The Archibalds

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Having relocated to a new area, there comes a time to start exploring.

A proper explorer would have started eagerly on day one. This poor explorer had to acclimatise first. It was a ridiculously hot summer.

It was only when I stopped looking at the weather reports that I started to feel normal. Funny, I’d been telling my family to stop continually checking the temperature on their phones.

My advice was to get back to the good old days (the 90s) before we had those phones. We survived well enough then .. always have a hat, sunscreen, plenty of water, proper clothes and shoes, and an umbrella. We still need those things whatever the phone is telling us.

The variation in temperature (most days) won’t matter and we’ll get plenty of notice if the day is going to be unbelievably bad. The TV will repeatedly remind us about the fire danger.

I finally took my own advice and am feeling better for it.

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The first big explore since arriving back in the Central West was on Boxing Day. But as that happens every Boxing Day, it doesn’t count.

The first “I-live-here-now” explore was last weekend when Mum and I headed down to Cowra to see the Archibalds on their regional tour.  For those not up with the art scene, that’s not a band.

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In the lead up, I was thinking about the way art exhibitions are shown on TV. The media are usually there for the launch. A group of trendy and/or well-dressed people are looking the part, some for the camera and some for each other. The art, the actual reason for the whole affair, looks flat on screen in comparison with all that activity.

Where does that leave the uninitiated punter who not only finds the art intimadating but also can’t find themselves on screen or in the newspaper photos? Sometimes it helps to feel welcome before you arrive in order to make the effort.

I did wonder what I’d wear. We weren’t going to the launch. There would be no media. Yet, I wondered what to wear.

I settled on that old silk shirt I’d recently up-cycled with some new buttons. If I teamed it with the beautiful scarf my sister brought back from Itay … perhaps I’d look on trend, like I belonged.

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Silliness aside … go and see the Archibalds. It’s completely different to seeing them on TV or on a website. Yes, it’s a small gallery where each picture is so very close to the one next to it, and the one next to it. And, sure, some paintings might have you asking “Why on earth?”.

But there are a handful there that might just blow your mind!

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It was one of those “No cameras allowed” shows. So I took some photos of the signs instead. Portraits of a portraiture show?

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