Soft Sculpture

Dear Soft Sculpture Curators

I don't mean to be picky, but that Jim Dine work 'An Animal' isn't a sculpture...it's kind of a painting.

I wasn't going to mention it, but after seeing the exhibition on the long weekend I couldn't stop thinking about it. And, because I'm not one to make a fool of myself on the internet, I checked a few things. One of the sites I checked was yours and the NGA website says this about the work:

'An animal is one of a group of paintings which Dine began at the end of 1961 in which the legacy of Abstract Expressionism is still apparent in the free, painterly technique, but is combined with real objects fixed to the surface of their written equivalents.'

Anyways, Soft Sculpture is on until 12 July at the National Gallery in Canberra if you want to go see a bunch of sculptures and a Jim Dine painting.

Peter Singer

Went to a seminar today at Old Parliament House about extreme poverty. The speaker was Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher with interesting views on the injustice of world poverty. 

Something he said which resonated with me, was the concept of seeing a small child in danger of drowning in a shallow pond, and the fact that most people wouldn't think twice about saving the kid. You might ruin a pair of $200 shoes, but you'd do it instinctively. Why isn't that the same for the kids we can't see?

There was also lots of talk about workplace giving, which was fine in a roomful of middle class (mostly) public servants, but I couldn't help to think that none of this is going to change. There are too many people in this world who profit from people in extreme poverty and they profit because those people make compromised choices due to their personal circumstances. 

There is too much money in keeping the poor poor.

Peter Singer has recently published a book on his ideas about poverty, and the book's website has some really interesting information in how we can all make a difference. There is also a calculator which tells you how much you should be giving based on your income. I just did the calculation and fell short by about $5000, so I should get off my moral soapbox about keeping the poor poor...

Hearts

New work uploaded into my etsy shop. Go take a look. I dare you ♥

Can anyone help?

Yellow

During the month of May, the slideshow on this blog was photos of all things yellow. To celebrate the first month of this blog, I've made a yellow colour chart just for you. You can buy it here, or just let me know you'd like one by emailing. They cost $3 US dollars each and there are only 20. The image is a postcard size print and I mail it straight to you ♥ the yellow house in the U.

Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Taffy has been mentioned on this blog a few times, and rightly so because he is a straight up good guy. 

I've been following the impending release of Sonic Youths latest album for a while now and had heard bits and pieces via the internet. Taffy turned up the other night with a surprise for me - a copy to share.  So, this might not sound like a bid deal, but I got to take it home, unwrap it and look at the pretty artwork and the paintings on the inner sleeves, all before Taffy had the chance to listen. To anyone who loves to collect music, that's a pretty generous move.

PS - the album is awesome. How is it that Sonic Youth never fail to disappoint even after all these years?

Winter

               Is it true that if you catch a falling leaf, you'll

               get good luck? All the leaves have fallen in 

               Canberra so that means there is only a slim 

               window of opportunity for good luck to be had...