Adelaide is a tricky place to get to, it’s surrounded by desert and is parked in the groin of Australia. I had to head down there for work and was lucky enough to discover some of the most extraordinary gallery curation I have ever seen in my life. Even at revered institutions like the Royal Academy in London and MOMA in New York, I have … Continue reading Extraordinary curation at the Art Gallery of South Australia
I’ve decided to go back to school and learn to draw all over again. After spending 20 years in the mad world of advertising, my drawing skills became institutionalised. They became kind of pictionary-esque quick-draws to get an idea across as quickly and simply as possible. It’s a joy to step back into school, at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and pick … Continue reading Back to basics, re-learning to draw
When you think about religious art, the first thing that comes to mind for many is little baby Jesus with a golden halo. Not so, when it comes to the Blake Prize which explores the religious and spiritual in art. One year a textured abstract took the $25,000 prize. Another year, a Buddhist entry scooped the prize. I’ve always wanted to enter the Blake but … Continue reading What my teddy bear taught me about idolatry
Last Saturday, bleary-eyed, we got up early and drove for an hour to Canberra in the ute with Trim, our kelpie, in the back to have breakfast at the National Gallery of Australia. Patricia Piccinini’s SkyWhale was being inflated and was about to glide across the capital in a flying sculptural tribute to Canberra’s 100th birthday. We’d been invited to breakfast and I had expected … Continue reading Suddenly I was breakfasting with Patricia Piccinini and Vivien Lovell
It’s nothing much to look at. A few words in a column relegated to things to do to fill in lazy Friday afternoon. But for me it was a big deal, huge. Being invited to showcase my work in Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (GRAG) as part of ‘A Snapshot’ series meant so much to me. Not only did I get to share gallery space with the … Continue reading What is smaller than matchbox but can move mountains?
If anyone knows anything about Sidney Nolan, they know his Ned Kelly series: an Australian bushranger immortalised in enamel on hardboard, many painted on the kitchen table of Heidi on the outskirts of Melbourne while Sunday Reed made steaming cups of tea and writhed in the bedsheets. I thought I knew the works of Nolan. I was wrong. One wing in MONA is dedicated to … Continue reading A mammoth work of staggering brilliance: Nolan’s Snake
A trip to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania is the closest you’ll get to entering Hades. In a good way. Carved into a mountain, you drop into the dark depths of the museum and then flail your way back to the surface. This photo is looking down into the complicated web-like stair structures that emerge from the darkness. A … Continue reading A dark journey into sex, death and the purgatory in between
Jack Featherstone is an amazing man. He spent a great deal of his life travelling the Australian outback, giving dental care to remote communities and investigating the bacteria of the mouths of Indigenous Australians. His paintings are wonderfully naive, but what I love the most are the stories that go with them. It made me realise while it’s fine to make pretty pictures, the works … Continue reading Art with a story is better than art for art’s sake
I didn’t know Bea Maddock’s work until I saw it on the walls of the National Gallery of Victoria. There’s something soul-destroyingly sad about her work that I can’t quite put my finger on.The statement as you enter the gallery is touched with melancholy, about an artist who tries to crack the art world, doesn’t quite make a living, retreats home and hones her craft. … Continue reading Walking into an eerie sadness with Bea Maddock at the NGV
I’m looking at the months ahead and they look like a gaping yawn, a wide open mouth ready to devour me. After a relaxed Easter, I’m in danger of dropping into that post-exhibition dark hole. I know what I have to do next, I just have to do it. But at the moment, there’s an unfinished work on the easel and I’m doing what … Continue reading Is video art real art?
Ray Monde 