set off early in the sparkling sunshine to have our own little Picnic at Hanging Rock.

We watched some horses running very fast and then turned to people-watching from our strategically-placed tent, all the while enjoying a huge range of delicious culinary treats.

 

 

Getting into the spirit of Australia Day, Serena brought along countless Australian-themed flags, tattoos, hats, stubbie-holders (beer coolers), plates, napkins, cutlery, undies (!), wigs, fans etc...... Eeek!
I was tentative at first but in the end I succumbed to the spirit of the occasion and donned a little tattoo heart.

We had a really lovely day. I'm glad I did three things that I've never done before.

Always wash your brights in cold water

 

 

 

 

 

Yamauchi Kazuaki seems to have a thing for bright colours.

More browsing

I discovered Martin Klatsch's blog tonight - I fear that many happy hours could be spent lost in there ...

 

 

 

 

 

Coloured eggs

I'm smitten with these beautiful Polish sewing cotton labels:

 

 

 

See more over here.

(found here)

Why not ...?

Ophidiophobiacs, look away now!

The Rainbow Serpent comes to life in these stunning photos by Guido Mocafico:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature's been having fun with her paintbox! I think they're lovely.


(found via Dear Ada)