Monday 9 October 2017

Trips lost in Translation.

G'day Possums,
the last fortnight has, it seems, been a little marine. 
First, a return to Point Cook and playing "Biggles" in a Tiger Moth and then later the next week Mrs Wombat and I wandered down to Geelong Art Gallery to have a look at their wonderful Fred Williams in the You-Yangs, exhibition.

The last time we saw a collection his work was five years ago and where I blogged it as http://shanewombat.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/searching-for-fred.html


Geelong

This show coincided with the Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards too, where much to my surprise and pleasure (for it's always joyful to see people maintaining their art practice) I came across the work of an acquaintance from college days, Ben Fennessy. His woodblock print "Tower Hill Inside 1 and 2"  was a powerful statement not only of an ancient land but also of its intense environment.
 
Ben Fennessygeelong acquisitive print awards,
TowerHill Inside 1 and 2
Interesting, too was Rew Hanks extraordinarly fine linocut, "The Battle of the Wills" which presented like a Victorian newspaper illustration the clash of cultures still apparent with indigenous people playing "the white-man's-games" as sadly evidenced by Adam Goodes' response to his calling out overt racism.
 
Rew Hanks, geelong acquisitive print awards
The Battle of Wills

Ben Rak's  screenprint, "No Way (safety at sea: Manus Island) points to the current bi-partisan federal hypocrisy of lauding "Aussie values" and the reality of our ongoing cruelty to asylum seekers.

Ben Rak, geelong acquisitive print awards
 "No Way (safety at sea: Manus Island)

Good works in this prize show but I must admit I found the winner of the printmaking residency a bit, too, too "Breaking Bad," conceptually and banally trite in thought.
 
Fred williams in the you-yangs, geelong acquisitive print awards
You Yangs111, 1963
The Williams show which had many print works and watercolours and gouaches as well as oil and tempera was inspiring. We returned three times, each time finding things anew and stimulating with the juxtaposition between etchings, drawings and the final result illuminating as to his process.

Fred williams in the you-yangs, geelong acquisitive print awards
You-Yangs (second series)

Illuminating too, but in a completely cynical way was Senator "Look-at-Moi, Look-at-Moi ", The Show-pony Xenephon's bailing out of the federal sphere prior to his anticipated removal by the high court.
Wishing to save the world from Adelaide by taking over state politics, this most loquacious and apparently dictatorial, proto ruling rabble apparatchik had the misfortune of having one of his selected candidates severely embarrass himself and blot his copy book by shooting really asinine selfies exposing his lack of political credibility in a wax works by molesting the dummies!
Trotted out from The Show pony's stable the twerp in question will probably have no difficulty joining a real ruling rabble after getting a suitable reference from "Slit-her-Throat" Ciobo.
Geelong Art Gallery, Fred williams in the you-yangs, geelong acquisitive print awards
Geelong Art Gallery

Asbestos Jules our peripatetic foreign minister has again been revealed looking like she's fiddling the public purse by attending the AFL grand final instead claiming that "...this internationally renowned sporting code invited me to attend to have a chat.."
Less certain of appropriate government business was her quadruple attendances at her sisters birthdays!
Express 1842

And then Craig Laundy the new owner of an $8,000,000.00 apartment is resisting having flammable cladding removed from buildings echoing his master Truffles opinion that banning the importation of these dangerous materials is scaring people.
I'm sure he meant it was scaring the developers who donate so munificently to the ruling rabble in NSW.
Truffles is allegedly "keenly aware" also of the pain and disappointment people are feeling at his "less-than-Kenya-quality" cock-up of an NBN... although I suspect that the chill breeze of incrementally losing office is really what he is experiencing ....which is not really empathy is it?

And let's finish with the hapless Kelly, Shaduppa-Yo-Face O'Dwyer's mangled attempt on 7.30 to explain why forcing industry superannuation funds to be less productive and as inefficient as private and banking ones for their members is a good thing. The Gel in question gets quite excited when union bashing... almost as much, although thankfully, not as Cockatoo strident as her colleague the Harpy Cash.

Hoo-roo Petals,
Shane

PS  A person some think of as a troll on FB sent me this after he said I should publish something he wrote.. well here ya go... Brian Sanaghan Yeh...You do that...make sure it's about me...  You know one thing I've learnt in politics pilgrim. .Get the narcissists to write shit about me...then let your readers decide to vote for me because they hate you so much...Now..Go ahead...make my day...lol


Tiger Moth
....playing Biggles.





2 comments:

  1. Don't remember Ben Fennessy, but the Tower Hill is wonderful! Spose I should get down to Geelong to look at the Freds - the YouYangs are amongst my preferred works of his. He was doing some of them when he was at Prahran. Was going to use all my Seniors Week free public transport going to Hamilton & Melb (went to Ararat today to go to Narrapumelap (old homestead at Wickliffe - much fun!), but I'll look at dates and normal fares etc.

    Saw The Ode Wire the Cash the other night - nearly fell off the couch laughing, Bit sad that they were for real, when one could really only view it as a comedy routine.

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  2. Yes, I met Williams (briefly) at Prahran, but Ben was a college later... Hawthorn.

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