Chris

Drawings of an ancient Greek sculptural frieze showing men transforming into dolphins, amongst other things

Also on the frieze of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates!

👏

The 1928 Trimontium marker in 2003

collage of Indigenous Australian artworks created by scratching designs into enamelled metal signs

collage of Indigenous Australian artworks created by scratching designs into enamelled metal signs

collage of Indigenous Australian artworks created by scratching designs into enamelled metal signs

collage of Indigenous Australian sculptures created by scratching designs into enamelled metal signs

#Sydney #AGNSW ‘Yolŋu Power, the art of Yirrkala’. My favourite: repurposing of scrap metal and road signs, transformed by intricate scratched designs. 3/3

collage of Indigenous Australian sculptures

collage of Indigenous Australian sculptures

collage of Indigenous Australian sculptures

collage of Indigenous Australian sculptures

#Sydney #AGNSW ‘Yolŋu Power, the art of Yirrkala’. Amazing sculpted forms, ancient and modern. 2/3

collage of Indigenous Australian paintings

collage of Indigenous Australian paintings

collage of Indigenous Australian paintings

collage of Indigenous Australian paintings

#Sydney #AGNSW ‘Yolŋu Power, the art of Yirrkala’. Fantastic bark paintings and canvasses. 1/3

a photo of a vast subterranean tank full of thin columns, lit up mysteriously

a photo of a vast subterranean tank full of thin columns, lit up mysteriously - green light

a photo of a vast subterranean tank full of thin columns, lit up mysteriously - red light

a photo of a vast subterranean tank full of thin columns, lit up mysteriously - blue light

#Sydney #AGNSW #NelsonPackerTank ‘Yalu’, by The Mulka Project. Atmospheric lights in the subterranean tank, changing to a soundtrack suggesting Yolŋu country in the far north including an electric storm.

a statue of a gilt Bodhisattva, about 800 years old

a pair of elegantly painted screen and details, about 125 years old

various objects, many of which don’t look like vases

#Sydney #AGNSW #AsianLantern Some permanent exhibition highlights including avant guard Sogetsu ikebana vessels.

minimalist sculpture using rocks, and a photo of the arts in a rocky area

two views of a minimalist sculpture using rocks, pebbles, and a shiny metal curve

minimalist sculptures using rocks, one also with a rusty metal cylinder

a gallery of minimalistic painted works

#Sydney #AGNSW #AsianLantern Exhibition ‘Quiet Resonance’ of some of Lee Ufan’s minimalist sculptural work (first encountered recently in Japan!)

photos of an expansive and upmarket cafe and a meal of pie and coffee

#Sydney Lunch at the #AGNSW member’s room, much classier than the cafe! (and the #NGVI & #NGVA!)

a collage of photos of an installation showing calendars on teal walls and many red/orange boxes

photos of a letter sent to me and the letter I sent to someone else and the folded orange envelope they form

walk poster for the exhibition

#Sydney #AGNSW Hikoko Ito ‘Happy Birthday 2U2’ - Delightful, joyful installation where you can send a message to an unknown ‘twin’, someone who shares the same birth date as you. Thanks and happy birthday, Mitch! And happy birthday, unknown twin!

a collage of paintings

a collage of sculptures

a collage of photos of a sculpture

a collage of sculptures

#Sydney #AGNSW #WynnePrize The “best landscape painting [or] figure sculpture”… this year there were many impressive sculptures. Winner AND my choice: Jude Rae ‘Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal’. 2/2

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

#Sydney #AGNSW #WynnePrize The strange combination “best landscape painting [or] figure sculpture” usually produces great landscapes and a couple of laughable sculptures; the greater recognition of Indigenous paintings in the last decade has revolutionised the prize … 1/2

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

#Sydney #AGNSW The #ArchibaldPrize is for “the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics”. Winner: Julie Fragar ‘Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene)’; my choice: Adrian Jangala Robertson ‘Warwick Thornton’. 2/2

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

#Sydney #AGNSW The #ArchibaldPrize is for “the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics” and is hugely popular through I find it always a mixed bag (this year was good though). 1/2

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

a collage of paintings

#Sydney #AGNSW The #SulmanPrize is the most curious of the ‘big 3’: “best subject/genre painting and/or murals/mural project” - and it’s fascinating how artists (and judges) interpret the old-fashioned rules. Winner: Gene A’Hern ‘Sky painting’; my choice: Ildiko Kovacs ‘Tracing light’.

A shitty map created by ChatGPT5. it purports to be US States with an R in their name, but it's wrong and dumb and worthless just like LLMs.

My goto is to ask LLMs how many states have R in their name. They always fail. GPT 5 included Indiana, Illinois, and Texas in its list. It then asked me if I wanted an alphabetical highlighted map. Sure, why not.

Dumb map made by ai

I asked ChatGPT where New Jefst is, it insisted there was no such place. I then showed it the map it had itself created, and after a few more questions it offered to make me a similar map for Australia. So kind.

Still from the 1941 film "Love on the Dole", with the unfortunate subtitle "She's a strange lassie's arsehole".

Catastrophic subtitling on the 1941 movie "Love on the Dole".

(It should read "She's a strange lass, is our Sal"...)

We need to teach people the difference between being uncomfortable and being unsafe. Because the discomfort of the safest people is endangering the most vulnerable, all day every day.

three photos of an Art Deco building’s internal stair and one photo of a cocktail

#Sydney Post theatre drinks at the very swanky #TheRoosevelt - I’ve so often walked past but never been in before. Run by the Eau de Vie guys as a 1950s-style bar, it’s part of the Deco ensemble including the spectacular 1939 Metro-Minerva Theatre by CB Dellit (designer of the ANZAC War Memorial).

scenes from a theatrical production showing four actors between songs

#Sydney #HayesTheatre Being Alive. A carefully strung pearl necklace, a compendium of Sondheim songs from various sources, impeccably performed by a great cast. Sadly not a complete musical but this is almost as good!

three people happy with anticipation

#Sydney After drinks and dinner we went to the #HayesTheatre for the traditional Sondheim

Six colourful and wonderful portraits painted by young Australians aged 6-17

Six colourful and wonderful portraits painted by young Australians aged 6-17

Six colourful and wonderful portraits painted by young Australians aged 6-17

#Sydney #AGNSW some highlights from the wonderful #YoungArchies, deservedly hung in the grand entry level Kaldor Hall.

collage of pictures: colourful prints of gay indigenous youth

collage of pictures: tow group paintings nearly 100 years apart

collage of pictures: painting and a sculpture

collage of pictures: two paintings, one apocalyptic, one a stylised aerial landscape in patches of red and white dots

#Sydney Some #AGNSW pics: Dylan Mooney, prints from ‘Queer, Blak and here’, 2020; paintings in the main concourse including by previous finalists of the #ArchibaldPrize; Peter Booth’s 1981 ‘Painting’; Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s ‘Antara’, 2014.

Ionic scrolled column capitals in golden sandstone

photos of a Classical porch showing columns, the door, and a new artwork over the door

delicate volutes Ionic capitals inside a building

two identically dressed young men look at a homoerotic sculpture of a naked man writhing with a serpent

#Sydney The #AGNSW old building has a wonderfully welcoming sandstone front by Walter Liberty Vernon, old-fashioned for him (1896-1909) but required by the gallery trustees, using the delightful ‘honeysuckle’ Ionic from the C5th BCE Erechtheion on the Acropolis, Athens, a C19th favourite.

“Gagging”

a sculpture of a lady in front of some scraggly Wollemi pines

two garden sculptures: an echidna eyes off an ant trail; Keith looks askance

a sculptural fountain; a glowing ginkgo; metal arum lilies in a pond

views from either end of a huge Victorian palm shade

#Sydney Wandering through the #RoyalBotanicGarden on a gloomy but mild day.

*MUCH* better!

Wagon wheel?