Friday May 1st - Today Ashley & I went to Luna Park, an amusement park built in the 1930s. It was neat to see the old fashioned design throughout the park. There were even a few old fashioned rides we hopped on. Coney Island Funnyland was a large fun-house type building that included such rides as slides, the turkey trot, barrels of fun, & the joy wheel. Like the little kid I am, I got on every ride we could. There was a girl’s 8th grade class there for a field trip that I rode most of the rides with. The Ferris wheel had gorgeous views of the city skyline, Harbor Bridge & opera house, not to mention it was just really fun. Ashley & I also rode on the carousel, the only other ride our ‘Go Easy’ pass would allow. It was a beautiful carousel with intricately painted horses and that great old-timey carousel music. It was a fun, silly time that also felt like a window to the past.
After that Ashley & I dramatically jumped into modern day & went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. There were 3 main exhibits. ‘I walk the line: new Australian drawing’ was full of amazing drawings in ink and pencil that were so intricate & detailed many were very lifelike. The exhibit said there is a new wave of Australian artists focusing on drawing as the final art product instead of just a preliminary step towards a painting or sculpture. The second exhibit was ‘Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years’. This Japanese woman’s art was pretty crazy. She utilized bold colors & repetitive patterns. One piece I particularly liked was a room you went into that had a mirrored ceiling & mirrored walls. The floor was water (also reflective) & hanging from the ceiling were tiny multicolored lights. Looking around you saw millions of lights shining in the darkness. You also saw yourself looking back at you. It was very bizarre, but super beautiful. The final big exhibit was ‘avoiding myth & message: Australian artists and the literary world’, which combined art and text to create the pieces. I did not find this one as interesting as the other exhibits.
Tonight Ashley, Theo, & I are going to dinner at Theo’s parents house. Only 1 ½ more days in Sydney! My how time flies.
yeah so i looked up Yayoi Kusama. She is a pretty cool lady. She has also written a few novels and was feature in the Venice Biennial. That room with mirrors, water and lights sounds really cool and the pictures of it looks cool, i am sure it is totally different when you are standing there. I am wondering if there are actually models within the pieces or is it just you in place of the models shown on the website? Cause on one of them there was a lady in all red and she was lying within these large mirror like balls. Anyway cool sarah
ReplyDelete