Eastern Suburbs Art Group

The prize has been going for over two decades, which in itself is impressive, but the works on display are really nice. The works are personal in scope, which is intersting. They are also all quite different in style. The prize went to Auckland-based artist Virginia Leonard for Glad that you are not here all the time — an urn for unwanted limbs and other things, made from clay, pure gold and resin (see below). The work is interesting it sort of exudes a sense of fatigue, which aligns with the title. You want people to be around but not all the time, in fact the exhausting work of the artist mandates a lot of free time. In my world I call it grey flabby time, the spare hours surrounding creative moments, or rather creative periods. I'm not comparing my world with Leonard's by any means but I was struck by the sense of familiarity I had when viewing her sculpture. Another winner was for the Mayor's Choice Award, going to Alicia Cox for Rack (see below). The gallery says this ...

What a frantic week. Delayed materials. Last minute dash over the bridge. Forgotten bookings. Then four days talking to people wandering in the aisles of Hall 4 ICC. Last night Mark and I emptiued out the booth, put everything in the ute, and brought it home. Mark, Natasha and I took turns on the booth. The show every day from 10qam to 6pm. If you do that one day it's already enough, but the energy you get from talking to people offsets the fatigue. Down the track we'll have a debrief to mull over the consequences of the show, what it meant, how to package the ideas better in future. I hate marketing language too but the word "package" sort of works to collect a whole range of ideas, of words, and of memories. Dreams, too, and plans.

A friend had a painting in this show. The central theme is drawing. Many of the paintings evince a high degree of skill and application in the design.  Sorry I don't know where the room sheet as I went to this show a while ago. Only went back because some images dropped out of my phone. The above image reminds me of a set of paintings a friend of mine did some years ago. There is something of Cressida Campbell in this. This (above) is Mark my friend's painting, normally he does watercolour but this is oil. The above image is a painting by a woman, again apologies the room sheet has escaped. This woman has two items in the show and they are beside each other. I like the conception it is very evocative and sensual. The colour scheme is very restricted however, so there is a kind of tension in the work.

A special small space in the heart of the CBD, Macchiarto is tied to a cafe on the corner of Pitt and Livverpool streets. So close to Chinatown. Near the World Square development. The food is awesome, I had a version of shakushaka I have never had before. Actually and surprisingly the Mexican ambassador attended the function. It was a warm and close collection of people. The art is amazing, I bought two paintings. Torres talks about street art in respect of her work, and I guess so but the thing that really got me was the cartoon quality and the colours. Top is 'Children of the Sun Rabbit' bottom is 'Children of the Sun Fox' - these ones I purchased. Torres often uses this sort of ace-shaped opening to partially obscure a face, you can see in the bottom painting (above). I think it looks like hair. For her part Torres has long hair. So perhaps there is some form of self expression in the use of this shape. The shakushaka was called Flamenco Shaka. I sometimes make shaku...

While I am definitely drawn to this type of atmospheric landscape or dreamscape - and especially these ones as they are so nicely done - it is not precisely my favourite type of art. I went to the show with Virginia but we stood outside most of the time because I feared for my ankle, which I broke two months before. A crowd in a small room, I thought, not really a good idea. As it was I almost fell over in the street, which sloped in parts. Yianni came a bit later and we chatted in the warm spring air. A good night, the people milling around on the pavement, talking and sipping beer or red wine. I went home and cooked chicken and carrot for dinner, then work.

Today the first challenging day of a 3-day conference in Mascot. There are still some things to understand about the sales stack the consultants Connekt Coaching inroduced surprisingly during a meditation session. To be honest this was the first time I had entered into such a physical and mental state. Because it was so new I really don't know if it worked. Material covered in the conference was often new but there were some aspects of the curriculum I felt I already knew. It was good to get a refresher. I couldn't afford a one-on-one training program but the presence of other people was sometimes obtrusive. Organisers broke tasks down into manageable chunks so that it was easy to move through the program.  Sometimes it felt like I was looking at early abstract paintings. At other times it felt like being in an episode on 'I Dream of Genie'. You know, butcher's paper and diagrams. All very analogue, which is actually part of the day I most enjoyed. One element that ...

Natasha had paintings in a show at Breakfast Point. I brought the photogrtapher Henry. Mark and his partner Stephanie came by ferry. We shot a group phoito for the MindBodySpirit Festival flyer.  Henry also made individual profile photos for use elsewhere. Photo credit to Stepahnie (see below).