Escher x nendo at National Gallery of Victoria

Last week I finally started my 2019 Adventure Days. 

What are my Adventure Days? 

Each week I spend one day exploring somewhere or some thing in my home town Melbourne. 

So last week I took myself off to the National Gallery of Victoria to view the Escher x nendo exhibition. We have had some really hot and humid days in Melbourne lately, but wouldn't you know it as soon as I got off the train we got a huge downpour. I knew it wouldn't take long to pass, so I just hung out on Flinders St. Station for a while. 

The seagulls were up bright and early having a bath

The moat at the front of the NGV was getting a clean out.

 Maurits Cornelius Escher or MCE as he signed his work was born in 1898 to a prosperous family in the Netherlands and in1972 at the age of 73. He was a graphic artist who produced some amazing mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints. After training and working in Italy for a number of years his departure from Rome prompted him to shift focus away from the external world to his inner, imaginary world. He began using his refined skills to produce ingenious and complex optical illusions, tessellations and impossible realities. 

M C Escher created this self portrait of himself sitting in his living room

Japanese design studio nendo has created and immersive environment for more than 160 prints and drawings of Escher's work. Nendo is a design studio founded in 2002 by Oki Sato, one of the worlds most well-known and prolific designers. Based in Tokyo and Milan, nendo (meaning clay in Japanese) designs graphics, products, furniture and interiors that seek to surprise people in subtle and playful ways. 

While walking through this piece of art I got an amazing sense of 

peacefulness, even though there were quite a few people. 

The optical illusion of this tunnel was deceiving 

as it looked long but was quite short. 

Interesting small piece of art

Dragon : 1952 

Print of a wood engraving depicting a folded paper dragon sitting on a pile of crystals.

 I love the detail in this piece. 

Bond of Union : 1956

Inspired by the novel Invisible Man by H G Wells. 

The floating spheres of Escher and his wife Jetta enhance the suggestion of infinite space.

Plane Filling 11 : 1957

The more you look at this piece the more you see.

Belvedere : 1958

In Belvedere, we perceive a two story building that could not possibly exist in the

 real world because the orientation of the second floor contradicts that of the first floor. 

I have been intrigued by Esther's work for many years. Back in the 90's I bought a diary that featured Escher's works and they just intrigued me. 

Ascending and Descending : 1960

A closer look at the staircase in Ascending and Descending. 

Does the staircase go up or down?

 Does it go anywhere. 

The way Escher played with perspective and impossibilities is just amazing. No matter how many times you look at a piece of his art, each time you notice some other quirky portion. 

Snakes : 1969

This piece depicts a disc made up of interlocking circles that grow progressively 

smaller towards the centre and towards the edge. 

I really love the detail in this piece of art. 

Seeing I hadn't had breakie, by the time I had finished at the 

NGV I was pretty hungry. So it was a big bowl of 

Won Ton Noodle Soup for Davine. 

Buddha's Smile at the National Gallery Victoria

After a bit of a delay I am finally getting back into having an Adventure Day every week, to explore what my city, Melbourne has to offer.

I always like visiting the NGV with it's impressive waterfall entrance and it's amazing Grand Hall with it's spectacular stained glass ceiling.

National Gallery Victoria - St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

The magnificent waterfall entry to the NGV.  
The first time I ever visited this gallery I thought the water ran down between two sheets of glass. It wasn't until I put my face and hands on it and I got drenched I realised it didn't. 

The Grand Hall was opened on August 20, 1968.

This magnificent ceiling is the world's largest stained-glass ceiling
and was designed by Australian artist Leonard French.
The ceiling is high 13.72 metres and a  vast 60.9 x 15.24 metres.

The 224 triangles of diamond-cut primary colours weigh 300 kilograms each.

This latest venture was to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the Buddha's Smile Exhibition. Anyone who knows me and my obsession with Buddha's would instantly know this is one exhibition I would have to visit.

11 Headed Bodhisattva

A delicate but powerful piece

It was hard to get a great photo of this statue as it was behind glass.
But for some reason it mesmerised me. 

 The explanation in the NGV information brochure is "Explore the story of Buddha in his multitude of incarnations, from Buddhist-inspired works of art and Zen philosophy to Buddhist costume, religious symbolism, painting conventions and historical narratives. Buddha's Smile reveals the unique style and mediums of art throughout Asia with a focus on the tranquility and silent transmission of Buddhist philosophy through simple gestures of a smile."

Liu Xiaoxian
Our God, Laughing Buddha
Digital print on aluminium

The Our God, Laughing Buddha work is actually made up of
thousands of photos of Jesus, as shown in detail above.
The artist also made a corresponding piece of work of Jesus made
up up thousands of photos of the Laughing Buddha. 

I did have a little feedback from a friend that they thought the exhibition was just OK. From my perspective I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very informative with some amazing pieces of art.

KHMER
Ceremonial hanging and covering... 19th Century
Depicting the life of King Ashoka -Buddha

"The Buddha smiled and varicoloured rays of light extended from the smile, up to the gods in heaven and down to the various hells, where warmth brought relief to those suffering in the cold hells and it's coolness brought relief to those in the hot hells'..........
......Adaptation from The Legend of King Ashoka