I don’t profess to being the most sophisticated chap going around (you can take the boy out of Kwinana….) however art doesn’t discriminate and I can proudly say I love the stuff! Having been fortunate to visit lots of the best galleries and museums around the world, I can honestly identify many artists before getting to the description, but fundamentally my knowledge and credibility extends to a method solely based on, “do I like it or not?”.

It’s been four years since the last Triennial Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, and like its predecessor, 2021 is a ripper. There is approximately a hundred works of contemporary art from around the globe that are very broad in their nature ranging from textiles, architecture, audio visual and paint. 

On the whole the works are bold and challenging. There was a lot more organic pieces this year, including some amazing designs such as sculptures made from kelp and echidna spines dedicated to the last indigenous communities in Tasmania and many  of the installations similarly had a strong cultural and environmental theme.

I’ve always struggled with those big video installations in contemporary galleries but there are two at the Triennial that are superb. Both run for about 10 x mins and the first is  indigenous Australian that involves stunning images of aboriginal women and babies in an underwater theme and the other is Asian, focussing in on population density. They come with astonishing soundtracks and are utterly compelling and illuminating visually.

If you’ve been to the NGV you will know the large hall that houses lots of old Australian paintings. Possibly my favourite exhibit today was the same room, unchanged, but with an audio/visual/lighting extravaganza emanating from the roof projected onto these beautiful old images of Australia.  So clever, in fact that’s why I love art galleries so much. They portray ideas and work that a numbskull like myself could never possibly think of!

 In fact I still reckon aliens were involved with the old renaissance painters and ancient Greek sculptors. How else could they have got the likeness so accurate? They couldn’t take photos and there’s no way the subjects could stay that still for that long right? Definitely extra- terrestrial support.:)

The startling 3D visual installation in the main entrance of the NGV sets the scene for the exhibition and the giant octopus made mostly from discarded cigarette filters is highly impressive. Much of the work is dotted within the NGV’s own artwork which provides some incredible contrasts and it takes you through all levels of the gallery. The great news is that the exhibition is free but you need to book on line. A very calming experience after 6 x  months of lockdown. The Triennial runs till April.

www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/triennial-2020/

 It was so good to see the city back to near normal. There’s obviously not a lot of tourists around and everyone seems to have an extra sense of spatial awareness with Covid. It just felt like an edge had come off everyone and perhaps we’ve all learned to chill a bit more after 2020. Might change come footy season and the Comedy Festival but for now it’s a great time to visit Melbourne. Here are some photos from today.