Exhibition review - Nude: art from the Tate Collection - Art Gallery of NSW

Pablo Picasso
Nude woman in a red armchair

(Femme nue dans un fauteuil rouge) 1932
oil paint on canvas

For this year's major Summer exhibition, the Art Gallery of NSW has partnered with the Tate Gallery in London to bring a selection of over 100 works representing the nude image over two centuries of art. The exhibition is titled, not surprisingly, Nude: art from the Tate collection.

The exhibition’s main highlight, placed centre-stage is Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The kiss 1901-04 which is being displayed for the first time outside of Europe. Other works of note include Pierre Bonnard’s The bath 1925, Picasso’s Nude woman in a red armchair 1932 (very standard abstractive Picasso), Sylvia Sleigh’s Paul Rosano reclining 1974, Ron Mueck’s Wild man 2005 (as with most Mueck works it's an enormous semi life-like sculpture) and Rineke Dijkstra’s Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994.

The exhibition is themed in nine rooms in the Gallery with titles such as The Historical Nude, The Private Nude, The Modern Nude, Real and Surreal Bodies, Paint as Flesh and so on. The titles of each segment predominantly correspond to periods of time demonstrating the evolution of the nude through different art interpretations and representations. Given the scale and depth of the Tate collection, this is a relatively small, thin veneer selection of works of major artists worldwide who have used the nude human form.  Although much lauded, Rodin's sculpture, the kiss, is quite underwhelming, as quietly whispered by many members of the Art Gallery of NSW Foundation at a private viewing. Its more representative of the general physical movement of a man and woman kissing whilst in the thralls of an embrace but an awe inspiring sculpture it is not.

The exhibition runs from 5 November 2016 to 5 February 2017.

Donald J Trump's America - 10 reasons why Americans should think about moving to..... Australia

Donald J Trump  - President-elect of the United States

With the election of Donald Trump to be the 45th President of the United States, its understandable that many Americans may be considering where they may wish to spend the next few years. The Canadian immigration website crashed in the first few hours of the election result, but there is another option available and that is - Australia. There are ten good reasons to think about moving to Australia if you're an American of good heart and sound mind -

1.  Australia's political system is understandable to Americans. We have two Houses of Parliament for our National Government - the House of Representatives and the Senate. In fact, this was based on the US system and Congress which we copied. Our national capital, Canberra, was designed by an American, Walter Burley Griffin. We have States and State Governments, just like the US, only smaller and less crazy. 
2. Our voting system is compulsory and if you don't vote, you get a fine. None of this voter registration stuff and the need to get people out to vote. We have a very high turn-out and the silent majority can vote, all the time, so absolute surprises are rare. 
3. You can own a gun here but we have gun control laws - there is no Constitutional Right-to-Bear Arms and assault rifles are banned. You can have a firearm but you're on a register and the police can find you.
4. We have a public health care system called Medicare which is the envy of many people in the US. If you work here and pay taxes, you also pay a contribution called a levy to fund Medicare but everyone is covered. The Democrats in the US wanted the Australian system and even used it as an example in Congress but were unable to get Republican support.
5. We use the metric system like most of the rest of the World. The US does not, so you would need to learn how to measure things differently.
6. We have Australian Dollars which are similar to the US Greenback currency.
7. We have our own football codes and occasionally watch American football but it's not as big here. Our national summer sport is cricket which also uses a bat and a ball similar to baseball - except our bat has a flat surface and the batters don't have to run around a diamond shaped field.
8. We have public transport systems of rail, light rail and buses. Many US cities have similar services but many cut back on this public spending but we think its essential to have it.
9. We have national parks just like the US. In fact, Australia was the second country after the US to establish national parks and protect our flora and fauna.
10. Our official language is English, not so different to American English but its our own version with its own local words. Not too hard to learn

So there it is..... ten reasons why Australia is a good option if a Trump America does not appeal. Our politicians can be a bit silly but nothing compared to the parties with an elephant and a donkey as their logos.