G’day Petals,
As it’s holiday time Mrs Wombat
and I took a trip to the other side.
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| Tarrawarra panorama landscape |
The Yarra Valley that is, to
attend a retrospective of painter Jeffery Smart at TarraWarra.
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| TarraWarra Gallery |
Although we would have seen
this show at some stage the “critique” by Robert Nelson in “The Age” (9-1-13)
“Smart Ticks Boxes with Signature Style” prompted a sooner-rather-than-later
excursion whilst the critiques’ effect was still fresh in mind.
It seemed to
bear little relation to the tenor of the Smart work that I knew.
It was worth the early visit,
for as the day panned-out there were many metaphors of
contemporary society to
be experienced other than in the paintings.
Amongst our favourite paintings
were: “Self Portrait at Papini’s”, a work like “Morning Practice, Baia” and
Clive James’ Portrait which seem to contradict Nelson’s assertion that
“…….Smart is not an allegorical artist”.
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Self-portrait at Papini’s
1984-85 by Jeffrey Smart, courtesy Artist and the TarraWarra Museum of Art,
Victoria
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The garage door in “Papini’s”
looks to be a “send-up” of Dale Hickey’s “Untitled” 1967-8 and the blue door
shadow of the paper, a dead fishes tail (?), leaves a deadpan Smart in between
both and the possibility of his exit, “stage right” through the open door.
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| Dale Hickey Untitled 1967-8 |
A conflict engendered perhaps
between figurative and non-figurative artist-practitioners by critics for the
critics’ ego and existence?
“Morning Practice” seems to
conjure a personal act of art in a primary sense in its shapes, activity and
colours. Balance, form and colour, is a hard act to get together.
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| Morning Practice, Baia 1969 |
Clive James happily recounted
being painted by Smart and delighted by the large portrait drawings he had seen
was then bowled over by being finally represented as a tiny figure high up
behind a big wall (fence) happily observing (chatting to) us down below. (pic
on right )
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| TarraWarra Gallery |
Asserting too, that Smart
paints factories, high rise etc “….because it’s easy to paint….” Is (apart from
being Brunswick St.-Barista-Bitchy) belied just by the detail of the crack and
the wall texture above the “Hickey” door and in the solid reality of the figure
in “On the Roof, Taylor Square” where, in this early work, the juxtaposition of
the solidity of the figure and the flatness of the architectural forms behind
seem to provide the “airy-ness” one can feel at heights…
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| On the Roof, Taylor Square 1961 |
…. but then Nelson sniffily points out “…abstraction
that riddles the design affords freedom from noise and chaos in the
representation.” and that “… his Roof-tops 1969… look like flat pieces
of graphic design” and further, “Largely sparing himself the pains of
incidental light and shadows across complicated forms….” “In Italy… he couldn’t
reconcile the inflected architecture with the festive spaces that it
frames”.
All of which only seem to
suggest that Robert Nelson would paint Italy very differently to Jeffery Smart
and that, ergo Smart should paint differently!
A criticism seemingly based
upon what you would like to see, not what you have seen and understood
I’ve always liked the story of
Francois Truffaut when, as a literary film critic he was challenged by the
film-makers he was criticizing to “… go and make a film!”
He did. It was “The Four
Hundred Blows.”
So here’s an example (I assume)
of Nelson’s scenic painting style as a background to one of Polixeni
Papapetrou’s (his wife) photographs, so you can see in comparison, his work for
yourself.
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| Polixeni Papapetrou.net |
Jeffery Smart painted to his
own tune. He “hit” an “idea” young and developed it assiduously.
This exhibition is valuable in
that you can partially track this development but also experience a wit, a
somewhat sardonic view of humanity from the ordinary world culture of roads,
freeways, car-parks and airports through the talent of someone who loving the
works of Piero della Francesca and
Vermeer presents his subjects calmly in a similarly ordered space that allows
the eye an extended looking to discover at its leisure.
Someone who obviously loved
drawing, the placing of paint and the enjoyment of “working” a surface so that
feeling and thought is revealed.
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| exterior : wine tasting and restaurant on left, gallery right |
This beautiful space “….is the first privately funded, significant public
visual arts museum to be set up under the Australian Government’s philanthropic
measures announced in March 1999. TWMA operates as a not-for-profit
institution, with a charter to display Australian art from the second half of
the twentieth century to the present day.”…. and after an excellent lunch,
General Manager Simon Napthine came back to our table provide more details of
the history of the place as he had overheard us ask some questions of our
waitress.
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| GM Simon Napthine and restaurant. |
The corollary of the Besen’s philanthropy to the arts is that it has
extended to the staff here and they made it a perfectly enjoyable day for us
with their natural good service.
Wombat Droppings
Jenny Macklin (Labor) put her foot
right in it but did something unusual for a pollie. Apologised!
Incompetent Baillieu Liabrils blame Labor Feds for faltering hospital system
after Feds cut $107 Million from State of Tardis (where all goes backward)
Health while forgetting to mention the $616 Million they have slashed.
But they say, the plan to spend it all on a new Tennis Centre is a good
thing for the Tardis State.
Jonathon Moylan has caused much embarrassment to the share trading community
with his ANZ letter hoax as they splutteringly attempted to explain just how
straight their operations are…. Oohh look… there’s a rabbit!!
…and Peter (Children Overboard) Reith reckons he ought to be punished …perhaps
like he was when his son ran up a $20,000.00 phone bill on Pete’s Commonwealth Pollies
phone card! Howard, (He of the Profligate spending)
was inclined to think “It’s not a hanging offence!”
Abbott staffer kicks own goal with a clumsy attempt to paint him as human.
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4455364.html from Anne Summers.
Chris (The Whyne) Pyne has been caught out lying again….again trying to
support Abbott’s Neanderthal attitude to women
“Slippery Pete” has been collared by the ACT rozzers and might go to jail if
found guilty of defrauding the Commonwealth of about $1000.00.
Pity the Liarbrils’are so quiet about it happening when he was one of them!
Geoff Shaw, Liarbril Member for Frankston is still sitting in Parliament
having been found by Parliament to have defrauded the State.
Hey, Big Bird Baillieu (Genus: Silvertail Incompetens)….. what’s the
difference?
Melbourne Airport Carpark holds Tardis State (where all goes backward) to ransom over easier access to
airport.
…and a nice little movie celebrating our Public transport officers….
Cheers Possums,
Shane
