Sunday, in the park

From March 16 outing

I don't think it was the forth of July.

I think it was the 15th of March, actually.

And, the day wasn't going as planned. Yet, it was going pretty, pretty, pretty well.

My plan was as follows: Catch the 1 PM train into the city and catch the film "Big Night" at the State Library of Queensland. Then, roam over to Roma Street Parkland before taking the train back homa.

I did get the train. I did arrive just at 2 PM but I was turned away at the door. I was the first and possibly only person to be turned away because the theater was full. "No seats. We're trying to find seats for these two women."

OK. Fine.

So, what to do. I could go home and start preparing for my trip. (This is pronounced "major house cleaning frenzy".) Or, I could seek out the best air conditioning in Brisbane and see what's shaking at the Gallery of Modern Art.

Of course, you know which one I selected.

The GOMA is preparing to open its new major exhibit on Modern Chinese Art. They've got the bit down the center featuring duel giant Chairman Mao statues and a long row of Chinese busts with objects glued to the tops of their heads. The large feature galleries, however, are not yet open. The installation is not installed.

So, I wandered upstairs.

Big exhibit by indigenous Australians - a portion of which has been on display before. Nothing caught my fancy.

Exhibit by high school students from Queensland - that is always kind of fun. But, nothing was too memorable.

From March 16 outing

Finally, down the hall and way in the back is Spencer Finch's exhibit: As if the sea should part and show a further sea. As I approached it I first saw "Thank you fog" - a series of 64 (I think- seemingly endless) square black frames. In each, inside a white mat is a black square. "Great," I thought sarcastically, and walked on by - as I did past a couple of photographs (I never figured them out- the description says there are three but I only saw two...) and then past a series of fluorescent tubes angled on a wall covered with different colored filter paper. I did read about this but didn't really understand it. (It makes more sense here.) It wasn't until I came upon his installation West (Sunset in My Motel Room, Monument Valley, January 26, 2007, 5:36-6:06 PM)
that I became intrigued. This installation is made of 9 monitors positioned in a grid and located only a few feet from a white wall. On each grid is a still image from some western movie (I forget) and once a minute the images change. The cumulative effect of the light hitting the wall mirrors the setting sun that Finch observed on the wall of his motel room - as you've already guessed - on January 26, 2007. Now, that was cool. The exhibit is laid out as a circuit and I found I was soon back at that series of black squares. But, now I was beside them and I could see they were not black squares but very, very subtle photographs of the fog in San Fransisco rolling over and revealing glimpses of tree tops. WOW.

I must see it all again. So, I relooped.

After a cup of green tea in the museum cafe, I did travel over to the Roma Street Parkland where I was pleased to discover the sunflowers were blooming.



I love sunflowers. I wish I could grow them here. I had such nice ones in North Carolina. My seeds won't sprout.