All strings attached

Melting Melbourne, at least for today and the next few days, is the new moniker for this fair city. Ninety degrees F today, 100 on Thursday, and 103 on Friday. It is, after all, summer DownUndah.

But we hit the road, that is, the bus and train, early to beat the heat. And lucky us, the National Gallery of Victoria's (NGV) Triennial exhibit is now on through April 15. Our two and a half hour visit just scratched the surface. Lots of intriguing installations. I won't string you along any further...just look at Pae White's colored strings installation. 

There was a similar exhibit at the Renwick gallery about 18 months ago. Enchanting.

Another blockbuster is the "Eternity-Buddha in Nirvana"

 by Xu Zhen (China). This monumental installation combines replicas of a huge Buddha with classical & Renaissance western sculptures. One of the western sculptures is "The Dying Gaul", which was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. a few years ago. The original Hellenistic sculpture (late 3rd century BCE) is lost, but a Roman copy is in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. You may also recognize some replicas of Michelangelo. While the Buddah is serene, many of the western sculptures are like action figures. I'm not sure, but I think the figure on the far right is Hercules. We could use him now to clear out a certain stable at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Another artist that may sound familiar is Yayoi Kusama...from her exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. At the Triennial, the "Flower Obsession" installation is a re-created apartment that has everything covered in flowers. And each visitor is given a stick- on flower to add to the walls, furniture, fixtures, etc. 

Artist Hassan Hahjaj's "Noss Noss" is a Moroccan street-style space in the NGV  cafeteria. And within this area is a studio space with a camera to do self portraits. Here's one of Virginia and me.