Opening of Sydney Modern

Stunned and a little dazed I left Sydney Modern after touring the facilities on Saturday 3 Dec. It’s so enormous it’s a bit like being in the new Istanbul Airport.

Room after room of big, beautiful works. I’m astonished at the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ collection, parts of which of course have been in storage unseen.

When I got to the gallery to check in with the ticket in my phone I was sure I’d be told to wait as my allocated time hadn’t yet been reached, but the place is soooooo big they could’ve held twice as many patrons concurrently without trouble.

With a nod to the Japanese architects we even saw people (see above) who seemed to be dressed as Buddhist monks.

The new building reminds me of nothing so much as the National Library of Australia with its Internationalist style, or else a good bit of mimicry in that vein. The clean lines and minimal detail said “1960s” to my eye.

And what could be more Sydney (see above) than a view of the water?

I popped back inside when artist Rozee Cutrone messaged me, I’d asked her if she was going to be around and she turned up in snake-skin boots with her friend Chris. I had to duck off to meet the pool cleaner at home then I got back on the bus to go to Newtown for the launch of ‘Migrantik’, a book by Norman Wilwayco. At the event we had a serenade with Beethoven and Chopin as well as some rap, it was a nice afternoon.