Today is a day for the birds....

and by that I mean anyone who can be suited in head to toe waterproofing gear!!! It is seriously wet wet wet.... and I am contemplating getting out of the house and seeing an exhibition! Am I mad? Could be....

The last few days I have whiled away the hours by working at my desk on a new series of textile works for an exhibition in July that I am in called Le Fil {the thread}. Its actually been quite nice being huddled away from it all and getting a good amount of time to work on these embroideries - and I have to admit - I do like textile works... Its an area of the arts that is HUGE right now...with many exhibitions, writings and festivals dedicated to tactile or sensory works of art.

When I was in Canberra a few weeks ago the town seemed to be overloaded with exhibitions on the subject. The major one being the Soft Sculpture exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. The exhibition is an amalgam of some of the galleries permanent collection - showcasing works that use an array of different materials to excite the viewer to think and see outside the square when it comes to scultpure....

The show is broken up into the different themes of... droopy, fluffy, liquid,moulded,and plastic - which sounds alittle bit S+M!!! But I assure you the sculptures on display are from some of the highest names in the art fraternity such as Annette Messager (see image above), Claus Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, Ernesto Neto, Marcel Duchamp, Eva Hesse and on and on and on..... It is truly like a stroll through an art history class - as you walk through the voluminous rooms and try to take in these massive sculptures that touch every sensory nerve...

Each piece is quite large and given alot of space around it so the viewer can truly take it in and walk around them which is a luxury that only the National Art Gallery can afford - and as the pieces slouch, hang, drip, and play - you can start to have fun with them which is what tactile art IS all about! I guess in the end its just a shame that you can't touch them!!



My favourite piece would have to be Contingent (1969) by Eva Hesse with its beautiful textures and smell of beeswax... It is by no means a new piece but it is still feels fresh ... as you walk through its traslucent layers of laytex covered cheesecloth that hang down from the ceiling...





For more contemporary artworks one only had to cross Lake Berly Griffin to Craft ACT where the exhibition Soft Animators was on display. Curated by Jas Hugonnet Soft Animators looked at artists who are using textiles to create new entities/characters similar to the anime phenomenon found in Japanese art/zine culture... Highlights were Ghostpatrol from Melbourne and CUPCO aka Lucus Temby who created fantastic felt characters such as wallstreet Ganesha and UN Peacekeeeper Doll! Truly funny and brilliant!! And unfortunately nearly all sold out!! If you go to CUPCOs blog be sure to ask for some free stickers... mine are in the post!



I think there is a whole Ganesha thing going on in the arts too?? This was a textile works that I did as part of the Make_Over group exhibition at Gaffa gallery in May... funny the co-incidences
you find!

Anyway thats enough from me for now...

But if anyone else is locked at a desk and would like to stream some brilliant tunes... J-Rocc and Madlib are in good o'London and taking over Gilles Petersons BBC1 radio show this week and it is jazzy, brazilian, abstract, crazy and bloody brilliant!!