The National Gallery of Victoria is currently exhibiting their collection of Felton Bequest images of scenes from Rajput courts. They are intimate and symbolic, and from 2019 there is something timeless about them, even though many of the paintings depict historical events and individuals. I think this has to do with context, some of the … Continue reading Remnants of paradise
Exhibition
Review: Compare the pear
I left it a bit late to see Baldessin / Whiteley Parallel Visions at the National Gallery of Victoria but I made it at the last minute and was pleasantly surprised. I won't go into a huge amount of detail about every work. Nor will I deliver much on the background of George Baldessin or … Continue reading Review: Compare the pear
Bec in Wonderland
I took in ACMI's Wonderland exhibit. It had inklings of a classic Sherlock Holmes-like escape room vibe, but that receded. What replaced it was a journey. There were rooms featuring original illustrations, footage from the oldest filmed versions of Alice in Wonderland. There were rooms for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ephemera, as well as for magic … Continue reading Bec in Wonderland
Review: Dark Imaginings
Gothic literature can be dramatic, macabre, and weirdly insightful. To my tired eyes some examples of Gothic, like Castle of Otranto are also unintentionally and refreshingly hilarious. Yet Gothic tropes persist in popular culture even as they were interrogated centuries ago, and continue to be. Since it is Rare Book Week in Melbourne I took … Continue reading Review: Dark Imaginings
Seen one, haven’t seen them all
Wandering around the Art Gallery of New South Wales was weirdly disorienting. It was a new building to me, but it was filled with familiar artists: Australians like John Brack and Grace Cossington Smith in addition to the usual Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painters. Obviously, the individual works were different to those in the NGV or anywhere … Continue reading Seen one, haven’t seen them all
Review: The Lady and the Unicorn
In an exclusive The Art Gallery of New South Wales is showcasing the set of six tapestries from France, made around the year 1500 known as the Lady and the Unicorn. It is the third time they have travelled, so I thought I should too, and made the trip to see them before they return … Continue reading Review: The Lady and the Unicorn
Review: Bec went a viking
The word Viking was a verb. Norse people didn't call themselves Vikings, they did it - they went out and traded and raided. I was reminded of that when I too went a viking to recover some knowledge from Melbourne Museum's new, temporary exhibit Vikings: Beyond the Legend. While there, as it was the opening … Continue reading Review: Bec went a viking
Exhibition Review: feeling the disturbance
If Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei's NGV exhibition is a little 'art anyone could do' (from cat pics to soup cans) then Lurid Beauty, an exhibition of Australian Surrealism, is art anyone can feel. Unlike Warhol and Ai Weiwei, little of it is repetitive, except for the feelings the works inspire. The works are weird, visceral, … Continue reading Exhibition Review: feeling the disturbance
Writing Bec 