Kids’ passion for art: National Gallery London puts on Take One Picture

Posted: 07/04/2019

What happens when you put kids in front of artwork? Well… generally nothing, but as it happens, not if they visit the National Gallery right in the middle of London. They’re putting on Take One Picture, a unique program to get kids into artwork in a particularly contemporary way: with their phones! Kids from around the ages of 1-6 are invited to focus on one of the paintings in the gallery and respond creatively to its themes and subject matter, historical context, or composition. Purposed to promote the visual arts across the curriculum and inspiring a lifelong love of art, this year the National Gallery chose An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) by Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ as the kids’ inspiration and it’s easy to see why. The work An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump depicts a travelling scientist demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright’s day. It was chosen for the wide range of subjects that are explored: the depiction of a scientific invention and its entertainment value, the human drama happening in a night-time domestic setting, and the references to the Age of Enlightenment. The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright (1734–1797) leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions,… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: National Gallery London, National Gallery London art, National Gallery Take One Picture, Take One Picture, The F London, THE F National Gallery

See Spain, eat Spain: National Gallery London celebrates Spanish art in more ways than one

by James Banham

Posted: 04/04/2019

For the Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light exhibition, the National Gallery has introduced some new menus to what’s on offer – read more about that here – but it’s the art on-show by Bermejo alongside it that’s one of the real drawcards. Dubbed the Master of the Spanish Renaissance, Bartolome Bermejo’s exhibition will star at the Gallery until 19 September 2019. On show, pieces of work by the master from the period of about 1440-1501 will be displayed, including six loans that have never been seen outside of Spain, including two of Bermejo’s masterpieces: Triptych of the Virgin of Montserrat and Desple Pieta. The latter was named after Lluis Despla, the archdeacon of the Barcelona Cathedral, where the painting has been since the 15th century. Also right at the centre of the exhibition, the National Gallery will have what’s widely considered the most important Spanish renaissance painting in Britain on display: Saint Michael triumphant over the Devil. Director of the National Gallery, Dr. Gabriele Finaldi said, “The National Gallery’s Saint Michael Triumphant is a supreme work of European 15th-century painting. The exhibition introduces the public to Bermejo, a great Spanish renaissance master with exceptional loans never before seen in Britain.” See more about exhibition, alongside the rest of the summertime exhibitions at the National Gallery at the Gallery’s website.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Art blogs London, Art websites London, London lifestyle blog, National Gallery exhibitions, National Gallery London, National Gallery summer exhibitions, Summer exhibitions London, THE F art blog, THe F lifestyle blog London, The F London

What to see at the National Gallery of London this English summer

by James Banham

Updated: 05/04/2019

If there’s one place you visit in London for any injection of art, timeless history and culture that has influence so much of what we around the world consider influential art, then the National Gallery in London is it. And this summer the gallery that sits at the pinnacle of art in the English capital is putting on exhibitions that celebrate the life, time and work or artists Gaugin in The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Gaugin and Bartolome Bermejo in Master of the Spanish Renaissance. Until 26 January 2020 for Gaugin (which opens in October!) and 29 September 2019 for Bermejo, the Gallery is celebrating the life and times of both artists through their works, a testament to post-impressionist and Flemish renaissance art respectively. The Gaugin exhibition makes the first ever exhibition for the gallery, devoted to the portraits of Paul Gaugin spanning a whopping period from the mid-1880s to 1903, when he died. The exhibition features a collection of portraits of a sitter, which Gaugin had placed into suggestive contexts to help express meaning beyond their personalities. By bringing together a number of works of the same sitter for different collections, the exhibition lets you see how Gaugin interpreted a specific model in different media over time. Meanwhile for a shorter period, The National Gallery London will show works by Bermejo, the man hailed as the greatest Spanish artist of the second half of the fifteenth century. It’ll include some of his works like Madonna of Montserrat and Pieded Despla from the Barcelona Cathedral. They’ve… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Art blog, London art blog, London art website, National Gallery exhibitions, National Gallery London, National Gallery Spanish masters, Renaissance art, Spanish renaissance art, The F London, THE F National Gallery, What to see at the National Gallery of London this English summer

CINCO by Rafael Bonachela and Sydney Dance Company: Contemporary dance at its best

by James Banham

Posted: 02/04/2019

Until 6 April, Sydney Dance Company and its artistic director Rafael Bonachela will hold a triple bill production at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay, headlined by new work, CINCO. CINCO melds five virtuosic dancers, the award-winning lighting of Damien Cooper and the imagination and skill of fashion designer Bianca Spender with celebrated Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s achingly magnificent String Quartet #2 from the mind of Bonachela. “The starting point for this work was the music, which is always a really big part of my process,” said Bonachela. “In this case I found Alberto Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 2, which I love. I’ve never heard of his string quartets before and they’ve never been used for dance. That was really the starting point for me. The music is in five movements. I wanted to work with five dancers and we’re also celebrating 50 years of Sydney Dance Company. If you look back, a lot of my works have numbers in them, so with Cinco it’s quite a coincidence that the music has five movements, and it’s also five decades of the Company. It all became about the number five.” Complemented for the first times by Australian designer Bianca Spender, the costumes of the dancers – other than being a delight in the movement of fabric to behold – fully explore the remainder of the tale Bonachela tries to tell. Through movement, music and space interact in harmony; working on and with one another in a culmination of muted tones, fluid movement and spacial beauty that is just truly… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, DANCE, LIFESTYLE

Melbourne blooms at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

by THE F

Updated: 16/04/2019

No longer solely the domain of daggy dads and nannas obsessed with tending to their prized roses, the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show returned for another year to show all of us city-dwelling green thumbs exactly what we can accomplish with our indoor plants and backyard veggie plots. While gardening has always been a popular hobby, it seems to have really taken off over the past few years, with more and more younger people discovering their inner green thumb. Maybe it’s because we’re not having children, or maybe it’s because we’re stuck in tiny apartments with no room for pets: but whatever the reason is, we’re taking to gardening with a passion. If you’re someone obsessed with indoor plants then it’s highly likely you came back from the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show with armfuls of everything from succulents to syngoniums; and if plants of the outdoor variety are more your style, you would’ve been more than happy with the selection on offer from The Diggers Club. Famed for offering all sorts of weird and wonderful heirloom fruits and vegetables, The Diggers Club displayed exactly what you can accomplish with a little bit of elbow grease in the garden: rainbow-coloured corn, alien-looking broccoli, and even a mountain of gourds could be found at their stall. For those sworn black thumbs who have tried, and failed, to keep their pet plants alive, there was still much to see and take in. The Great Hall of Flowers exhibited bouquets from some of Melbourne’s best florists,… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY, LIFESTYLE

Tags: Flower Garden Show, melbourne flower garden show, melbourne flower show, melbourne garden show, melbourne international flower and garden show, mifgs, MIFGS Show, THE F Melbourne Flower Garden show, THE F MIFGS

Something new on Sydney Harbour: West Side Story by Opera Australia

Opera Australia West Side Story HOSH dance

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

It’s not often Opera Australia strays from the respite of centuries-old, well-loved scores by the likes of Puccini, Bizet and Verdi to try something more contemporary. But the latest production of West Side Story by Opera Australia that headlines this year’s annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour does just that, and has done so well. Complete with mid-way surprise fireworks as is now customary by the production company, and a range of 40-strong cast that can easily blur the lines between opera singer, dancer and actor, it’s a remade musical that pays homage to the original, the book and the tale; just makes it better. Directed by Jerome Robbins, the entire production of West Side Story is a shining testament to the classic story that’s given us some of the world’s most memorable show tunes. They were all there in the script. Think Maria, Tonight, America and Gee Officer Krupke to name a few. All of them just as hilarious as they are telling in the play about the horror to come. With OA names like Julie Lea Goodwin and Alexander Lewis as Maria and Tony; Mark Hill and Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva as Riff and Bernardo and Karli Dinardo as Anita, the musical adaptation is done wonders as the story of race hatred and a blossoming romance unfolds to the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Opera Australia’s artistic director, Lyndon Terracini has been wanting to produce West Side Story on the HOSH stage for years. Something about the backdrop and the… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, SYDNEY

Tags: Arts blog, culture blog, opera australia, the f opera, THE F review, the f sydney, THE F West Side Story, west side story, West Side Story reviews, West Side Story Sydney review

Sydney Dance Company is celebrating its 50th anniversary in a massive way with Mardi Gras and CINCO

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

Rafael Bonachela is the artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company and responsible for most of the epic dance pieces the troupe puts on in Australia and around the world. He does it well. So when his baby turns 50 and celebrates its birthday in quite an epic was as it has, you know he’s behind it, doing nothing but the best for the dance company responsible for Forever & Ever and ab intra just to name a few. In addition to the milestone in itself, the Sydney Dance Company participated for the first time in the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and is putting on a new double bill production, headlined by the new work, CINCO (you can win tickets here). “Mardi Gras was an incredible thrill, for me personally and for the Company. Believe it or not, it was the very first time that Sydney Dance Company had participated in the parade,” said Rafael. The entry of the Company signified 50 years as a diverse organisation that hires and is involved directly with many people who identify as LGBTIQ+ and their friends. “We employ a significant number of LGBTQI artists and staff and we have a long tradition of welcoming the LGBTQI community to participate and express themselves through dance,” he said. And they did it well. Rafael doesn’t even shy away from admitting their float was essentially one of the best ones out there on Oxford Street. “It was an explosion of gold glitter, complete with a ballet bar, mirrors, and… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, DANCE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, SYDNEY

Tags: Cinco, Dance blog, rafael bonachela, sydney dance company, Sydney Dance Company Cinco, THE F Cinco, THE F Dance, THE F Rafael Bonachela, the f sydney, the f sydney dance company

A camp July: Sydney Cabaret Festival is back

by James Banham

Posted: 13/03/2019

If simply uttering the name “Liza” makes your knees weak and the thought of sitting alone in your room brings you utter, feather-curling dismay, then worry not; the Sydney Cabaret Festival is back in July 2019. This year, the festival will be celebrating both international and Australian cabaret stars, tickets for whom to see, you can grab from 18 March. Complete with legendary Tony Award-winning Jennifer Holliday, appearing for the first time on Australian soil, alongside local legends like Phil Scott and Jonathan Biggins, to New York downtown darling Natalie Joy Johnson, it’ll be a festival of note. And not-even-withstanding the venues on offer around town this year, such as Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall and the Festival Hub at the Seymour Centre. The Seymour Centre is the home to the majority of the program with five fabulous spaces to enjoy the incredible lineup. All the theatres have been renamed after legendary Sydney cabaret venues, turning the entire venue into a Cabaret Wonderland. It’s all holds barred this Sydney Cabaret Festival. Straight from the UK, one of their most famous duos, Frisky and Mannish will return after a ten year hiatus, as does the thrilling diva Alison Jiear, described as having a “bring down the house voice” by the New York Times. Sydney favourite Tim Draxl will appear in a world premiere of his new show, along with Kim David Smith, Reuben Kaye and Brian Nash, plus circus and variety show Cheeky Cabaret, direct from their home in Brunswick Heads. Australian pop culture fan Tim Benzie returns to Sydney with the hilarious Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote. The Festival also includes a cabaret for… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, THEATRE

Tags: Camp Sydney, melbourne cabaret festival, Sydney Cabaret, Sydney Cabaret Festival, THE F Cabaret. THE F Sydney Cabaret Festival, Where is Sydney cabaret festival

Melbourne theatre: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is on in August

by James Banham

Posted: 12/03/2019

If your childhood dreams of binge eating chocolate in a factory made of dreams never quite came true, then give it a second chance: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is coming to Melbourne in August. Playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre, it will follow a hugely successful season in Sydney. Tickets will go on sale on Friday 15 March at 1pm. Willy Wonka, the most amazing, fantastic, extraordinary chocolate maker the world has ever seen, is played by Paul Slade Smith. Slade Smith was part of the original Broadway cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, appearing as Grandpa George, and most recently appeared in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center. Ninety and a half year old Grandpa Joe, an enthusiastic storyteller and eternal optimist, is played by Australian show business royalty Tony Sheldon. Sheldon is best known for playing the role of Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for over 1,900 performances in Australia, New Zealand, London, Toronto and on Broadway, winning the Theatre World Award and nominations for the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. In the role of Mrs Bucket, a kind, caring mother and a woman of few words, is Lucy Maunder. Most recently Lucy played songwriter Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and prior to that toured New Zealand, Adelaide and Perth in Matilda: The Musical, in which she played Miss Honey and was nominated for a Helpmann Award. Jake Fehily and Octavia Barron Martin play Augustus Gloop and Mrs Gloop, Karina Russell and Stephen Anderson are… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, THEATRE

Tags: Australian theatre, Melbourne Charlie Chocolate Factory, melbourne theatre, Melbourne theatre review, THE F theatre, Theatre blog, Theatre reviews, Theatre website

Winners of the 2018 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards are announced

by James Banham

Updated: 07/03/2019

One of the richest and most coveted awards in the performing arts in Australia, the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards winners have been announced and the results are tremendous. The winners of the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards were announced by Ian Scobie AM, Director, Art Projects Australia at the Adelaide Festival on 4 March, and are: Bleach Festival (Qld) – Group Award Genevieve Lacy (Melb) – Individual Award Annette Downs (Tas), Facilitator’s Prize. What the prizes are about Group Award ($90,000) – Bleach Festival, Gold Coast Bleach Festival has transformed the arts on the Gold Coast. It has made a major contribution to the performing arts in Australia by filling a critical void in the nation’s sixth largest City. Through Bleach, the Gold Coast now has a growing sector of artists who are inspired to make distinctive, daring and unique art that crosses form and responds to unique Australian landscapes. Bleach in its short history is one of Australia’s leading and most exciting site-specific contemporary arts programs and has attracted close to 1 million people since inception. ‘Winning this Award is one of the most exciting rewards of recognition we have ever received for the Bleach Festival. The Board and team are thrilled to be acknowledged nationally for the work that we have done here on the Gold Coast. This is such a prestigious Award to win and this will enable us to be even more ambitious and adventurous in the new work we make with local artists. This is a real game changer for the Gold… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE

Tags: Arts blog, Australian arts, Australian arts blog, culture blog, Melbuorne performing arts, Sidney Myer performing arts, THE F arts, THE F Culture, Winners of the 2018 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards are announced