it's winter, it's cold, but quite inspiring

Winter has hit Hobart, that's for sure. The last week has been cold, drizzly and grey.

It has been made somewhat brighter by the DarkMofo event being held at the moment in Hobart. It is quite an unusual collection of events really, music, performance and exhibitions, but I think it will be hard to beat this beauty called Spectra, by Tokyo artist Ryoji Ikeda.

It's just stunning.

From the catalogue, "Imagine a tower of pure, white light, reaching fifteen kilometres into the Hobart sky above the Domain. At the base of the tower, forty-nine custom-made Xenon searchlights are set into the ground in a seven-by-seven grid; combined, they point a fleshless finger at our town straight down, it seems, from some sort of imagined, omniscient seat in the sky.

Sine waves - the purest kind of sound wave - form invisible sonic patterns at the base; your movement alters their composition in a way that only you can specify. Indeed, your experience is unlike your friends', or anyone else's at all. Now, stop imagining, and wait until nightfall."

Lyn, Molly and I dropped in to get a closeup look of it the other night. In the car Lyn was complaining about  me being a bloody artist dragging him out in the cold and drizzle to see some bloody lights and don't you now, he loved it! So did Molly, excepting the sounds. They were a bit scary for her.

I popped back last night to get some pics. It really is one of the best installations I have ever seen. Just don't mention the power bill.

I am sorry again for being so slack here on this little blog. I have been so busy at work and at home too. I will be back soon to tell you what I have been up to :)

I hope you are all well and keeping warm.

Love Sar xx

Mona visit

I have been so slow to post these pics! I popped out to one of the Saturday markets at MONA museum a short while ago and was rather taken with these tepee installations.

Above and below are images taken of a display case featuring bits and bobs from the studio of Archibald Prize winning artist, Geoff Dyer. I remember visiting his studio many years ago and had thoughts of artist Jackson Pollock - it was so messy. Makes me look like a neat freak - and that's saying something!

Below is part of his installation too. All these little paint tubes were set out on the floor in the tepee. I just loved this! Almost like order and chaos at the same time.

Above - the top of a tepee

The next installation/tepee featured colonial style artworks of native animals set up like an altar.

This last tepee was filled with strips of fabric and gold painted bits and pieces. Unfortunately I am not sure who created it.

Ok, so they're slightly kooky and not everyone's cup of tea, but I found them so interesting!

It's always good to see something that's out of your comfort zone as I'm sure that's how you get new, fresh ideas. Anything here take your fancy?

Well, it's almost Easter! Exciting. 

I will be back on Friday with some Eastery goodness :)

xx

Another visit to Mona Museum

During my holiday break Lyndon and I popped out to Mona museum for another look.

I still hadn't been into the museum's library, the Keiffer Pavillion and there was also a new exhibition by Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye to see.

The image above is a concrete mixer truck made from cut steel by Wim Delvoye. It was sitting outside in the elements and I thought it was just stunning.

It was nice to see the rooftop gardens were growing nicely too.

Some more shots of the truck sculpture.

The silhouettes are reminicent of cathedral shapes.

Wim Delvoye's work was amazing. Some of it was stunning, whilst other parts of it was more stunning for other reasons (if you get my drift). Really too hard to describe. In one gallery a man named Tim was sitting on a display plinth, his heavily tattooed back to us. It took me a long time to realise that he was in fact breathing! He really must have mastered the practice of meditation. The artist had designed and created his tattoo so he had become a living piece of art.

Above and below is a work by Anselm Keifer. It lives in its own purpose-built space and is made from sheets of metal and glass. It represents books in a bookcase.

In the library area I also discovered a huge twin panel Brett Whitely painting. It was amazing. I couldn't get a good photo though.

And to finish off, a super cheery Takashi Murakami cushion on the floor of the library. I just adore his work.

Going out to Mona is always entertaining, thought provoking and eye opening!

Fellow blogger Kerry posted about her visit to Mona the other day. Check out her post for some great images.

xx

A mini MONA tour

Mum and I went out to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) for a visit today.

This time I took more pics so I could show those of you who aren't in Tassie.

Above is the very large forecourt. The original owner's home is in the top left of the image, you can see the white chimney. This is the entrance to the museum. From there you go down 3 storeys to start viewing the art and antiquities.

Above is the view to the right. A nice spot for a game of tennis, though it was very cold and blustery today.

Fabulous architecture...

The rooftop gardens were so so pretty. So many colours! The steel fence (shown above) was making a wonderful whistling noise in the wind. Not sure if that was intentional or not. Probably.

Above is the old house mentioned in the first pic, built by the owners, the Alcorso's, in the 60's, designed by famous Australian modernist architect, Sir Roy Grounds, who also designed another house on the site which is in the process of becoming a library.

Below is the stairway down to the jetty. They have ferries coming up from the Hobart waterfront. Mum and I just drove though, as it is only about 10 minutes from Molly's Maison.

As I mentioned last week, for me the best part of the gallery is the architecture. It was designed by Melbourne architect Nonda Katsalidis . It was built into the side of the property and this MASSIVE sandstone wall is an amazing internal feature...

Taken from above, there is a funky bar on the ground floor, with the sandstone as a stunning backdrop.

At the end of the passage is this fabulous artwork, bit.fall by Julius Popp. Water droplets spell out words from common google searches. Quite amazing...

Snake, by Sidney Nolan is about 46 metres long and 9 metres tall. The curved wall was built especially for it.

It was really too dark to take pics inside, especially with my little iTouch doodad, but while we were there a tv crew interviewed the owner David Walsh for the ABC Sunday Arts show I believe. That's him on the bottom right in the red shirt.

One part I would have loved to have shown you, but it was really too dark was a special room that you walk in, only 2 people at a time, to view the coffin and Egyptian mummy of Pausiris, approximately 2000 years old.

When you enter there is a pale pathway of stepping stones set in a shallow but very dark pond of water. At the end of the stones are two, crypt-like shapes. One houses the mummy and the other is a screen that shows a colour scan that in slow motion reveals the inside of the mummy. It is quite eerie, unlike anything I have seen. A unique experience.

Sorry my pics are a bit limited and a bit blurry, but hopefully it might inspire you to plan a visit to Tasmania :)

ps I did ask permission to post these shots.

pps. with all the high temperatures on the mainland, would you believe I am sitting with a mohair rug around me as it thunders and pours outside? It's grey and miserable.

xx

Lots of cake + MONA = a good day

Today has been a good day. Yes, it's Australia Day and yes, it's a day off work for me, but it has also been a generally rather good one.

First thing we sat around with a cuppa and watched some episodes of True Blood.

I then baked my very first Sponge Cake. I ended up with two different textured halves as I forgot to add water to the mixture and so added it to the second half. Not bad, not perfect, but the jam and creamy middle is good.

Lunch was a bbq over at Mum and Dad's. Yum.

Then, Lyn and I went out to the newly opened MONA (museum of old and new art).

One word.....WOWZA!!!

Absolutely world class. A lot of great art, a lot of ugly art, amazing antiquities but well worth a visit for the architecture alone. It has to be one of the most incredible spaces I have been in.  The massive sandstone walls were stunning! All in little old Hobart.

So, now it's wine-o'clock. I hope you have all had a nice day too!

xx