Guggenheim at the NGV
Well, what could quite possibly be what has been hailed as one of the most exciting exhibitions to come to Melbourne in quite some time, I have now seen - and just in time! I'm still unconvinced by the NGV redesign though. But more of that in a minute.
Given all the things I had heard about this exhibition, I had envisioned a big white room hung with flat coloured canvases and a few sculptures in the middle of the room. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised by the scope and range and way the exhibition was displayed. It was also my first time really seeing the display halls being used for a public exhibition - although, aptly I did see a rather beautiful large Jackson Pollock displayed in the main room when the gallery reopened. However, the spaces were still too narrow for that many people to look in at things. Especially as it's school holidays (I assume with the amount of annoying teens about) and it's clear that younger people have no etiquette when it comes to viewing art. The set-out was done quite well with not only conceptual and rough genre shifts in contemporary art - but also a rough guide of time. There were certainly a few staple artists who you'd expected - Warhol had his electric chair series (and upstairs there was another Warhol in the UBS collection, which excited me), there was a Pollock or two, a Fontana, and a McCarthy (that I didn't even recognise as a McCarthy *facepalm*) - and a few people who I knew a little of their work but was really excited to see some of it up close and personal for what it was - including watching one and a half of the features of 'the Cremaster Cycle' by Barney, revealed to me by
igitha on youtube, but certainly was more in tune with what was going on in a room saturated with noise and a melange of people, some excited, some mesmerised, some clearly nervous and some plain and simple uncomfortable - and then there was some really beautiful stuff that me as an uneducated art-fan had no prior knowledge of and really fell in love.
This certainly made for a lovely two hours just wandering around. This was partly so because there seems to be a covert attack on seating at the gallery - something that irritates me given I go to not only look at art, but to be inspired by art, and also I think that it's important to not only look at individual artworks but take in a room as a whole. Anyway, clearly I'm in the minority. I like to feel that I could spend 8 hours in an exhibition if I wanted to. Anyway, after participating in Gonzalez-Torres' work 'Untitled' (Public Opinion) 1991, and taking my licorice, I got a pass out and went in search of some food. I wandered up to the cafe, which sadly, is still no match for the restaurant that used to be the gallery staple, only proved by the fact that I knew the menu better than the wait-staff. Reminded of the lunches I used to have with my grandfather in the cafe, I felt almost distinctly lonely, so tried my mum to see if I could share my lunch with her over the phone at the very least, sadly, I find she's in Manilla this week - like you do. So I finished my diet coke and had a wee look in to the fashion exhibit of the moment. I then wandered into the UBS contemporary art exhibit which was on the third floor, which I found a few things that really hit me hard. Maybe I was more susceptable given I had a full belly, but oh well. I saw one bench too, but a lady had beaten me to it. I was delightfully surprised by a few of the aircon vents that the 'new' gallery has, which come from the middle of the floor in what look like path lights inlaid in the floor... Luckily I wasn't wearing a skirt.
Anyway, I think the Potter NGV at Fed Square has done a real nice job of putting together the Australian collection with a nice sense of continuity between collections, but with clear directions on how to get to a singular group of paintings should you not have a lot of time. My original complaint with the NGV redo on St Kilda Road was that originally you had to go through the entire gallery to get to the single section you wanted and then you had to continue through the rest of the gallery to get out, now they've got rid of the connecting pathways so there's little to no continuity between the separate sections... so they've gone from one extreme to the other. Also, the entrance has become entirely confusing.
But, one of the nicest things, was looking out across the entrance while eating lunch I saw these kids playing with the water wall... a memory we're all pretty fond of if you were a kid in Melbourne, I'm sure. One kid ran up and put both his hands on the wall and then his head onto it as well, just to spite his mother. Then another kid was so fascinated, he didn't seem to be able to understand what was going on, until he finally gave into temptation and gently stuck his tongue out and licked the glass... this was all very amusing, until I read the sign next to it saying 'Did you know that the water wall uses recycled water?' Then I shuddered and tried to keep on eating. Meanwhile, somewhere just in the background I could hear the asian busker who was outside playing beautiful thai music... And Melbourne never ceases to amaze me how much it changes month to month...
And on that note, all you Melbournians, Spiegeltent is on the way... It's half up - the most important part is up, the bar. I'm gonna be there more this year, who's joining me?
Given all the things I had heard about this exhibition, I had envisioned a big white room hung with flat coloured canvases and a few sculptures in the middle of the room. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised by the scope and range and way the exhibition was displayed. It was also my first time really seeing the display halls being used for a public exhibition - although, aptly I did see a rather beautiful large Jackson Pollock displayed in the main room when the gallery reopened. However, the spaces were still too narrow for that many people to look in at things. Especially as it's school holidays (I assume with the amount of annoying teens about) and it's clear that younger people have no etiquette when it comes to viewing art. The set-out was done quite well with not only conceptual and rough genre shifts in contemporary art - but also a rough guide of time. There were certainly a few staple artists who you'd expected - Warhol had his electric chair series (and upstairs there was another Warhol in the UBS collection, which excited me), there was a Pollock or two, a Fontana, and a McCarthy (that I didn't even recognise as a McCarthy *facepalm*) - and a few people who I knew a little of their work but was really excited to see some of it up close and personal for what it was - including watching one and a half of the features of 'the Cremaster Cycle' by Barney, revealed to me by
igitha on youtube, but certainly was more in tune with what was going on in a room saturated with noise and a melange of people, some excited, some mesmerised, some clearly nervous and some plain and simple uncomfortable - and then there was some really beautiful stuff that me as an uneducated art-fan had no prior knowledge of and really fell in love.
This certainly made for a lovely two hours just wandering around. This was partly so because there seems to be a covert attack on seating at the gallery - something that irritates me given I go to not only look at art, but to be inspired by art, and also I think that it's important to not only look at individual artworks but take in a room as a whole. Anyway, clearly I'm in the minority. I like to feel that I could spend 8 hours in an exhibition if I wanted to. Anyway, after participating in Gonzalez-Torres' work 'Untitled' (Public Opinion) 1991, and taking my licorice, I got a pass out and went in search of some food. I wandered up to the cafe, which sadly, is still no match for the restaurant that used to be the gallery staple, only proved by the fact that I knew the menu better than the wait-staff. Reminded of the lunches I used to have with my grandfather in the cafe, I felt almost distinctly lonely, so tried my mum to see if I could share my lunch with her over the phone at the very least, sadly, I find she's in Manilla this week - like you do. So I finished my diet coke and had a wee look in to the fashion exhibit of the moment. I then wandered into the UBS contemporary art exhibit which was on the third floor, which I found a few things that really hit me hard. Maybe I was more susceptable given I had a full belly, but oh well. I saw one bench too, but a lady had beaten me to it. I was delightfully surprised by a few of the aircon vents that the 'new' gallery has, which come from the middle of the floor in what look like path lights inlaid in the floor... Luckily I wasn't wearing a skirt.
Anyway, I think the Potter NGV at Fed Square has done a real nice job of putting together the Australian collection with a nice sense of continuity between collections, but with clear directions on how to get to a singular group of paintings should you not have a lot of time. My original complaint with the NGV redo on St Kilda Road was that originally you had to go through the entire gallery to get to the single section you wanted and then you had to continue through the rest of the gallery to get out, now they've got rid of the connecting pathways so there's little to no continuity between the separate sections... so they've gone from one extreme to the other. Also, the entrance has become entirely confusing.
But, one of the nicest things, was looking out across the entrance while eating lunch I saw these kids playing with the water wall... a memory we're all pretty fond of if you were a kid in Melbourne, I'm sure. One kid ran up and put both his hands on the wall and then his head onto it as well, just to spite his mother. Then another kid was so fascinated, he didn't seem to be able to understand what was going on, until he finally gave into temptation and gently stuck his tongue out and licked the glass... this was all very amusing, until I read the sign next to it saying 'Did you know that the water wall uses recycled water?' Then I shuddered and tried to keep on eating. Meanwhile, somewhere just in the background I could hear the asian busker who was outside playing beautiful thai music... And Melbourne never ceases to amaze me how much it changes month to month...
And on that note, all you Melbournians, Spiegeltent is on the way... It's half up - the most important part is up, the bar. I'm gonna be there more this year, who's joining me?