A typical blog mightn’t start at the end of the night but my $7.76 Uber from Australian Galleries to 19 Lincoln Sq found me in deep conversation with Amit, my chauffeur, as I projectile word-vomited all over the interior of his Camry on all the fun I had feels like a nice place to start. On the odd chance you’re reading this Amit (yes, I wrote the URL for him), I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.
I love visiting Australian Galleries in Collingwood for their monthly exhibition openings and this week was a joint night of William Kentridge and Geoffrey Ricardo.
I was met by family friends who manage and own the Gallery along with an old schoolmate working the bar. The glass of wine handed to me could quite possibly be up there with the worst wine that has graced my hairy lip, and I say that in the nicest way possible. I want to clarify I am in no way a wine snob and I probably have a terrible palette, but this wine smelt and tasted like really bad sardines, and I love sardines, just not when it takes red wine form. I kind of noticed everyone was drinking white wine anyway so I was more than willing to swap, but the people I saw persisting with the fishy alcohol actually somewhat resembled the look of a sardine. Kind of old and wrinkly, the type that looks like they smell of sardines. I didn’t take a photo of the label, or the sardine people for that matter, probably for the best, otherwise, I would have included the image for those fish-wine advocate readers, but the white was tasty. Kind of like a riesling, a bit sweet, acidic and not fruity at all. The Perfect drop for the night! (I know absolutely nothing about wine so totally disregard all of that).
I tend to ride my bike to openings. It allows for a drink or two and being back home before it’s too late, but the kind-hearted person last Friday on Chapel Street who decided I can’t own bike lights ruined that for me, so I had to ptv, which meant I was late. So late in fact, I missed the truck that pulled up on Derby Street during the event, and delivered one of Kentridge’s’ bronze sculptures, Marching 2021, and displayed it in the main room, with its original handling crate used as a plinth beneath it. At least that’s what I was told. The sculpture itself was selling for USD 496,000 (AUD 733,185) and spanning 122 x 98 x 102 cm. Kind of butthurt I missed it, but some sardine-wine-drinker showed the video he got. He didn’t smell…
The night wasn’t that busy and I expected more of a crowd to be there. After a while of chatting with the same people I just plugged in my earbud (not earbuds, just earbud because I slammed one in between two 20kg plates at the gym) and listened to the new Fontaine’s DC album. Listening to music at an opening is actually something I’ve never done before, partially because I think it’s a little rude, but I was kind of dead socially. One thing I did notice was the amount of people not talking to one another. An obstacle for some, gaining the courage to literally just say hi and have a conversation with anyone, but maybe that was the energy of the night, maybe everyone’s social battery was dead. Orrrr maybe everyone kind of stank of sardines and that’s why they kept their distances…Maybe I smelt of sardines and that’s why I struggled to talk with people…fuck.
In the end, the show had a great collection of William Kentridge’s works. The ones on show were a selection from his earlier exhibition at Annandale, Day Will Break More Than Once. An artist whom I studied a lot throughout my schooling, recognised for his charcoal drawings mainly, I was taken by surprise when I found myself watching one of his video works. An archival loop detailing pages and pages, like a flip book of his drawings and sketches. The stop-motion birds flying on each page gave a potential narrative and more insight than his sketches or sculptures I thought. The work didn’t feel out of place as his sculptures portrayed this dynamic state seen in his video. Abstract figures boasting vibrant colours or mini-figures posing as if caught between strides exaggerated his ability to capture movement in still mediums. Unsure whether the intimidating price tag was deterring viewers from these sculptures left rather alone or if it was genuinely my sardine stench, but I found myself lonesome for the majority of being around these sculptures and I found that odd. Unless I smelt. Understandable.
Voice Reveal below
This was such an incredible blog!