Eastern Suburbs Art Group

Honestly this happened maybe last week but it was late and I arrived before the people I was supposed to meet. They rocked up after I had left. The works that particularly drew my attention were by Chrinstine Dean and Deborah Kelly. The latter's 'Witchwill', below, is a delicate collage. The gallery is on King Street, Newtown. The show is on in relation to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

It was a strange day in all respects. I had tried to read one of C Wood's novels in the past but didn't get to the end. She was shortlisted for the Booker so presumably is a respected author. P Godwin does nice atmospheric paintings in lovely colours. I was particularly impressed by his muted palette. I had never heard of him before. Amazingly the pictures behind the pair are very large prints. It wasn't clear to me why they had to be so large but because museums and institutional galleries are getting larger presumably there is a demand for this sort of work. It would be hard to imagine one in a home. I say it was a strange day. I got off the tram in Darling Harbour and a man was lying on the ground obviously distressed. A woman standing over him was making a call and I asked her if she was calling an ambulance. Once that was settled I went to get food and sat down with a bowl of fish and salad, when this small child insisted on trying to talk with me. I ignored the brat. ...

I think I wnt to see this a couple of weeks ago. I read Sebastian Smee's ideas in the printed brochure the gallery. In fact I read the essay today. Reading the essay it's hard to separate your mind from the grip of cliche. I've been a fan of Smee's for decades but if the Nanda/Hobbs publication were anything to go by I can't say I would stay the same.  McMahon's twisted forms form a kind of abstract but the contradictory forces Smee sees working underneath them, in the substratum of creation, let's say, probably have less to do with the way the paintings look, with their uncomfortable yet familiar eucalypt organic shapes, than ideas of the beautiful. McMahon is younger than me but I can see how he arrived at these sort of gammy elegancies. But always the sky. At least the sky. That's what the branches are reaching for after all. Just that.

The Australian ugliness is a trope that occasioally gets mentioned but not so much recently perhaps we've reconciled ourselves with our lack of concern with such things as decorative arts. I don't know. Donovan Christie nods to Howard Arkley in the show at Nanda/Hobbs I went to the other night. The large canvases (approx 1.5m x 1m) are colourful. You see shopfronts like these all over the country. Well maybe that's true at least you do in Sydney. I guess Victorian is the label though they're often too plain, lacking the Italianate decoration of the period's most elaborate constructions. Layered on top of the historical buildings' fabrics are advertising, shop names, bright colour. The indices of contemporary mercantilism. These are more luscious than the originals, you feel. These are sort of Day-Glo bright they have this New Journalism sort of fascination with the mundane, the ordinary. Hence my mention of Arkley. I think these works are necessary. In 1788 Sydn...

I was a bit disappointed with these colourful statements of sexuality but nevertheless appreciated what the artist was aiming to do.  There was something pornographic about the works. The show's title 'Peep Show'. With some of them you wonder if they might get damaged, such as the one shown above. The drawing is good, the colours dayglo. I just popped in quickly, the artist talking with a different visotor so no chance to discuss works. If I was an art collector at the moment still probably not quite my thing.

Last  month I think it was an old friend died. I wrote some words for the service. In the end they changed what I said. Probably for the best. Neil and I didn't always agree on everything. His simple politics were at odds with my more nuanced point of view, but we didn't block or run away. This was the place where the ceremony was held. In Sutherland. A very large cemetary. After the service we went to a small dining room for snacks and drink. I stuck to coffee. Neil's family members were there as well as friends and acquaintences. I spoke to one former student as Neil  had been a high school teacher. It was a moving ceremony though I am not religious. There were pop songs as well as something classical it might've been Bach who knows. I complimented the person who conducted the service it was very nice I enjoyed it but I have always enjoyed funerals. Michael Neil's long time partner got attendees to stick images to the simple coffin. I drove back to Sydney after it...