Art in Melbourne

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After endless days of drizzly rain and humidity, my arrival in Melbourne has been marked by beautiful sunny skies and warm temperatures. It's been quite refreshing enjoying the low humidity, gentle(ish) breezes while I saunter around the city.

Every Sunday, the "Arts Center" of Melbourne has a market for local artists. There were hand etched glass bowls, paintings, jewerly, prints, cards, and even framed pressed flowers. After checking out the tents of local artists, I decided to explore the Victoria Art Gallery. I barely scratched the surface of this museum, but I really enjoyed the Asian sections of art.

Although there was not a single piece which particularly stood out to me, the negoro style of lacquer made an impression on me. This is a Japanese style of art, where black lacqure is painted over wood, and then covered with red lacquerd. Eventually, bits of the red lacquer wears away, which exposes the black into unique patterns. Every day common items, plates, bowls, sake pourers, and tea pots become unique pieces of art as the red lacquer erodes away. This still emphasizes the art of imperfection which was in stark contrast to the Chinese pieces on display.

After throughouly exploring the Asian sections, we quickly went through the European section, which was mostly full of catholic inspired English art. There were some German bowls and nobility dish sets as wells, but the vast majority of pieces were dedicated to the "Madonna a and Child" or other similar pieces. Some of the historical pieces were really unique, serving as metaphors for war and immigration.

Since I had found art I wanted to purchase, we left the gallery a little early to return to the makers market.
Eventually I purchased a painting of the Royal Exhibition building from the vantage point of the Carlton gardens. I had taken a photograph of this same area on my first day in Melbourne, so this art will serve as a reminder of my time in Melbourne.

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Comments

[Angie1987]

Good tip!
Hi Sarah, I am planning to visit Melbourne in the near future and thank you very much for the tip on the sunday art market, am keen to check this out, happy holidays Angie