Casula Powerhouse 23/4/09

A couple of weeks ago I went to check out the Nam Bang! exhibition at Casula Powerhouse. They had an interesting exhibition space there, and like many I had never been there before. There's some interesting discussion happening and emerging from these spaces but a major disadvantage for this venue in terms of audience are the relative distance away from the CBD. It took me three trains to get there despite the fact that I live  one train line away. It takes exactly the same amount of time for me to travel out West as it does to the city.

Inside the space is really cool. The space above (closed off to public) resembles sets from the Terminator. The building stack was originally erected to supplement electricity production in 1955 and over the years fell in and out of use until it was turned into an arts facility in 1985. Refurbished in April 2008 they hold regular art conferences and performing arts events. 

(above image from their website)

Besides the Gallery are these large water tank-like structures which youths are encouraged to graffiti on. 

Many of the youths in this area and surrounding Campbelltown really identify with street and urban hip hop culture as reflected in their penchant for graffiti art. It's great Casula Powerhouse provides an outlet for youths to express artistic art even if they may never set foot within the gallery space. While i was there a young man had driven up, parked his car and started spray painting. 

Layer upon layer of spraypaint, ephemeral designs and tagging on common ground. I'd be interested in seeing one day photographs documenting the weekly changes in graffiti. Western Sydney has some other interesting regional galleries including Campbelltown and Penrith worth checking out besides the inner city ones.

8 1/2

Burial at Ornans 1849-1850. Oil on canvas 10' 3 1/2" x 21' 9" (314 x 663 cm) Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Family of Saltimbanques, 1905
oil on canvas
Overall: 212.8 x 229.6 cm (83 3/4 x 90 3/8 in.) framed: 240.4 x 256.3 cm (94 5/8 x 100 7/8 in.)
Chester Dale Collection
1963.10.190 

This week I finally finished watching Federico Fellini's, 8 1/2. I have to admit this film was really hard for me to watch in one go, but I adored the beautiful cinematography, amazingly tailored costumes and coke bottled glasses, jarring violin music and the full figured women (who have extraordinarily long butterfly lashes). 8 1/2 is among a favourite amongst directors as it displays the turmoils of having to deliver creativity on demand and is an autobiographical account of Fellini's directors block in the process of making his films. The title refers to the number of films which Fellini made.

But out of the fires comes a beautiful film and a visually spectacular absurd circus ending.Some of these sequences look inspired by paintings like this procession of priests reminds me of Gustave Courbet's Burial at Ornans. The clowns remind me of Picasso early paintings. Completely like watching a dream within a dream. 

New reviews coming soon. Promise xx

Exhibition Opening

In Sydney Friday 8th May 6pm, an exhibition opening at Gallery 4A. Come by if you are sick of talking about the GFC, Swine Flu, cold weather, plus it's free (you won't even have to dig into your stimulus package). See some new installations which will send your mind ticking and witness newfound wonders of Easter Island's Moai sculptures. Bring your friends along! Promises to be a fun night!!

Click on the image for further information.

Bookmark

Don't know how Emma Do, a 15 year old, bright and future fashion editor in the making from Melbourne manages to fit this in between her school work but she has  brought out issue 5 of her online zine Pocketto. Read my brief interview with Liyen Chong there (around page 64 ).

-Yu

All a bit of a Blur

.....is how I can remember the experience of reading Alex James's biography (2007) about being a band member in Blur from his Goldsmiths days to his present experience living on a farm. Since I've now finished reading this, occasionally sections of what I read from my train journeys come back to me. The autobiography is a bit of a mishmash of random thoughts and quirks and life episodes recounted with such wit, detail and some wise idioms interspersed in between. Human beings naturally thrive on narratives. With hindsight comes clarity. I have  a feeling that if other musicians took the time to pour out their heart and spent some time away from some booze and drugs they'd save themselves therapy and make some dosh out of it.  

This bass player is naturally curious and this aspect of his personality seeps through all aspects of his life. I once read somewhere that books make people less lonely. With this book, that's definitely the case since reading this was like having a good mate tell you all their random thoughts. I particularly liked his descriptions of learning to fly and astrology. 

Apple of my eye

The (macbook) apple of Flickr member LubeckerJung's eye. This image is sweeping the internet and we are all dying to know how he did it!

TED talks take the best creative professionals who create interesting powerpoint presentations on anything from the environment, consumerism, DNA, religion, hip hop, you name it. Here is a spreadsheet with all the talks available as of 31.3.09

Didn't your mum ever tell you that the best things come in small packages. Actually I might add to that idiom that the best things also come in lovely packaging. 

In times of need books may seem a luxury but the never ending life enriching wisdom they impart can never be taken from you and they provide relatively affordable entertainment. Ten years down the track I'll still be reading from my Norton Anthology of American Literature. Currently reading Thoreau's Walden. In this book, Thoreau recounts the two years he spent living in a cabin by Walden Ponds near Ralph Waldo Emerson's house. Words that simple living and a humble life can lead to happiness, music to all our ears.