Street Art

I really like these two sculptures in Barack Street. There were placed there as part of Art and About last year. I don't know if they are going to stay or not.

Early Weekend Reflections

Reflections camouflage the entry to Hobart's weird and wonderful MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art.

From the weekend this post will link to James' Weekend Reflections.

Thompson

Street art in the mall in Hobart.

Childhood memories

Art and About (6)

Town Hall sculpture

These two sculptures are housed inside Sydney Town Hall.

An Ear for Music: From a large piece of Carrara marble, sculptor Peter Schipperheyn created a tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland who first sang in Sydney Town Hall in a student performance of the "Christmas Oratorio" in 1946. She maintained that the opportunity to sing in Sydney's Town Hall represented a pinnacle in her career. The sculpture, which features a large ear, draws analogy to the idea of sound and music. Shipperheyn's design appealed to the committee appointed to commission the work because it did not attempt to create a portrait of Dame Joan, or her operatic characters. According to Edmund Capon, Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, the work of Peter Shipperheyn, a self-taught artist, expresses hope, sensitivity, classicism and contemporanity.

Remember Nellie Melba: Recessed into the southern wall of the Main Hall of Sydney Town Hall is a bas relief inscribed "Remembering Nellie Melba", by Arthur Murch. Murch was a former engineer who had changed careers and after studying painting and sculpture became an official war artist during World War II. The tribute was proposed by Lord Lurgan, who as a vocalist toured Australia for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1939. As a young singer, Lurgan had received encouragement from Melba, and his tribute was intended to record Melba's great contribution to music in a venue where she had performed so often. The tablet depicts a figure in song with instrumental and natural accompaniment. It was unveiled by Her Excellency Lady Gowrie during the interval of the first War Fund Patriotic Concert arranged by the ABC in the Town Hall on 19 May 1941 on the anniversary of Melba's birthday.

Couldn't think of a title for this post but these sculptures are near the Art Gallery Cafe.

Finding a niche

Not what you usually see in these niches at the entry to the Art Gallery.

Art and About (5)

Art and About (4)

Another rather odd installation, "friendly" traffic signs dotted around the city, although the one above doesn't seem too friendly.

This one is set up next to the talking dog at Town Hall. That's him on the fountain to the right.

Art and About (3)

This has to be the strangest of the Art and About installations. Inside a small house set up in Queens Square outside the Barracks Museum, the rain falls and everything slowly decays. Its got something to do with how saying the wrong thing can cause everything to change and a relationship to decay. This is how I got water in the camera. It wasn't just a little rain in there, it was torrential.

Art and About (2)

I hope you can see these. They were taken with the point and shoot cranked up as high as it could go so the quality is pretty poor. This is my favourite of the Art and About installations that I have managed to see this year. I hope you can make out the faces watching from the trees.

Art and About

The top photo won Little Sydney Lives, the children's version of Sydney Life. There wasn't anything that really grabbed me in this year's Sydney Life. This one is clever and I liked it but I wouldn't call it a brilliant photo.

Atget at the Gallery

Finally got to see Old Paris, the wonderful Eugene Atget exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Here are a few of my favourites, together with a portrait of Atget by Berenice Abbott, made shortly before he died.

Art modern

These fall into the category of  "I don't understand modern art."

Weekend Reflections - Museum of Contemporary Art

The view from, and reflected in the glass of, the cafe.

For more reflections visit James' Weekend Reflections.

Museum of Contemporary Art - looking out

One thing the new gallery does have is a view, or views. Top, from the cafe and sculpture garden on the top level. Middle, looking back down the stairs and through the entrance. Bottom, from the glass fronted lift.

Museum of Contemporary Art - inside

Inside there's a lot of polished concrete and glass which is all rather grey but I did like the brightly painted toilets. I didn't have time to look at the gallery proper but, from a quick glance into one of the rooms, it looks worth another visit.

Museum of Contemporary Art - outside

This is the new extension to the Museum of Contemporary Art. I was quite prepared to hate it but found I was quite indifferent to it. I don't particularly like it but its not as obtrusive as I'd expected. From a distance its a nonentity in the cityscape.

No need to pay