We’re in total agreement with Jean-Paul Gautier on this one…
Caught Conchita on the Today Show* this morning and omigod! we just adore her. Without any doubt she is totes the natural evolution of the human race (…well, we can only hope.)
* [Yep, have to confess we do surf across from ABC News Breakfast, shock horror. n(Ed)]
…to our fave son-in-law.
Slange, Iain.
We’ll crack it as soon as you get here […we’re counting down the sleeps!! N(Ed)]
Our initial delight about Captain Cook O’Burra hanging around the garden has palled somewhat…
We’ve only just discovered he’s been working his way through the goldfish. We shouldn’t be surprised – he’s only living up to his genus, Kingfisher – but he’s very, very good at it.
[Studio Bitch is making a pond cover as we speak. n(Ed)]
at the Hideout…
The Gang hit Melbourne with bells on last weekend for a 60th birthday bash with the boarders from ’72 at flirtin’ Merton Hall. We’ve not attended any old girl reunions to date; partly due to clashing work commitments, but mainly out of natural reluctance. We just couldn’t bear the thought of all that ghastly conventional old-school-tie palaver.
But a reunion of boarders only is an entirely different proposition. We had, after all, spent more time together during the formative teenage years than we’d spent with our own families. And this year we’re all turning the big 6-oh!, so catching up for a collective birthday-do after all these years promised to be a genuine hoot.
Sir Galahad Poo (he’s now taken the name Galahad for special/official occasions, bless him) came along for the treat, which turned into a celebratory lunch that – courtesy of an outstanding effort by the stayers – extended from a 12.30 start to 10.30 that night. Perfeck.
Pretty bloody funny, too (though quite surreal being addressed as Morgue all day!!)
Particular thanks to Dog (above) and Marsh for organising a cracker day. We’re definitely up for the next one.
While the raison d’être for the trip was the reunion, we did manage to pack lots of goodies into the short stay. We spent the day before with Granny, doing our habitual rounds; deli section at Vic Market, Dolcetti’s, then lunch at the Last Jar followed by our traditional bevie with Chloe (at Y&J)…
…where by sheer happenstance we were treated to a box seat at the First People’s Demo…
Gawd. We’ve never seen so many cops in one place! Very exciting.
And later that night we caught Ruben’s gig at the Comedy Festival…
[Thanks for the snaps, Rosa. n(Ed)]
On Sunday we did a road trip with Chrissie to Bendigo Regional Gallery for the Imagining Ned exhibition (see full highlights in the post below.) Omigod, what a fabulous gallery!!
And what a seriously cool town; kulcha-rama everywhere. Here’s a mere blink of random sights within 100 metres (in lapping terms!) of the BRG…
Gavin North, Raw 2015, digital print on canvas
Shane Phillips, Matching Chairs and Matchboxes 2015
Even the shop windows were groovy…
And we fancied transporting this little number home (same date as the Hideout!)…
The final night at Granny’s gave us a beautiful Franklin St (last drinkies) send off…
…and we arrived home on Monday, thankful (as ever to be back in the country)…
and totally recharged…
Such is life (and life is good.)
The Gang couldn’t possibly sortie south without swinging by our fave hipster, Edward Kelly. So on Sunday we did a road trip to Bendigo for…
…currently showing at the Bendigo Regional Gallery. No great surprises, of course. Being avid Ned-o-philes we’ve seen most of the works at one time or another (at the very least on the net), but it was wonderful to be immersed in it all – and in one place! Given that we’re about to launch ourselves into studio practice proper, it was a timely opportunity to re-inhabit ‘Ned head’.
The iconic artefacts set the scene and then it was off and running in the contemporary homage stakes. The field was led – it goes without saying – by Sid, and the BRG did a nice job of going off-piste with a couple of very impressive (and humungous) tapestries from the Portalegre Tapestry Workshop (see here); Sidney Nolan, Glenrowan, wool (both)…
So vibrant – just divine (click to enlarge all images.) Other Sid gems included: Kelly at the river (1964), synthetic polymer paint on composition board…
Crossing the River (1964), oil on composition board…
detail…
and Kelly, oil and enamel on composition board (painted in the year of our birth, 1955)…
…[which perhaps the architects had in mind when they designed Federation Square! n(Ed)]
Other highlights were Arthur Boyd’s Ned Kelly, glazed and coloured terracotta (c1954)…
Albert Tucker’s Metamorphosis of Ned Kelly, synthetic polymer paint on composition board (1954)…
HaHa (Regan Tamanui)’s Ned, stencil print (2004)…
and Ned’s Head (which we’ve been enjoying on streetscapes across the country over the last decade)…
Mars Drum’s Ned and Burqa on the Pink Lake IV, digital print (2015)…
Freddie Timm’s Ned Kelly, natural ochre pigment on canvas (2000)…
Adam Cullen’s Kelly at Glenrowan, synthetic polymer paint on linen (2011)…
and Sir Galahad Poo’s handz down favourite, Juan Davila’s Sentimental history of Australian art, synthetic polymer paint on canvas (1982)…
…he lingered somewhat.
Anyhoo, consider this a mere taster for a terrific exhibition – there’s plenty more besides, not to mention the rest of this remarkable gallery’s permanent collection, etcetera. What a treasure of a regional gallery it is!
What a treasure of a town, in fact. So culturally progressive/enlightened/connected. Absolutely bloody marvellous.
Other side dishes that caught our eye included Arthur Boyd’s fridge, Leda and the swan, enamel on steel (1958)…
and another Poo favourite, the astro turf rotunda (mea culpa, we didn’t get the artist’s name)…
What an incredibly soul nourishing trip it was. And on arrival back at the Hideout we were greeted with this further fillip…
…in concert with this (the view from the workshop door)…
It’s a sign we tells ya!
Nude food…
Megan Bottari, Meat
…to Lin Lin, Kyu Kyu (Chooch) and May Boo from your friends in Oz…
We’ve thrown water to wash away the discontent of the last year (make that plural!) and hung the golden Padauk (symbolising strength and durability) in Megsie’s workshop (celebrating the fresh beginnings of the new hope/joy/goodwill.) Gotta love that.
We didn’t free the birds, they’re happy just the way they are.
Ginger spent a quiet though gainful Easter, doing prelim drawings for upcoming work – most notably the Rat Sutra Series (which, naturally, we all await with barely contained glee)…
…and her pictorial moniker (Ginger Lily Rose)…
…destined for a convict love token.
Prisoners of the Crown 