Melbourne is a great city. You can almost smell the culture on the air. The first day there, I headed down toward the National Gallery of Victoria to check out the Picasso / Dora Maar exhibition. It took me a while to get there, as I found myself a bit side-tracked by everything screaming out to be photographed.
First there was the cathedral, that prompted me to pull my camera from my pack.
And Flinders Station, a very European-looking train station and central hub
and the buildings surrounding it.
There was Federation Square,
home to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image
There was the river,
separating downtown
from the southern suburbs and beaches.
I finally made it to the Gallery
and went in to check out the Picasso Exhibition.
The most interesting thing I found was film shot by Man Ray documenting the group consisting Picasso/Man Ray/Dora Maar and others at play while on a beach vacation. It's great to be able to see these larger-than-life figures brought down to a more casual level in an informal setting, just hanging out with friends and being goofy.
I also checked out an exhibition of photographs called "American Beauty: Photographs of the American Social Landscape, 1930s–1970s", showcasing selected works of well-known photographers, including Robert Frank, André Kertész, and Lee Friedlander. The work of these three photographers impressed me, and I was comforted to see works of Friedlanders that resembled some of my more abstract photos.
On my way out of the Gallery I met some very nice museum people
who let me take pictures of the statues in the foyer.
I headed back toward downtown, snapping some statues
on the way.
I happened upon an outdoor exhibition called "Earth From Above",
an amazing body of work shot and presented by Yann Arthus Bertrand, coupling photos shot from helicopters with statistics on ecology and our world. An amazing collection.
I stopped for a late lunch in Federation Square
before heading in to check out the largest wall of TV screens in the world at the ACMI. The screens were stacked seven-high, and stretched for a good two hundred feet.
Heading back to the hotel, I came upon some cool alleys
and public art, including this stencil:
My brain hurt, so I had a glass of wine. And then another...
.
