June in Kiama is: lyrebird mating season, lillypilly ripening season, big swell season. the mandarins are sadly not up to victorian standards...
went to Sydney for 2 days to take in the biennale, have a couple of meetings and see lovely Tim Gruchy before he becomes an export with his lovely wife Rhana to NZ until further notice.... heard from Tim wild stories about Len Lye and a new museum dedicated to his copious work - also rumours about the grand and numerous private sculpture parks that seem to dot New Zealand... and here was I thinking that he might find it a bit quiet... Rhana is taking up the directorship at the Govett-Brewster gallery in New Plymouth... which sounds like they're doing some crazy stuff, and that's before Rhana has hit the deck...
Had a great morning with Lucas - first time I'd been to Petersham since reading his blog avidly - it was like stepping into the set of a movie or periodical that I had subscribed to - had breakfast at the famous 'Big Brekky', interspersed with a bit of a cultural tour of Petersham... bumped into Keg, who has been book-binding furiously and is starting up a sorta book binding/popups/embossing type business thingy called 'all thumbs press' - such a good name... cannot wait to see what she comes up with... maybe Cicada should do the MOB DVDs thru her....
Saw bits of the Sydney Biennale - got overwhelmed by the Antony Gormley piece Asian Field (surprise) - but not sure about it.... something to do with the mass of humanity that it implied... and the mass of helpers that the setup implied.... stilll, the first moment of experiencing the work was a cleansing wave, as always.... I think I liked his Inside Australia work so much partly because of the effort involved to just get to the site - the pilgrimage factor - 10 hours drive and a pre-dawn start... plus the fact that it was a total sensory environment out there on that salt lake, unlike wharf 2/3 in sydney, with the roof dripping and people tripping the proximity alarm that protected the work....Took Sofie to the Ginseng Baths (bumped into Lucas and Mickey Quick, recently cleansed), and then went with Clare to the opening night of Liquid Architecture.... unfortunately the combo of an afternoon in a Bath House and a glass of red wine was the end of me, and had to leave during the second set (Clayton and Jim Denley) - a bit sacriligious of me... but saw Amanda Stewart open the program - wow.
Managed to sneak in a quick visit to Published Art... where I finally bought something - to make up for the fact that i DIDN'T buy Bird there all those years ago... two beautiful books:
'Your Engagement Has Consequences' - a book on Olafur Eliasson - OH MY GOD. Somehow I havent come across him? thankfully there are many books of his work already, and he recently did a sunrise work at the Tate Modern, which sounded beautiful. this book is just georgeous... lots of light-based and shadow-based work, with lots of reflection and water thrown in for good measure.... mmmm...I also wenty on a teacup hunt while in Sydney, and scored several sweet-but-not-naff teacup and saucer sets, from the knot of 2nd Hand Stores at the top of Glebe Point road... including an incomplete set with hand-painted hermit crabs and fish (??) which I thought were sea monkeys at first (read: brine shrimp) - but apon closer inspection were, sadly, crabs... still, they're pretty out there...
got back from Sydney laden with presents and thoughts to think, have spent last two days in rainforest photographing moss and acquiring bush ticks, most of which I have dealt with now. Lyrebirds everywhere, the males doing their medlies of birdsong, from parrots thru to seagulls, all in 30 seconds. who wouldn't mate with someone that could do all that?
the ocean is huge today - massive seas - I can hear the waves from inside the house - the winter swell is here! will sleep well now.
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