Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Carriageworks & AGNSW

 Over the weekend my husband and I visited the Eveleigh Markets in Darlington (which of course included indulgence in the yummiest cinnamon scroll on the planet), and whilst there we explored Song Dong's exhibition at the Carriageworks. Waste Not premiered in Beijing in 2005 and has since shown at MoMA in New York and the Barbican in London.
If you know me, you know that I have a love affair with installation, especially this type of pattern arranging with found objects (Sarah Sze was the first artist I stumbled across who worked this way...and I have been smitten ever since). The work was conceived following the death of the artists father and displays more than 10,000 everyday items collected by the artists mother representing her process of mourning and remembrance. But it also  raises interesting discussion about Chinese culture and consumerism, sustainability, resourcefulness and obsession with material possessions. The historical background described in the artists statement gave insight into the older generation in China- who began storing and saving anything and everything during times of hardship and economic instability, and who continued to hoard belongings even in times of prosperity because it had become part of their identity and cultural norm. It was no longer about preserving the useful, but preserving the past. This  arguably needless collecting contrasts with the younger generations who have embraced all things instant, replaceable and disposable.


Then we made our way over to the AGNSW for the Dobell Prize for Drawing. Always a treat.
I was quite taken by John Fitzgibbons "Lay down your weary tune" , Katherine Hattams "Heideggers Hut" and  Ulrich Stalph's "Ben Boyd National Park", as well as Wendy Loeflers stunning piece  "Antartica #28.

My husband particularly liked Graham Fransellas "Figure and Bell"
Two exhibitions I'd highly recommend!!