My birthday came around quickly, this year I spent my time in Melbourne catching up wit friends and I was lucky enough to spend a few hours exploring the National Gallery of Victoria and their Melbourne Now exhibition.
The exhibition itself covers not only what you might expect to see in a gallery, such as work by artists, but also work by designers, architects, choreographers, intellectuals and community groups. As you can imagine by the name, this exhibition is showcasing the talents of the people who have shaped the art world in Melbourne and those who continue to do so.
One of my favorite works was by Patricia Piccinini named The Carrier (2012). This work reminded me a lot of Rob Mueck's hyperrealist sculptures, in fact I thought it was one of his works seeing as he is also a Melbourne born artist. My favorite part of viewing Patricia's work was watching how the other views interacted with it. Many viewers were very cautious, maybe thinking that the sculpture would move? was it real? One little boy mustered up the courage to touch the male figures stomach then jumped back in surprise, "Mum! It feels real!"
I enjoyed the relationship between the two figures, the cave-man-like-figure holding the older lady, in what looks like a very uncomfortable way to hold someone. I liked the passage that I found in the Melbourne Now Exhibition Guide that said "The figures' relationship is ambiguous. Are they mistress and servant, or simply unlikely friends, embarked on a journey together? It's nice to believe the latter, but hard to forget that humans rarely treat other animals equitably."
After considering this phrase it was funny to see how the female's face changed, at first I had thought that this sculpture could have easily been plucked from a book like Where the Wild Things Are, and maybe they were friends. But after considering what I had read I noticed a stern look to her face that I didn't see before.
I will add some pictures (sorry about the bad phone quality photos) below of other works that caught my eye, I wish I had time to write about them all! I do highly suggest anyone who is in the Melbourne area, or just visiting, go and see this exhibition - It doesn't even cost anything!
The exhibition itself covers not only what you might expect to see in a gallery, such as work by artists, but also work by designers, architects, choreographers, intellectuals and community groups. As you can imagine by the name, this exhibition is showcasing the talents of the people who have shaped the art world in Melbourne and those who continue to do so.
One of my favorite works was by Patricia Piccinini named The Carrier (2012). This work reminded me a lot of Rob Mueck's hyperrealist sculptures, in fact I thought it was one of his works seeing as he is also a Melbourne born artist. My favorite part of viewing Patricia's work was watching how the other views interacted with it. Many viewers were very cautious, maybe thinking that the sculpture would move? was it real? One little boy mustered up the courage to touch the male figures stomach then jumped back in surprise, "Mum! It feels real!"
I enjoyed the relationship between the two figures, the cave-man-like-figure holding the older lady, in what looks like a very uncomfortable way to hold someone. I liked the passage that I found in the Melbourne Now Exhibition Guide that said "The figures' relationship is ambiguous. Are they mistress and servant, or simply unlikely friends, embarked on a journey together? It's nice to believe the latter, but hard to forget that humans rarely treat other animals equitably."
After considering this phrase it was funny to see how the female's face changed, at first I had thought that this sculpture could have easily been plucked from a book like Where the Wild Things Are, and maybe they were friends. But after considering what I had read I noticed a stern look to her face that I didn't see before.
I will add some pictures (sorry about the bad phone quality photos) below of other works that caught my eye, I wish I had time to write about them all! I do highly suggest anyone who is in the Melbourne area, or just visiting, go and see this exhibition - It doesn't even cost anything!