A fantastic weekend

I have finally had time to sort out some of the myriad of photos I took while I was away.  The whole weekend was wonderful and my sister thoroughly enjoyed celebrating her birthday.
The Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition opened at both the Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery on Saturday.  It is massive and an incredible experience.  We only made it to GOMA, we ran out of puff after that.

 I should start with a photo of Graham, my nephew from New Zealand, with two of his paintings.  He does traditional interiors in oils and I have to admit the ones on display are not my favourites, but who am I to say.  I think it is a huge feather in his cap to be represented  in the gallery.

 You should click on all the images to enlarge them to have a really good look.  I loved the little woven figures hanging on the wall, part of the Sepik collection.

 I can't remember who did this textile, but I liked it.

 Looking down at the Papua New Guinea section from the second floor.  On the left (on the second floor) you can see a collection of representations of baskets, all made from found bits and pieces, barbed wire, bed springs, galvanised iron etc.  The artist is an Australian of indigenous descent

 This is a closeup of the galvanised iron one.  She has punched holes and woven the pieces together with fine wire, what an effort that must have been.

 This exhibit was by an artist from Vietnam, who commissioned a glass artisan in Ho Chi Minh City to make 4,000 blown glass sculptures of birds and animals.  She has arranged them all on this table.  I heard it took a year to make all the animals, but I would love to know how long it took to pack them all up, then unpack and arrange them on the special table!  Graham wondered how you would dust the exhibit, probably a legitimate concern as the exhibition is open till mid April next year.  They did look lovely.

This picture is out of context, but is a giant elephant made of brass, especially for the children to play on.  GOMA is the most child friendly gallery I have ever visited.  There are descriptions especially for the children for each exhibit (which I often found more enlightening than the adult one!) and there are lots of places for children to touch exhibits.  Photography is allowed almost everywhere.  I really find this a most exciting gallery.

 This huge timber sculpture is supposed to represent the fear of gold!  the artist is Indian (I think)

 These are full body masks worn by an Indonesian tribe for special ceremonies.  the weaving is wonderful.

 These rods are made from cords wrapped and dyed later, I am not quite sure how. The artist is a Tongan living in New Zealand

 These are Sepik sculptures, I can't remember what they are meant to represent.

You must be tired of photos by now, I will show you some others I took when on a ferry ride on the Brisbane river tomorrow.