It’s the world’s best known and, these days, its most popular museum. You could tell that by the queue. It snaked, zig-zag fashion, from a tent inside the vast forecourt to outside in the street. There were no special attractions, just the usual broad ranging fascinating stuff. Less than one percent of their hoard isContinue reading ” WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, THERE’S ALWAYS THE BRITISH MUSEUM”
Category Archives: art
NO L-AUGH-ING MATTER
Such was the man’s fame that there’s a hotel in Tenby that still advertises the fact that he got completely sloshed and left the manuscript of what is arguably his most famous work, Under Milk Wood, on the stool. I’m referring to Dylan Thomas and the Coaches and Horses Tavern, in the improbably named UpperContinue reading ” NO L-AUGH-ING MATTER”
THE SEARCH FOR THE BIN CHICKENS
I’d done nothing much in the morning, couldn’t think what to do with the afternoon. Then it clicked, there’s street art you haven’t seen yet. Previously, I’d stumbled across them while house sitting at Eveleigh. Hundreds even. This time I decided to look them up first. That’s when I found Scott Marsh. Well, actually, I’dContinue reading ” THE SEARCH FOR THE BIN CHICKENS”
THE GALLERY
Art IS civilization. It’s a measure of how advanced or not society has become. Thus, when I see a new gallery opening up I should be pleased. I’m not. Not all the art at Circular Quay is bad How many millions were spent on the new North Wing of the N.S.W. Art Gallery and howContinue reading ” THE GALLERY”
WATKIN STREET, WHO KNEW?
Yes, I realise it wasn’t lost, but people living just a few blocks away are unaware of its existence, so, perhaps a more accurate description would be “overlooked”. It’s maybe a reflection of the inner suburbs of Sydney that people seemingly aren’t that interested in either the historic architecture or the large bodyContinue reading ” WATKIN STREET, WHO KNEW?”
NOT ALL CATHEDRALS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Chartres was the goal, the “jewel in the crown of Gothic architecture”. We’d left Charles du Gaulle airport in record time, heading south in a rented Opel that smelt like a 50’s pub in Oz. It absolutely reeked of cigarette and, had it been easy to turn around and go back, we would have returnedContinue reading “NOT ALL CATHEDRALS ARE CREATED EQUAL”
STREETS AHEAD
I stood surprised. Here was a painting by Arthur Streeton. How it had managed to stay on display in the Chau Chak Museum (more in another article) mystified me because, not that far away at the Streeton Exhibition at the N.S.W. Art Gallery, they had clearly sourced far and wide. This one had escaped theirContinue reading “STREETS AHEAD”
KNOW MY NAME
it was strange was immediately obvious. A fallen and malleable Greek Corinthian style pillar; who knows, it might have once graced the Parthenon but – just when you least expect it – it moves! Snake like, it seems to follow you, about to pounce but, fear not! Its title is “Hello”. As Friedrich Nietzsche onceContinue reading “KNOW MY NAME”
THE ARBORETUM IS A WINNER
In 2019, the Canberra Region Tourist Attractions award went to a bunch of trees. Think about that; in Australia’s centre of government and public service, green came out a winner. Yet the whole project came from something awful – bushfires. In 2003, what was then mostly pine plantation was hit, along with manyContinue reading “THE ARBORETUM IS A WINNER”
THE SOON-TO-BE ICON
There are buildings in Australia that are inspirational. Obviously, the Sydney Opera House, MONA Gallery in Hobart, the post office in Perth, Melbourne’s historic district and a raft of others but, I would boldly suggest, none of them will retain your interest longer than the adventurous and highly imaginative National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Continue reading “THE SOON-TO-BE ICON”
Taking You To Places You've Never Been 