Year 9 and 10 Visual Arts Excursion- By Ruby C (Year 10)
Photo by Ruby C
It was a freezing cold Friday in March – Friday the 27th to be exact – when me and my fellow artistic peers from Year 9 and 10 Visual Arts had the tremendous opportunity to have an annual visit to the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney! For this particular excursion, we were accompanied by Mr Bentham, Miss Aitken, Mrs Smith, and Mr Sakurat from the Royal Thai Embassy.
After an enjoyable bus ride and a quick (yet nutritious) snack break, our first destination on this excursion was Ron Mueck’s ‘Encounter’. This was a dramatic exhibition presenting numerous astonishing creations that are both viscerally physical and psychologically intense, reflecting inner worlds of private feeling. His contemporary sculptures not only explored the human condition, but simultaneously reflected various themes including birth and death, and detachment and unity. In addition, all the Mueck ‘beings’ demonstrate impressive technical skill and realism through each of their life like appearances. Often at times me and my fellow peers thought that at least one of the sculptures slightly moved…
Out of all of Ron Mueck’s lifelike ‘encounters’ that I each met throughout the gallery space, there was a certain sculpture, in my opinion, that simply stood out from the rest. This was “Crouching Boy in Mirror” (1999-2002, mixed media) – an artwork that ironically, just as the title describes, depicts a young boy ‘crouching’ in front of a plain rectangular mirror, leaning against the wall. Small in scale, it presents a moment of quizzical introspection similar to our own moments of self-doubt, isolation, anxiety and vulnerability. Moreover, “Crouching Boy in Mirror” enables the audience to become a part the scene (and the artwork) by allowing them to get close and see their own reflection overlapping with his.
Crouching Boy in Mirror – Ron Mueck | The Broad
Our next stop was none other than ARTEXPRESS: an annual showcase of outstanding artworks created by HSC visual art students across NSW. In this section of the gallery, we explored and admired many creative artmaking forms, ranging from ethereal black and white photography to vibrant, amusing paintings that truly delineated creative freedom. Amongst this curated collection of Year 12 works, me, as well as many from my cohort, can agree that “The Australian Biosphere” by Daisy Donaldson was indeed a mutual favourite. These body of works evoke feelings of wonder, curiosity and nostalgia to convey the organic irregularities of the natural world, and to encourage the audience to rediscover these types of awe-inspiring landscapes through a profound child-like perspective.
Photo by Ruby C
Before we headed off to the Naara Nura building, we all unexpectedly found ourselves immersed in a dramatic public art space, located in the former wartime tank underneath the building. This was Mike Hewson’s “The Key’s Under the Mat” – a unique audience-owned experience in the form of a joyous, sculptural, and surprisingly chaotic…playground! Cultivated from salvaged materials and objects, Hewson’s immersive, sculptural neighbourhood is a one-of-a-kind project in which encourages the audience to be a part of the experience, and to use the exhibition space as entirely their own! In addition, as a boundary-testing transformation of both social and modern sculpture, “The Key’s Under the Mat” is a lively and bold act of regeneration and reclamation!
Mike Hewson’s The Key’s Under the Mat review: arty playground is joyous and chaotic
The final part of our day out at the Art Gallery of NSW involved a visit to an exquisite exhibition situated in the grand Naala Nura building called “Super Nature”. Set up across multiple spaces, this brand-new gallery exhibition conveys the interaction and intertwinement between humans and the natural world. Additionally, “Super Nature” explores rich and creative responses to peoples’ place within the environment. Amongst this collection of creative works, some were more visually…interesting than others. At first glance, Petrina Hicks’ unconventional (and simultaneously disturbing) photograph “Shenae and Jade” (2005) may provoke a flood of startling thoughts, emotions, and reactions. However, according to the artist herself, the artwork is not as alarming as it seems; it delineates and symbolises a strong bond between the subject and her pet bird. Capturing a surreal moment between the human and the animal, it indicates to broader context regarding cultural representations of women, beauty, and nature.
Photo by Ruby C
As a Year 10 Visual Arts student, I enjoyed this excursion very much, and I hope my peers have been immensely inspired by this trip for each of our own artmaking practices! I also do hope that we will have the delightful opportunity to visit the Art Gallery of NSW again next year!