The Gallery of Contemporary Art in Sydney comes across as a powerhouse for art in the city and across the country. Showcasing a large range of international art, along with some cracking aboriginal art from the 50’s onwards I was subtly impressed with their commitment to showing a variety of international contemporary art.After reviewing their permanent collections (pics below) I walked around their new free temporary light installations and the one thing you walk away with is how they fill the space with the colour, larger-than-life vibrancy and monumental scale. Not only in size but light and space. Their reflections and visible beauty radiate off the walls.
I’m positive they timed in this free exhibition to wet your appetite for the brand spanking new ‘Light Show’ originally devised by the Hayward Gallery in London. If I thought the downstairs exhibits were pretty cool then the sheer immersive qualities of these specially made, large-scale, interactive light installations were amazing. I particularly loved the ‘You & I, Horizontal’ installation by Anthony McCall made of a ‘solid light form’ you could step into and truly ‘feel’ the dynamism of the space. A true sculpture of light.
Carlos Cruz-Diez’s ‘Chromasaturation’ was a pure kaleidoscope of red, green and blue chambers dazzling you with a deafening intensity of colour. The magical effect of this purity pierced straight to your soul impacting you with the force of happiness… and peace if that doesn’t sound too corny. Other delicious installations, both small and large, included Bill Cuthbert’s floating light bulb sculpture and James Turrell’s ‘Wedgework V’ enveloping me as light fell across the space diagonally creating subtle planes of luminescence.
Entertaining, energising and expanding.
Don’t miss two more new articles on the vast array of contemporary art I saw in Australia here at: www.illustratinganartylife.co.uk, including loads of cool pics!
