June 3, 2009 | New Events | by Sonya Gee |

Last week, a bunch of young Sydney creatives were asked to describe their vision for the city in the time it usually takes to run to the bus stop, boil an egg, or listen to a decent pop song. Three Minute Sydney launched the two week Creative Sydney festival, the city’s first winter festival to celebrate and promote local creative industries. Sydney’s acclaimed but extremely humble comic artist Matt Huynh stole the show with a three minute time lapse video presentation, a speedy sequence of comics created one frantic Sunday afternoon. From the iconic Eternity message chalked on the city sidewalks to scenes from the city’s late night meat-market bars, indie gigs and packed trains, Huynh explored the places and stories of Sydney in black and white. Read more

New Events / Bababa International: curries, manicures, pooch shows

May 17, 2009 | New Events | by Sonya Gee |

Somewhere in a Sydney park, exact location undisclosed, sits a custom built wooden house fit for one. And if you happen to stumble across it, you simply lift it up, climb into the hole dug underneath it and make yourself at home. The makeshift shelter, which loosely resembles a human-sized kennel, is the latest work of Sydney art collective the Bababa International. The trio, consisting of Stephen Russell, Ivan Ruhle and Tom Melick (fourth member Giles Thackway has temporarily absconded to Mexico and is probably wearing a protective swine flu mask at present), say there are plans to install a radio at some point to make the shelter more homely and install similar constructions in parks across Sydney. And they reluctantly offer some hints of this particular houses’ location, saying it’s located in a park in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs, past a hedge and close to a tennis court. Read more

New Art / Sarah-Jane Cook is thoroughly stitched up

May 4, 2009 | New Art | by Sonya Gee |

Some things are better said in thread, which probably doesn’t make sense unless you’ve seen the extensive stitched work of Sarah-Jane Cook, an Australian visual artist who works primarily with needle, thread and lace trimmed hankerchiefs. Sweet from afar, a brief admiration of Cook’s handiwork gives way to an inspection of the messages embroidered. Ranging from a thank you for the easter eggs note from child to parent, to pro and con lists, scribbled shopping lists, recipes and abusive notes left for housemates, the collection is diverse and reveals much about the unknown characters who probably penned them in haste. Read more

New Trends / A4 activism

April 22, 2009 | New Trends | by Sonya Gee |

So simple, yet surprisingly effective, a black and white printed poster strapped to a telegraph poll still has the power to entertain, offend and inform. Especially when they deviate from the usual moving sales, lose-ten-pounds-in-four-weeks and public hunts for housemates. A single A4 sheet precariously stuck to a pole caught my eye, a public declaration of love to no one in particular, complete with tear off reminders. It was simple and sweet, especially appreciated during a time where recession, financial crisis and impending doom are mentioned so frequently. Read more

New Events / Small arty presents for total strangers

March 10, 2009 | New Events | by Sonya Gee |

It started as a joke, a mail out of twenty tiny presents enclosed in matchboxes to friends, containing gifts so personal that they could safely be tracked back to me, despite being sent anonymously. Then came the suggestion that I start leaving them randomly, like a kind of calling card, on a whim, wherever I went. Two years on and I’m still doing just that. Matchboxes containing everything from tea bags, miniature harmonicas, baby babushka dolls, Spiderman knitted fingerpuppets, ten-pin bowling sets and a crazy amount of novelty erasers have been left around Sydney and the world; their contents and locations blogged semi-religiously. After a year, the donations started trickling in. People who had found out about the project started sending their findings, little gifts arrived in international matchboxes or in paperbags with tiny hearts printed on them. Boxes have been left as far as Paris, dropped into the handbags of unsuspecting women, on windowsills and in galleries. Currently there is a slight problem of distribution, with excess boxes building up in my bag as I trek from work to home everyday. So if you want a box, or have any suggestions, I’m all ears.

New Trends / Graffiti in the West Bank

February 27, 2009 | New Trends | by Sonya Gee |

Banky’s done it before and now so can you, at least metaphorically. A group of Palestinian graf artists will spray-paint emailed messages onto the massive concrete wall that divides Israel and the West Bank and send you photos to prove it. The aim of the project is to creatively transform the physical purpose of the imposing eight metre high wall of separation into one of communication, joy and unity. It’s also a decorative, peaceful and simple way for the Palestinians behind the project to remind the rest of the world of their existence and plight. Funds raised go towards small-scale social and cultural projects in the West Bank, with the Palestinian Peace and Freedom Youth Forum behind the spray painting.

Cool Travel / Sydney’s Little Gnome Garden

February 17, 2009 | Cool Travel | by Sonya Gee |

This isn’t an outdoor art installation, but it is still somewhat curated. Or maybe hoarded is a better description. Somewhere in the inner western suburb of Sydney’s Summer Hill, there is a brightly coloured collection of garden gnomes on display. The owner of the home is yet to be seen, but there are hundreds of gnomes, side by side, all with equally dopey expressions on their faces and accompanied by a second fixation: caterpillar soft toys. There are so many gnomes, the garden is no longer visible. Maybe it’s an Amelie style prank that has just piled up over the years? Read more

New Fashion / What to wear? Ask your favourite blogger

February 10, 2009 | New Fashion | by Sonya Gee |

If you can’t get enough people watching in when you’re out and about and love reading those trashy red carpet fashion specials in weekly glossies, there are quite a few time consuming fashion blogs out there in which be immersed. Thoroughly. For the Vogue-reading, detail-loving fashion forwards, there’s the happy curation that is The Sartorialist. The baby of an ex-fashion marketer, the bodies featured on this site are chosen for their individuality and experimentation: be it long blue socks and Burberry gumboots on the rainy streets of New York, or a three-piece suit complete with handkerchief and flower on an aging gentleman. Read more

Cool Travel / Play Me I’m Yours, A Piano Happening In Sydney

January 29, 2009 | Cool Travel | by Sonya Gee |

As a child, I took piano exams in over-sized white rooms, on baby grand pianos that felt unfamiliar and echoed strangely as someone across the room observed me in silence. It felt clinical, intimidating and completely devoid of warmth. Last week, I started noticing upright pianos, some painted haphazardly, others respectfully untouched plonked in the most unlikely places throughout Sydney. There was one on the edge of the baby pool at the local swimming pool, with a young girl in a rainbow striped dress tapping out a happy but disjointed melody; another shaded under a tree at the park on the way home. Read more

New Art / Tony Curran

January 23, 2009 | New Art | by Sonya Gee |

Exploding cupcakes, violent shark attacks, volcanoes, flying men and the pastel coloured remains of a café latte have all been depicted by emerging Sydney artist Tony Curran, who describes his works as experimental neo-paintings. Sitting somewhere undefined between sculpture, installation and conventional painting, Curran distills images onto layers of acetate or resin before physically reconstructing them into a completed work. It’s a precarious process, with the alignment of each layer crucial in the making of the image and the acetate layers easy to steal, an unhappy discovery made at his first solo show. Read more