oh boy oh boy!

well, what a week it has been! having to adjust after a lustre trip to melbourne, i could have wallowed in the mundane inanity of my life, or put my kick-ass snakeskin boots on and kicked ass. needless to say, i've managed to do the latter.

first things first, i have to rave about the last show i saw in melbourne. Daniel Von Sturmer and Uncanny Nature group show at acca. opened on monday 7th august and was a killer opening. although perhaps due to the nature of daniel's work, most people were standing in the foyer. i'm gonna quickly talk about the uncanny nature show first, 'cos i'm gonna save my most lavish praise for last. uncanny nature featured 13 artists, and, as the title suggests, were works that looked at nature in a very skewed kinda way. hany armanious had this amazing contraption Bubble Jet Earth Work with glycerine and worm castings that made brown bubbles that popped onto a continuous roll of paper, making these cool drawings. on opening night there was already a pile of paper roll in the corner and according to Sary Zananiri, who works at acca, the paper would be piled up on a daily basis until the show ends. i can imagine what it will look like - a whole room bursting with burst worm bubbles! i love it! hany's work is so gross, it's delicious!

Hany Armanious, Bubble Jet Earth Work

the other work i really liked was Richard Giblett's Escalator. I'm hoping that's the correct title, 'cos they didn't have catalogues (which i would have bought if there were). He'd made this amazing escalator replica out of ply (which was amazing itself) and underneath the escalator was a green house, with indoor plants, green light and beautiful nature kind of noises! an excellent urban design i thought - pity more green spaces are created under escalators in real life. it was a nice little escape place. although i did start thinking 'when did raw wood become fashionable?' Richard's work was raw wood, Christopher Hanrahan always uses raw wood, Ricky Swallow... ah, that's who i'll blame it on. I like Ricky's work, but for now, i'm pointing my finger squarely at him for the surge in raw wood installation!

Richard Giblett, Escalator

Daniel Von Sturmer, Field Equation

In the Helen McPherson Gallery, Daniel Von Sturmer's Field Equation was like heaven for me! I've always liked his work and it was great to see a whole show of his stuff. All that hard line geek field plane perspective optical illusion stuff really floats my boat and it was awesome to wander around the maze of mostly empty white plinths to check it out. I particularly liked the attention to detail with the reflective screens that the video work was showing on, you could check it out from both sides. And the little bump/hole made from cutting mats were awesome as well. Apologies for not having correct names, like i said, no catalogues and I didn't go to make a review. The other thing i totally loved was the spinning red cube on the white disc. Shouted at me loud and clear (maybe the red cube had something to do with it), but it tickled my fancy nonethelss, as did the two video pieces with the disappearing square blobs.. like a piece of blu-tak had been dropped on the floor, then swallowed up. I could've watched them for hours, but did't want to bore my family who i'd dragged along for the ride. Actually they really liked the show as well, and despite wanting to ride the wooden escalator, they were very well behaved!

So I got home on tuesday and moped around like a wet dog for a day or two, but then yesterday i smartened myself up, straightened my collar and decided to get my shit together. Had a catch up with my mate Sarah Mosca 'cos we're gonna have a group show, somewhere in Sydney in the next 6 months - more info when it comes to hand. On the way to the Lounge, I got a voicemail message from the kids at Platform Inc - My application was successful and they want me to have the space in November! Fuck yeah!!! I was so fucking excited! I did the happy dance while i was in my chair and Sarah was looking at me saying, "what?".. I rang them back pronto and although i tried to be Miss I'm-so-cool-I-don't-need-to-get-excited-about-a-solo-show-in-Melbourne, i was too fucking hyped and I can't remember the shit i spilled on the phone. All I do remember is that I'm after Benedict Ernst's show - The Chocolate Manifesto, which is cool 'cos I seem to be applying to the same places he's been applying to! lol!

So yesterday was a really good day - a solo show in Melbourne lined up and a group show in Sydney, all within the next 6 months! Boo yow!

I'm outta here..I've got some cornflour paste to make...