Sunday, February 19, 2006

Art on Sunday


Sunday morning seemed like the perfect time to wander the halls of the Auckland art gallery. A significant amount of wall space was taken up with the Frances Hodgkins exhibition and I'm not a big fan, so we stuck to the established collections. He Konei mai was mostly Goldie potraits and Lindaur(the artist not the $12 bubbly!) potraits with other odd artists thrown in. The chance to see Goldie works up close was wonderful. There are no barriers in this section of the gallery and you really see the details. Goldie is amazing, his paintings are so detailed, you can see every pore on a face and I was hard pressed to see brush strokes except on the backgrounds. It was amazing. There was also a small collection of modern art which was a bit average with the exception of a stand out piece by Shane Cotton called "southern cross". The constellation was represented by birds and it really caught my eye. I have no artistic expertise, I liked it cause it was pretty.
St Sebastian seems to be a theme for the Gallery at the moment, with many depictions lining the walls. The galleries pride and joy is a recently restored work by Guido Reni. Its huge powerful and quite an emotional picture of St. Sebastian. I looked at it for quite some time.
Although not on display, I do have a small claim to fame, my grandfather has three water colours (1956) held in the Auckland collection. Perhaps there is some talent for art appreciation somewhere in my genes...... there could be hope for me yet.

No comments: