Andrew Pommier travels to Australia for a show he curated @Monster Children.
TRACKS IN THE SNOW at Monster Children Gallery Sydney, Australia.
This past spring an idea was put in motion that had been talked about for sometime. What had been talked about was the idea of me putting together a show of Canadian artists for Monster Children Gallery in Sydney, Australia. The show was set for the second week in October. I figured since the time frame was a little on the tight side and as all the artists I was thinking about including in the show worked in different media and distinctive ways I would leave the show's theme simple and to the point, young Canadian artists. With Fall looming and everything on track, the only unfortunate part for the other artists was that I would be the only one getting down to the show so I bit the bullet and jumped on a 14 hour direct flight from Vancouver to Sydney happy to help the show through it's final stages.
I love that flights now have movies on demand. Lewis Black's HBO special "Red, White and Screwed" was a good lead into a nice long nap.
Land ho!
Top of the stairs at the Kirketon Hotel. Old silent movies were played on the flat screen . Classy.
Street art across from my hotel.
Downtown Sydney from King's Cross.
Far, far away from the West Coast.
Random window around the Cross.
Next day-empty gallery.
MCG's man in charge Mr. Joe Allen.
"Hey Joe, it's the first spring long weekend, it's 35 degrees Celsius today, do you wanna start setting up the show?" "Naw screw that, let's go swimming!" "To the bikes!"
View from Mackenzie. Warm air, cold ocean.
Went to the Anna Schwartz Gallery with Joe, Sinead and her brother Mike.
Creative editing of a piece by Pierre Huyghe called "I do not own snow white."
Ah Sydney. I'm pretty sure that everyone that has been to Sydney has a version of this photo.
Biking with Joe and Melbourne transplant and photographer Conor O'Brien
Conor chilling at the Rocks
Blackout dinning at Joe and Sinead's. That's their cat "The Little Prince"
Joe
Skating at a park the locals have dubbed "Fernside" which is strange as it is a city made park. Usually adding "side" to a park name means it was hand built by skaters as in "Burnside."
It started to rain so we rolled over to a covered spot where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Here Connor busts a backside heelflip between sips of Coopers.
Suns back.
Tuesday had us back at work. Here Joe gets the pay off to a morning of cutting through red tape. I thought it would be easier and cheaper to send my work via cargo instead of taking it with me on the plane. It wasn't.
Getting down to the business of hanging the show.
This is Josh Searson from Adelaide. He spent the week helping out at the gallery to complete his work experience requirement for university. After his week at the gallery he'll return to "uni" to give his class a "tute" about his time at the gallery.
Derrick Hodgson's work.
Joe and I stopped by Palmer Projects where Mark Drew was setting up his cassette related show. FF did a post of the show. Here are a few set up shots.
Considering the shows imagery this is the right sound system.
Dave Ladd (in yellow), Thommy Tran and Douglas Gibson.
MCGs storage room memory wall
Opposite wall
Poster for the galleries window box.
Day of the show. Morning run to the framers. It's fun when you keep it tight to the opening. The framer came through with flying colours. Scott's piece is there in the foreground.
Joe doing the math to get it just right.
Joe doesn't mess around with hanging a show. He's got it down to a science.
Joe is not only in charge of the MCG he also an active curator and runs a small press book company. His most recent book is on Mike Giant's two Australian shows last fall.
Sneak peak
Show is up
Detail of Seth Sciver's piece.
Scott Pommier
A.Pommier paintings
A.Pommier paintings
Niall McClelland's collages. Niall is also part of an art duo called Fighting!
Niall and Derrick's wall
Derrick Hodgson detail
Josh cleaning up. More fodder for his "tute".
Pre-opening Japanese lunch.
Anthony Lister piece at Crown and Oxford.
Monster Children's commander Campbell Milligan as the opening started, he left soon after this photo was taken.
The crowd
Conor and a guy with a name that I have forgotten.
Pro skater Richie Jackson and photographer and skate fan Garry Trinh
Monster Children's other main man Hollywood (in the center) getting serious.
Martin Berggren (in the center) from Sweden. A really prince of a man and a damn fine skateboarder with a friend.
Conor again this time with his girlfriend Amanda
These girls really enjoyed Seth's piece. Much giggling and pointing.
Post opening dinner with the gallery crew at "Mad Mex". Ha get it! Clever. (clockwise from the bottom left) Mark Tzopek, Joseph Allen, Josh Searson, Mike O'Shea, Me, Sinisa Mackovic, Douglas Gibson. Thanks for all your work.
Random Canadian male model. I think he is from London, Ontario.
Was introduced to Street Artists Andy Uprock
Johnny Big Ears.
Skater Chima Ferguson.
Sure. If you say so.
Josh and I went to the Sydney Aquarium. It was amazing. They have two tanks that allow you to walk under the water. This one was shot in the seal tank.
Shark tank. Amazing.
The panoramic window at the end of the reef tank.
Steve Irwin killer.
Hot mint water. Tasty and refreshing.
Breakfast with Tristian and Mark. Thanks for all the 'zines guys.
Quick visit to Melbourne. The front entrance of Andy Murphy's place. Captain Maneuvers looking at the outside world. As a side note stay away from domestic flights leaving from international terminals. Nothing like going through security and customs (you're fast tracked through but what a bother) for an hour long domestic flight. Wacky stuff.
Catching up with friends at Joe's Shoe Store, Riley, Andy, Tim and Jason (a Toronto transplant). Sweet mellow bar.
A really tasty breakfast with Tim, Cathy, Amber and Andy.
More sweet biking.
Don't let Andy's expression fool you this food is tasty, cheap and fast. Don Don's downtown Melbourne
Back to Sydney. A shot of the art wall at the Monster Children offices. I have been asked on two different occasions to paint the staff of the Monster Children. Nice to be hanging with Evan Hecox, Thomas Campbell and Kevin Lyons (the long skateboard leaning on the left.)
8 am, an hour before I had to split for the airport I did a quick interview at the gallery with Matt from Free TV.
Homeward.
ouch!
Walked past this one day. Only in Sydney would licensed brothel be a selling feature.
I felt like this was going to happen to me every time I crossed the street, Hard to adjust to the left hand driving.
just in case you weren't sure what a pedestrian looked like.
bar signage
Hey you're happy.
Gotta send postcards to the folks back home.
"Extra Tasty!" I'll be the judge of that. Never tried it.
Isis, in Sydney it's considered a big pigeon.
Flag art show. These are spooky.
This flag had a lot going on it. Hard to see 'cause the wind wouldn't stop blowing for one second but this dude has Tupac's tattoos and blood coming out of his mouth. There were about 3 dozen of these flags up Oxford. St.
Melbourne graffiti.
I think Poo is doing okay but John watch your back between 8 and 11 on Tuesdays just to be safe.
Arty.
BerkelouW in Paddington is a really nice book store with a cafe if you are looking to while away an afternoon in Sydney. There is also Ariel a great bookstore across the street. Book hot spot on Oxford St.
Words & photos: Andrew Pommier {moscomment}
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