Montavi

Amazing what a day in the big city can do to your mind, body & soul.

Kerenza & I took a train from Coomera (in NZ we say Kumera and eat it, In Aussie, they say Coomera and scream nearby at Dreamworld) to Southbank, Brisbane for a day trip last weekend and are still telling everyone about it. The trains here are really very good. The Aussies complain about them, but they have no idea how old, cold and awful they are in Wellington. It cost a whole $22 return and 1 hour later we were walking onto the river front, checking out the Sunday market and strolling by the newly revamped water park.

What an incredible job they have done! Not only is there a very large, very natural looking pool system, with it’s own beach and surf lifesaving team, there is also a fun, shallow and interactive water park, with all sorts of fountains, water cannon, and other devices that flow, tip, spurt, stream and chase each other around at a moments notice. We can imagine hours of fun here in the summer.

Next stop, or short walk actually, was the Ron Mueck exhibition at GOMA, The Gallery of Modern Art. This exhibit had been advertised for some time and I was excited to go and experience it. Kerenza was not told everything about it, only that it was sculpture, that looked real and that many were going to be naked. The first display was Meucks first famous piece ‘Dead Dad’. An incredibly lifelike man, lying with arms by his sides, face up and about a 3rd of actual size. Like a tiny dead, naked hobbit! It was as if, any minute now, he would wake, sit up and ask us all what we thought we were looking at. Kerenza stood about a meter away and I could only get her to have a slightly closer view. She was not much happier by what greeted her in the next room!

A huge, newborn baby! All wrinkly, blotchy and red. The detail was simply amazing. All the veins, wrinkled skin, nails, hair, mucus, fingerprints and lines on the feet looked exactly like a newborn, only huge! Although all his sculptures are life-like, none of them are life-size. 

They are either giants or tiny people. The lady in the bed was incredibly calming, despite her huge size. The pensive look and way her fingers indented her cheek – so natural. “What is she thinking?”, “How does she feel?”, “Why is she lying in bed?”"Is she going to get up?”… Although it looked like it (with raised knees) we didn’t expect that it was a whole person and didn’t look under the covers to check – a video we watched later in the gallery, of her being made, confirmed our thoughts.

An intriguing range of Ron’s work is on display; a tiny man, sitting in a boat and staring into the distance; two older ladies gossiping; and a man floating on a lilo – except the lilo is about 2 meters up on a green-blue wall! Then, towards the end of the exhibit, the iconic face used on all the promotional material. So intricate, with 5 o’clock shadow, teeth between slightly open lips, creased eyes and squashed face on one side where he is lying on the surface. Then step around the back to see that it’s hollow! The artist certainly likes to play with your imagination – one minute convincing you they are alive, the next exposing their synthetic, fibreglass, real-life properties.

Go see Ron Mueck at GOMA, adults $12, children under 12yrs free (Kerenza enjoyed it, but was quite challenged to look too closely, so some younger ones might not be comfortable).