Art Gallery of New South Wales

Afternoon!

This morning I went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. They offer a tour at 11am of the aboriginal art in the gallery. Here are a few of the pieces from the tour followed by the wall plaque for the piece:

The painting above is done by a female artist as an abstract painting of her homeland. This painting is done in dots, a style used by aboriginal artists from the central desert region of Australia.

Above, another painting of the artist's homeland. The darker areas just left of the center of the painting depict a clay basin where water gathers and can be stored for months. In the desert these areas are great sources of both water (obviously) and food. Again, this painting was done by a female artist from the desert region of Australia.

The painting above was done by a male artist. I don't remember the significance but it's quite pretty.

The painting above is done in natural tones. Again it is painted in the dot style of the desert residing aboriginal tribes. In traditional ceremonies, a similar painting to this one would be done on the earth. This painting is rather large and approximates the size of a real life work done by the tribe on the ground.

A few other facts to note from the tour:

- When white people first came to Australia there are believed to have been about 1 Million aboriginal people on the continent.
- There were at one time about 200 languages spoken amongst the aboriginal tribes. Today there are only about 20 left.
- When the white man first came to Australia, the natives believed they were women because of their clean shaven faces.

Other artwork from the museum:

This photo reminds me of something from my childhood but I'm not sure what. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

This is museum worthy art, apparently.

I took a photo of the painting above because it reminds me of Dali's work. They had lots of things done in s similar style in this museum. It was fun to see these as it reminded me of my time in Spain.

After leaving the museum I stumbled upon a large christmas tree in downtown Sydney. Here's a photo. So weird to see a christmas tree next to regular trees with leaves on them, isn't it?

I met a very nice South African girl, Gardi, on the bus today on my way to the Museum. I sent her an email inviting her out for coffee/dinner/drinks sometime soon. Hopefully she'll want to go. I'm just having so much fun meeting new people every day! I can't wait to see how many friends/acquaintances I make on this trip.

For dinner tonight we are going to a place called Mary's here in Sydney. The do American food (hamburgers and fried chicken). It's not really my style to go to the other side of the world and eat food from America but I've gotten multiple recommendations to visit this place so I'm excited to try it and see how authentic it really is.

That's all for now, folks. I'll check back in tonight or tomorrow.

One last thing, I read my horoscope in the local Bonid Beach magazine today and it made me feel I'm definitely on the right path. Here it is:

Aquarius: There's an old African proverb that says, "If you want to go fast, go yourself. If you want to go far, go together." It's bullshit, go yourself.

Best!