Two artworks from White Night.

On Saturday Rose and I and our trusty sidekicks ventured out for White Night, loyally starting with Parnell, and moving on to the CBD galleries.

The first thing we saw was Sian Torrington’s Your uncontained movement has opened up a new room in me at the top of St Georges Bay road.  Made of numerous materials in a myriad of colours, this installation had the feel of a magical tree hut or a huge eclectic magpie nest.  Rose and I were fascinated with it and felt it was very inviting, it would have been amazing to climb up into it, and there were parts that looked as though they could be comfortably used as hammocks.  It also reminded me of Mikala Dwyer’s work, and made me think about creating spaces, art spaces in the landscape.  I really enjoyed the fact it was installed out in the open, in a real tree rather than in a gallery setting, because that contributed to the sense of wonder, that this fantastical thing existed in the world rather than being preserved in the artificial setting of the gallery.

In town the artwork that stood our for me was Miha Štrukelj’s Route to Verionica Street in the Gow Langsford window.  I really enjoyed seeing drawing on a large scale like this (quite different from my own drawings) and really installed into a space.  Štrukelj has also created a raised floor, and the drawing extends over this as well as the ceiling and all visible walls.  This window space is the perfect place to enjoy a work like this, standing out on the street and looking into another street scene.

Even though it is a line drawing without large areas of tone or shading there is a lovely tonal quality to the lines themselves.  The reflections in the glass window overlay the scene outside on the drawing within, and allow the viewer to see a shadowy self looking out from an unfamiliar street scene.