David Kemp's Ossey Odyssey

OSSEY ODYSSEY 29 Aug. 08

From 15th July to 5th June I fulfilled a long held dream of getting a hit from the 'bigness' of Australia (after living in increasingly smaller communities in NZ for the last thirty years), and experience the collections of both the major public galleries, and those of the dealer galleries that I could get to. And then to digest these and assimilate them into the next stage of my art over coming years.

It all worked out great. Fortuitously, I was able to catch some significant art events during that time that I had available.

On arriving at the Gold Coast, I was met by a childhood mate and stayed for three days with him - and his beagle Lucky - in the mountains outside Mudgeeraba and was treated to good food (including yum cha, a multidish asian meal), good people, some grand local landscape features, and a Bret Whitley exhibition. A great intro.

From there I went on alone to Brisbane.

..to see the major 'Picasso and his Collection' - some Picasso's and his collection of paintings and sculptures that were significant to him and the dev. of his own art ideas. Fantastic. And then across the way was a major Sydney Nolan show. Ditto. And having just seen how important significant paintings were to Picasso, I just had to have this painting in a dealer gallery cleanout, so that was my 'big' treat, and it's good to live with it.

Flew to Sydney, arriving the day after the Pope left, but not the 500,000 plus youthful pilgrims from around the world who had come to see him.

Met with the mate I travelled there with in 1971 (he stayed) and that was a very satisfying reunion with lots to share. Apart from the normal major galleries (including a private view of the ArtG-NSW Lloyd Rees works) and some good talks with dealers, the big feature was the Sydney biennale - stuff you generally had to read the labels to find what the installations meant.

Bussed to Canberra, for four nights and enjoyed seeing the national collection, and some dealers and one gallery in particular with inspiring works. There was also a major photographic show with displays in many venues.

A nine hour bus trip to Melbourne was rewarding, passing through such sprawling landscapes that go on forever. The Australian painters seem to have captured the essence of their land more comprehensively than Kiwis have. Hmmmmm….

My six nights there gave time to see most of what I wanted. Once again, the state collections were great. The NGV had a major art deco show with material from international collections, and many etchings by Otto Dix, based on his time in the German trenches during WW1, supported with actual film of the war happening - very harrowing.

On the theme of art and war, it being the 200th anniversary of the Spanish uprising against Napoleon which Goya recorded in his two powerful paintings and many etchings, I attended a Sunday afternoon of lectures on that - hugely fulfilling.

And then there was the five day biannual Melbourne Art Fair, with 80 dealer galleries from around the world - like the world came to Melbourne, in one place, for me! Very fortunate timing and very educational. Interestingly, despite the economic downturn, sales were up on the previous Fair - with more at a lower price.

Features of Melbourne I was really impressed with were the huge major building developments downtown, the large art pieces incorporated in the motorway into the centre of the city, the relaxed law abiding way of waiting patiently for pedestrian lights to show green before crossing, the modern public art (sorry it's too challenging to display the fotos here), and the volunteers, some who give guided walks through exhibitions while others in red jackets cheerfully and knowledgeably give help to confused travellers out on the street!

Back in NZ, I stayed with my mother for two nights in Hastings, caught up with friends, and then flew to Wellington for a daylight stopover to view the Rita Angus show. I've always had a soft spot for her work, especially as she came from Hawke's Bay, like myself, and persued her vision for so many years.

But the highlight of the trip was meeting up with my son Tamlyn (who had flown in from Auckland for business) at W'tn airport - a serendipitous finale to a great trip.

And here I am in my little quiet studio in the bush recovering from being mapped out, walked out, inner citied out and galleried out - and it feels great, but it took about two weeks to properly assimilate back into my normal lifestyle.

David