MONET’S GARDEN – AN EXHIBITION

Running until 8 SEPTEMBER 2013 at the National Gallery of Victoria

180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/monets-garden

Tickets from $26.00 per adult (children, family, seniors, concession, groups and member prices available).  Click “buy tickets” to pre-purchase.

I knew very little of Monet when I walked through the of the NGV to see the exhibition.  All I really knew was that Monet was a very famous French painter.  I was familiar with some of his work, but not his story. 

This exhibition was, I thought, a pretty special opportunity to see some of the very famous artworks of Monet (the famous French artist who I didn’t really know much about).  And I have to say, it was.

 

The exhibition was beautiful.  There is a lot of great information posted around the many rooms (I think there are five?) and I would encourage you to read as much as you can, to really understand what the paintings are about and also understand Monet’s influences, his life story, his challenges and his tribulations.  Knowing these things really helps you understand the artwork and connect with it. 

As you move through the phases of Monet’s life, the art changes quite significantly.  An example that becomes quite apparent is that, as Monet grew older, he began to lose his eyesight.  This resulted in his paintings being more disordered or messy and more vibrant colours were used (he had to label the paints in a special way so he knew which one was which).

Something that stood out for me was that Monet experimented with how the weather can change an image.  He painted many of the same images (the Thames, villages he lived near, spots in his garden) but varied them with the impact the weather was having.  I particularly loved his painting called Vétheuil in the Fog from 1879 (pictured below right).  It is something that you really have to see in person to appreciate the depth of it.  The village is barely visible through the fog, yet it has such vibrancy and life. 

I also loved the Round Water lilies from 1907.  Monet painted many water lily paintings and he destroyed many in his quest to truly capture his impression.

In his quest to paint “the immediate experience of nature” (rather than an interpretation of it), and the slow uptake from society on this type of art, Monet certainly worked through what would have been some pretty challenging times to achieve the recognition he finally received (he lost his wife and his son to illness, he was quite poor and his preferred form or art - Impressionism - was not popular for many years).

The finale of the exhibition is where I thought everything all fell into place - a moving and stunning 180° digital installation in the final room (see below right).  

If you have read the information and taken the time to understand Monet through the rooms before this one, if you love gardening, appreciate art, enjoy a good story or even if you are into interior design, this part of the exhibition will resonate with you in some way.

To me, Monet’s story is one of commitment, passion, hard work, strength, persistence and self-belief.  There is something in that for all of us.

Tips: 

• I think you need at least an hour and a half at this exhibition, so either catch a train in to the city (get off at Flinders Street), or grab a flat rate park in the city (weekend rates are around $10 for the full day – I parked at the bottom of the Galleria Building on the corner of Little Collins and Elizabeth Streets).  If you are going in during the week, I recommend parking at the Botanical Gardens (it is about $1.50 per hour and some parks are up to 4 hours). 
• Pre-booking your tickets will definitely save time – click “buy tickets”.

• If you are not into reading a lot of material at exhibitions, there are listening devices available.  However, these were all gone when we went…
• You can pre-read or print the material off beforehand if you are keen.  Click here.
• Go for lunch or breakfast before of afterwards in Degraves Street, grab a cupcake from Little Cupcakes, a coffee at The Journal and maybe have a bit of a sneaky shop in Flinders Lane (Aesop, Green with Envy, Santini, Quick Brown Fox, Zomp, and more!).

** All pictures excluding last one, sourced from the internet.

THE HOLLYWOOD COSTUME EXHIBITION - ACMI MELBOURNE

Picture from ACMI website

Where?  ACMI MELBOURNE

Federation Square, Melbourne


Ph +61 3 8663 2200

How much? Tickets $20 per adult (less for children, pensioners and family/other groups)

When?  Wednesday 24 April - Sunday 18 Aug 2013

Open daily 10am - 5pm (Thursdays until 9pm)

More details: http://www.acmi.net.au/hollywood-costume.aspx

“No food, drinks, photographs or totes” says the guy at the entrance to this exhibition.  The first three requirements I understand.  But I do wonder why I can’t take my tote in. Do they think I might bag Spiderman’s costume?  I eventually decide it is because if everyone carried a tote, there might be a little too much tote bumping when it gets crowded.  Today, despite it being school holidays, the crowd is fine.  I get to keep my tote.  Phew!

We float down the escalator into a dark exhibition room in what feels like the basement of ACMI. 

The first thing I see is Nicole Kidman’s face on screen about A4 size, sitting atop one of her Moulin Rouge costumes.  She is hanging from the ceiling, perched on a swing. 

While at first, the face-on-projected screen is a little strange, it does work well in creating a more life like representation of the actor who wore the costume.  It takes you back to the relevant film, perhaps even the precise scene (depending on how familiar you are with the film).

The number of costumes represented is deceptive.  That is, there are far more than you think.  This really only occurred to me after I had seen everything and was looking at a list of all that is on show.  Music from a selection of blockbusters fills the room.  You can read about the costume, you can listen to actors, designers and directors tell their perspectives, you can get rather close up to the costumes and truly appreciate the intricate detail in some of them (particularly the Elizabeth costumes!).

The thing that struck me was the size of the Spiderman costume and the size of Batman’s costume.  Much bigger than I imagined!

There are some truly iconic costumes at this exhibition and I suspect many would be recognisable for any age group, regardless of your level of film buff-edness.  Some that come to mind include: Harry Potter; Spiderman; The Titanic; Fight Club; Moulin Rouge; Chicago; The Addams Family; Chicago; 101 Dalmatians; The Blues Brothers; Elizabeth; The Iron Lady; The Wizard of Oz; Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Kill Bill; Gladiator… the list goes on!  There will be something here that you will recognise and I am sure something will surprise you.

TIPS:

• If you are driving into the city to see this exhibition and you are ok to walk a little, I recommend parking at the botanical gardens.  It is $1.50 per hour (up to 4 hours available – just check signs) there, which is a massive difference to the prices you will pay in the car parks nearer to Federation Square.
• Make sure you look up to the ceiling at this exhibition or you will miss some very famous costumes!
• An hour should give you heaps of time to comfortably wander through and read most of the commentary. 
• Pre-purchase your ticket here to avoid waiting in the queue.

Note: no photos are allowed in the exhibition so all photos above have been sourced from the internet.

Hats – An Anthology by Stephen Jones at Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

“The exhibition itself is free” I was told as I sat, upright and rigid, in my space on the plane to Brisbane. My expectations upon hearing this were suddenly lowered. A free exhibition, I thought, would give us a handful of Stephen Jones’ pieces and an overpriced souvenir shop. This trip could turn into a small disaster, I thought, as I imagined the most disappointed face I could on my mother’s face...

Well, I am delighted to say that I was wrong... very wrong. There would be far more than a few hats on display, and the expression on my mother’s face would be one of awe, longing and inspiration. Just across the river, along the aptly named “Southbank”, rests the Brisbane Art Museum. I wouldn’t say it is the most externally aesthetically pleasing piece of architecture, but who cares when all that matters is what it holds within! This gallery seems to be like most galleries. Open spaces, lots of glass cabinets, and multiple paintings on white walls. I scan the large rooms for a sign of Stephen Jones. “Down the stairs and to your right”, we are told by a short by happy-to-be-there lady of the Museum. And, suddenly, this Gallery becomes different to most. There is a separate area. An area created just for Stephen Jones to present what he refers to as his “very personal anthology of hats, a mish-mash of dates, places, stories and illusion...”. The dedicated Stephen Jones space is a cave within the Gallery, with four separate, but very connected, chambers. The cave is complete with an arched-window-shaped entrance. Inside is darker than outside, and as you take your first art-gallery-pace steps into the first chamber, you are suddenly disconnected from the outside world. Time doesn’t matter anymore. Only headwear, creativity and artistry. A large glass cabinet lines the left-hand side wall of the first chamber. I immediately recognise Stephen’s Union Jack top hat. Some of you will have seen this in the window of Le Louvre in Collins Street Melbourne last year, others of you will know it from the cover of Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones (V&A 2009) and some of you will know that it was worn by Anna Piaggi, Italian fashion writer, and regular wearer of a Stephen Jones hat.

The cabinet’s contents are not all Stephen’s creations. He will not tell this story alone. The creations are deliberately not categorised in time zones or styles, but tend to be grouped for likeness. There is a cluster of geometric shapes, one of helmets, hoods, and bonnets. Think of a riding helmet that Cadel Evans might wear resting just a few hats up from Stephen Jones’ Thunderbird, a lollipop-stick creation made for Galliano in 1996, and then, just a few along from that, an every-day rain hood. Each hat rests on a clear mannequin head. You barely notice the heads, which creates an illusion that these artworks are, in fact, floating. The second chamber showcases millinery materials and the different ways one might, and one actually has, decided to use them: straw; wool; felt; flowers; paper; plastic; embellishment; feathers. In this chamber you will find Stephen Jones’ well-known paint palette hat. Created for Dior and used as the exhibition’s signature image, it holds centre position in the “embellishment” cabinet. But, in my view, it by no means dominates. Each cabinet holds a balanced selection of examples of the material in form. From the “plastic” cabinet the highlight for me was Stephen’s “Wash and Go” hat; from the “wool” cabinet, Stephen Jones’ quirky cooked breakfast beret; from the “feather” cabinet, Philip Treacy’s pink goose feather hat (pictured); from the “shoe” cabinet, Stephen’s “pas de deax” (pictured); and from the “straw” cabinet, an exceptionally old, but beautifully kept, embroidered shallow crown hat from 1760-1769. This hat, in particular, causes quite an emotional reaction from my mother. She seems astonished, stunned, and simply taken a-back. She spends a little extra time with it, before moving to the next cabinet.

One of the most fascinating features of this second chamber is the re-created section of Stephen’s studio. It occupies the centre of the room. His radio plays softly next to an opened can of flavoured mineral water and the floor is peppered with his labels, buttons and other bits of fly- away. The walls are waterfalls of trims, braids, boxes, sketches and notes... To some, this small room-within-a-room looks just like you might imagine your average artist’s studio. To others, the ones who linger for that extra little while, are leaning inside, are partly transported but longing to be closer, the picketed barrier gates really do serve as a reminder that: you are an art exhibition; he is not in there; and no! you cannot just pop in for a closer look...

The third room is a room for the “famous” hats: Sarah Jessica-Parker’s green feather Phillip Treacy; a cap worn by Janet Jackson in one of her concerts; Kiera Knightley’s ostrich-feather-covered costume hat worn in the film The Duchess; Dita von Teese’s favourite toy hat with the miniature parrot on top; Camilla’s wedding headpiece by Phillip Treacy; Mick Jagger’s hat worn during the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang world tour; and Kylie’s visor worn in her Showgirl tour, both by Stephen Jones.

At the centre of this chamber is a group of mannequins. They wear some of the catwalk pieces by Jones, et al. They wouldn’t make much sense on a floating head in a cabinet. They are large, obscure and very modern. One is certain inspiration for Lady GaGa’s recent Diet Coke can hair rollers. Another is the exceptionally bright pom-pom headwear created by Soren Bach and worn by Bjork in 2008.

In the final chamber is a fantastic area for children (and adults of course!) to create a personalised paper hat. A marvellous idea... in so many ways.

The final cabinet of hats is on the right hand side of the final chamber. It holds a modest collection of work by a selection of Australian milliners: Richard Nylon; Peter Jago; Neil Grigg; Alexandra Harper; Liza Stedman; and Sandy O’Rourke. This cabinet could have been bigger... much bigger... But, I suppose, it is fair to say that this is not an Australian millinery exhibition. Now, that is something that should be considered...

This exhibition is not intended to take you on a chronological or historical tour through time. It is not intended to show you everything that ever was, or is, to hats and millinery. The precise intention of this exhibition-in-a-cave is to show you Stephen Jones’ “viewpoint of where hats come from, how they were made, where they were sold and the extraordinary people who wore them.” And that is what it does. However, I think it does more than this. It evokes emotion, appreciation, wonder and inspiration. It is breathtaking and captivating. It makes your mind wander into the creative spirit of these headwear artists and causes you to take a moment to think and acknowledge the beauty of the hat. It makes you want to wear hats more often. And it makes you think about why we don’t. It makes you realise that a hat is a finishing touch to an outfit, an extension of the person, a statement and a face-frame.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones is well worth your time. Whether you are a milliner by trade, or you have a fascination with hats, if you are a fashion student, or have an interest in the history of fashion or you are simply passing through Brisbane, I urge you to stop by the not-so-pretty-from-the-outside Museum on Southbank, and let Mr Jones take you somewhere.

Exhibition showing in Brisbane only: 27 March – 27 June 2010www.qac.qld.gov.au/hats