Visiting ‘Local Rhythms and Actions’ curators’ talk

Wanting to miss busy commuting times I got to the Art Gallery of New South Wales early and had a look around the exhibits, eventually finding myself in front of two Emily Kame Kngwarreye paintings that had been put up to accompany the Sol LeWitt wall.

The paintings were even better than what had been installed as the centrepiece of the gallery’s display. ‘Untitled’ 1995 is done in a reed nutty red with yellow patterns underneath, it’s mesmerising as the yellow and the red argue and compete for attention (see below).

Next to it, ‘Untitled (Alhalker)’ 1996 seems to contain the figures of humans dancing or else it’s spirits in bodies somehow wrenched from another world. See below.

Elsewhere, Kazuko Miyamoto’s ‘Untitled II’ 1971 (below) uses shadows and thread to make analogous plays, the eye trying to pinpoint a central point and running up and down, the brain following. This photo doesn’t do the work justice and I urge you to go and have a look for yourself if you have time.

I sat downstairs for about 30 or 40 minutes listening to Rozee Cutrone, who helped the gallery put together a show of pictures about Wooloomooloo. Curator Nick Yelverton was speaking as well. 

Giving an historical perspective on the part of the world the institution is rooted in allows visitors to understand more about the Bohemian roots of the area, close to the city but separate from it, and from suburbia. It would be good to see parts of this show used as permanent elements of the new wing, which is under construction next door to the main building.