For the lucky Melburnians and visitors in town, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for today only is showing Salvador Dalí: Liquid Desire for 24 hours, from 10am till 10am tomorrow morning. It’s the last day today to see it! Isn’t that brilliant? Sure, they’re probably just trying to squeeze in last minute cash, but I’m sure they’ll be successful tonight. I for one love the idea of popping by at 3 in the morning; if only I felt safe enough to do so. I visited twice on two Art After Dark Wednesdays (poor student that I am). I stayed five hours on the latter Wednesday, not really because it was that “omg awesome!”, but I was frantically jotting down hundreds of notes for my essay, which I’ve published below. The exhibition just bursts with so much detail and diversity; 300,000 people have attended already, but it begs the question—what makes Dalí so popular, given his eccentric, exuberant life and career?
Posts Tagged ‘melbourne’
Review: Salvador Dalí—Liquid Desire @ NGV
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009Free Comic Book Day
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Mmm, it was that time of the year again on the first Saturday of May. When we celebrate all that is good and nerdy—FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, YAY. I and my good mate Andrew went traipsing around north-west and inner Melbourne devouring any freebie in our wake. Victoria only has 2 participating stores: Trading Cards Australia in Moonee Ponds and Classic Comics in Bourke St, City.
I finally caved and bought a Rorschach action figure—the cheapest I could find was at the Moonee Ponds store. Will photograph close-ups when I next find spare time. They definitely have the action figures and most comics cheaper there… Good grief, why do I keep going to Minotaur (Then again, prices differ for various things. It pays to shop around)? Also got Catwoman #27 and an X-MEN: First Class special issue dirt cheap. Very pleased with my self-restraint. *cough*
Am curious to read more Green Lantern after the reading a good preview of Chuck Dixon’s newest take on the Emerald Guardian. At least, I think it was Chuck Dixon. I can’t remember at top of my head, but it was good! And that’s the most important part! ‘Sides, Green Lantern is HOT. I dunno, there’s something about Hal that reminds me of Bruce … Plus Chris Pine (of new Star Trek fame) is said to play Green Lantern in new film soon to be in production in Australia. Huzzah!
It’s also agIdeas Design Week, but I’m going to be attending the agIdeas Design Conference, which kicks off tomorrow for 3 days. 3 days non-stop of design! With the likes of Stefan Sagmeister and Tobias Frere-Jones speaking, will I live through it all from sheer awesomeness? Watch my blog for posts in the next few days.
Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London (1937–1948)
Sunday, December 21st, 2008Last Monday, as planned, I went up to Bendigo with my folks, mainly to check out the featured exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery, The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London (1937–1948), direct from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was overall a fantastic show of outfits, ranging from refined afternoon wear to the more flamboyant evening gowns, with also a collection of fashion photography from the likes of Richard Avedon on display.
Bendigo is a lovely city. Clean, vintage and with friendly people. And there was a Katies store that was closing down with the cheapest clothes! $5 a piece for most garments, zomg! Not even DFO can compare!
I sort of splurged on the gift range… The bag is beautiful and cute however, and well worth it.
Now I wouldn’t be a true type fan without noticing the amazing signage around this historic city! ‘Total Abstinence Society Inc”—well, that’s one way of putting it, eh? I love the little flourishes and the Nouveau/Deco typefaces.
The flourish in the ‘AND’ is beautiful! But I love the little stencil someone grafittied on top of the sign. It completes the set. 
Summer Exhibitions I Wish to See
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008So… I haven’t been to an art gallery in a long time. I think the last time was NGV’s Art Deco. That’s a long time in my book. For me, it’s a good way to chillax and rejuvenate some of my creative vigour, and usually an excuse to hang about the NGV Shop (which I love).
The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is hosting the first (and biggest) Edgar Degas exhibition in the country from this Friday! I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t been watching the 7:30 Report while doing the dishes tonight. Oooh I would really love to go. I missed out on the huge Warhol and Picasso exhibitions in Queensland, but I should really love to see some more Degas. I’m a real sucker for the Realist and Impressionist movements (although Degas himself hated the term “Impressionist”). I suppose I could make it a day trip. Airfares with Tiger Airways are usually cheap (I’ll never forget my $10 trip to Hobart) and I imagine I could stay a night and get home the next day, if it came to that… But I suppose I’d want to sight-see just to take advantage of being in the actual capital (yes, this sleepy city is the official capital). I haven’t been since I was seven years old.
Bendigo Art Gallery currently has The Golden Age of Couture: Paris & London exhibition which opened last Sunday, and looks really good from the previews I saw in the Herald. I’m lucky Dad is willing to drive me there next Monday. Y’know, I’ve never been to Bendigo. I’ve lived here all my life and I still haven’t been to the big rural cities (hmm, that sounded oxymoronic)
ACMI is currently showing Setting the Scene, which “[explores] the sets of Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, plus over 300 works that reveal the inspired designs behind cinema classics including Metropolis, Mon Oncle, A Clockwork Orange, Cabaret, Alien and The Matrix.” Looks set to be really inspiring. I enjoyed going through the filmmaking process last semester.
And of course, NGV has Andreas Gursky’s photography on show this summer. I studied some of his work in photomedia last year—he focuses on giant architecture and landscapes.
Those are the big ones. There are plenty of other local artists exhibiting as well. See Flinders Lane, Gertrude St, Brunswick St, etc, or check out The Vine and Indie Art and Design.
Oh yeah, THE DARK KNIGHT is out today, BABY! I’m probably getting my DVD tomorrow. If I can be bothered walking the 800m to JB… (ofcourseIcan!)
More Sunday Bargains
Sunday, November 16th, 2008I went to the Coburg Trash and Treasure market again this morning. Only the weather was srsly stinking—miserably cold and windy and changeable to boot.
Still, I got a really good bargain—20 various sized photo frames for $5:
They’re probably the most common things you’ll find in these markets, but it just so happens I’ve been looking for some decent and CHEAP frames for my photos and artwork, etc.
I regret not buying these weathered vintage Mills and Boon novels though—they’d have been great fun to make graphics/illustrations out of. eBay’s a bitch when it comes to vintage items.
Flea Market Love
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008Ever since I was a kid I’ve been taught the value of thrift, and despite my sometime dalliances with overspending, I am generally a fiscally responsible person—I baulk at the idea of paying $100 for a pair of jeans or the brand name of an ordinary-looking shoe when I can get something similar for far less, and I am wary of blindly following stocktake sales’ supposed slashed prices. So, it comes as no surprise that we loves teh flea markets! Not just for the bargains, but for all the quirky, weird things that you encounter! It’s brilliant for those days when you’re having creativity drought. I love retro kitsch, and there is no better place to find it than at a flea market (or a car boot sale, or a trash and treasure, or a second hand market, or the Sunday market or a thrift market, or whatever you like to call it). Apparently the world’s largest flea market, not counting eBay (hah!) is in the US, spanning from Kentucky to Alabama, 450 miles wide (about 724km, that’s almost the distance from Melbourne to Sydney!). God I would love to travel along there. It’d be like a road trip plus a shopping spree at the same time.
I got these craft supplies at the Coburg Trash and Treasure Market (the one with the still existing Village movie drive-in, which is probably the closest to my house, and has a bit of variety) last Sunday. Haggled them down to $5 for all, but the savings are still huge since I’m always going to Lincraft and Spotlight. At least I’ll have enough eyelets and clips to last me a while!
My frequent market haunts on Sunday:
- Coburg Trash and Treasure Market
Coburg Drive-In, Newlands Road, Coburg
8am – 2pm
New and used goods for sale. - Rubble and Riches Market
Leakes Road, Laverton
Trash and treasure stalls - Pipeworks Market
400 Mahoneys Rd, Campbellfield
Open 9am-5pm
Fresh produce, aquarium, pet shop, plants, furniture, carpets and rugs, homewares, giftware, technology, memorabilia, pictures and frames, mens, ladies and childrens wear. - Queen Victoria Market
Cnr Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, Melbourne
Closed Mondays and Wednesdays, opens at 6am
Melbourne’s famous fresh produce market. On Sundays becomes a huge general goods market.
* The Suzuki Night Market is also worth checking out if only for the lovely summery atmosphere! Begins 26 November 2008–25 February 2009!
There are plenty of other worthy markets, especially in the eastern side for more exotic riches, like Prahran Market or South Melbourne Market but I don’t go beyond my home in the north-west that often. There’s a comprehensive list of flea/art/craft markets in Melbourne here.
Have I introduced my newest tenant in my bedroom/studio/study/library?
Super hot action figure, no? If you remember, I bought it at Armageddon. I find myself staring at the extremely well defined muscles quite frequently, kudoes to the designer. Speaking of Batman, I cannot wait for Detective Comics #850, which technically should be released today, but we are always a day ahead of the United States. Damn.
Barack Obama—the 44th President of the USA
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
What a momentous occasion. I am very pleased. Evidently, much of the world is pleased with this decision; it’s been an incredible journey for the Senator, and this is only the first step towards the change perpetually emphasised throughout his campaign, but for now let’s just shout out with glee: HELL YES, HE MADE IT! (It makes me sad though to think that Australians have yet to witness such an historic occasion on our own turf; like, when will we vote in an Aboriginal Prime Minister?) To be fair on the Republicans, McCain’s speech of defeat was gracious. I think he ended up sounding pretty sincere, and definitely downtrodden. Anyhow, I think they’re all doing him a favour by not electing him as President; it’s obviously a great deal of stress and anxiety to be in those shoes.
On a side note, let me reiterate: Alex Ross’ works are truly fantastic! While Cam and I were lining up to see Jim Lee at Armageddon we some some bloke wearing the Super Obama shirts, and the prick in front of us asked him to stay back so they could compare their “Obamas”. Yeesh. Anyway, my next book purchase is definitely going to be this one: Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. I saw it in Readings the other day on one of my bookshop rounds and I fell in love with it.
I didn’t do an awful lot today. I went to the bank to withdraw one of my term deposits, on behalf of my dad. He’s a shrewd one. He gets me to open term deposits because I don’t pay tax (although that’ll be changing very soon). A n00bie teller was organising the closure of my account; I was actually a little bit worried she’d wiped out the interest or something. But it was all good. Now I’m going to have to re-invest elsewhere.
Afterwards I had lunch with my uni mates in a Japanese restaurant in the city. I don’t even remember what I had. It was some sort of curry don. And the drink I ordered (iced latte chocolate) was rubbish. And then like the fobs that we are, we went to get sticker photos taken in the nook and cranny of Chinatown! They’re actually the nicest ones I’ve taken. I remember seeing some awful results before. My favourites:
P.S. If it looks like I haven’t been blogging everyday “YOU’RE WRONG!” to quote (Harry-cum-Goyle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), I’m posting on both LJ and Eveninghour. Yay.
P.S.S. I am really happy with the new blog layout. I used Live Trace (my favourite Illustrator filter) to strip Catwoman and Batman down to the “basics” (take that comment as you will). It’s smouldering!
Holiday! Celebrate!
Monday, November 3rd, 2008So it’s been a hell of a month lately! I finally finished second year uni last Monday. That Monday was one of my worst Mondays ever, and that’s saying quite a lot, but in amongst all the travelling from north to west to east to in-between, printing mock-ups (and muck-ups) and bookbinding setbacks, there was that massive shower of relief that washed over me when I set that folio down onto the desk in studio, and exited the campus with a somewhat triumphant feeling. The victory didn’t kick in until I was binging on glorious junk food in QV with Steph, and having a good nervous chortle about it afterwards. Not particularly looking forward to the end of November which is when results are released, but meh, c’est la vie.
More excitingly though, Cam and I went to the Armageddon Expo at the Exhibition Centre on Saturday. I was totally not planning to go this year, but I passed several bill posters in Essendon with multiple Batmans gazing at me, daring me not to come, so how could I not go, eh? That was when I found out Jim Lee, THE Jim Lee, Master of All Comic Art, was making a guest appearance. And we know how difficult it is for the famous people I personally am interested in to come to my shithole of a hometown. It was a bitch lining up to see him though, worse than meeting the film celebrities, but it was ultimately worth every exasperating, exhausting minute. I had nothing worthy to say; I guess I was pretty much speechless. He asked if we were tired. He said he was tired. He asked one of the supervisors (one of the worst I’ve ever encountered at a major event) for “sodas”. I thanked him for coming here or something along those lines, and asked for a photo afterwards. It was all over in under a couple of minutes, but you could not wipe the grin off my face if you tried. I was Catwoman personified. xD
On a more lively note, Doug Jones was the better entertainer. He is possibly the most warm and down-to-earth celebrity I’ve met. The second we greeted him he was cooing all over us—we were “adorable” and he just “wanted to pinch [our] cheeks” (which he did). I’ve never thought myself as adorable, but there you are. I waxed lyrical about his role in Hellboy, and he was very gracious. He talked about the scene portrayed in the photo still he was signing, and I think I managed to maintain conversation despite my utter gobsmacked speechlessness. I think I meant to ask if there was a Hellboy III in the works, and what was it like playing a drunk, singing, aquatic creature. Oh well. In short, he was brilliant. And the whole convention was really quite fun. It’s so cool to be a part of the geekdom, and having people from all ages speaking the same language as you. It was like the time when I went to the final Harry Potter book launch parties in the city at 9am in freezing July weather. A kinship of sorts. Marx was right about this stuff being the opiate of the people, no?
What I ended up with (quite an expensive but so-damn-worth-it haul):
More photos at my Flickr page.
I’m participating in NaBloPoMo instead of NaNoWriMo this month. So I’ll be sporadically posting on both Eveninghour and my LJ. No more inactive Jen. ;]
