Parkour? Now what are you talking about dear?

In ‘youth of today’ terms I am just a bit last century. Alright, let’s say old.

But I am lucky enough to have a 12 year old zen master to navigate me through the expanding spaces of urban culture, online gaming and international video making collaboration.

Our Melbourne weekend  (blessfully extended by the Queen granting her subjects in the colonies a break for her Birthday no less) was all about ‘connecting with the space!’

After I’d signed a form to hand my son’s life over into the hands of a gang in hoodies and baggy pants, all in pursuit of exploring their urban environment on a free styling Parkour session, I went to the ever wonderful National Gallery.

The Monet exhibition was on, but my art journey at the moment is about Dada-ism and the Independent Fantasists and the Surrealists – so Monet would be a distraction. Instead I went to the ‘The Call of Walls’ exhibition.

While my beloved son was off tottering across railings with the unshaven and unwashed, I was taking in the engaging works of Robin Rhode about street art and people engaging with the space and thinking what a strange parallel world I was in.

There was a section for kids of any size to make wall crayon drawings and beyond this a wonderful set of images in process. Youth, art and the use of urban walls are the subjects of most of Rhode’s work, with a challenging take on urban environment, the interplay between the person and the created and the meanings of marginalisation (Rhode’s home town, Johannesburg, was the location for most of the work).

In producing a work of my own for ‘the great art journey’, which I’d determined would be all about connection and coincidence, there was an overload of ideas to play with which even I didn’t understand.

Enter (stage right) my other creation – the oldest child  – who explained all of this strangeness as being down to intertextuality – which she had just written about in an exam in German.

At this point I stopped myself from saying ‘Don’t use that kind of language with me’ and relented – I am a last century woman, but at least I feel a little more urban and real and way more connected.

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Bassist and Owl detail

Bassist and Owl

Giant crayons – Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode exhibition: feathers

Robin Rhode exhibition: Dominos

Robin Rhode exhibition: Three Acts

Robin Rhode exhibition

Robin Rhode exhibition

Inspiration for my artwork came from

Robin Rhode http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/robin-rhode:

to wit: Rhode’s witty, engaging and poetic works make reference to hip-hop and graffiti art; to the histories of modernism; and to the act of creative expression itself.

The black swans in Hastings (Victoria) and my parkour obsessed son. If you are mad and want to try parkour at the Waves or the Ruins or other cool places in Melbourne times are all here.

Holly’s Red terrain blog which posed the question ‘I don’t know you … do I?’ – I found both challenging and bemusing. http://redterrain.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/i-dont-know-you-do-i/

Nib’s blog about representations of native Americans (herself dressed up and a naïve  drawing) – and my recent thinking about the representation of indigenous art and peoples.

A piece in a French magazine about pastels beings made by Roché in La Maison de Pastels – Bien sûr!- gorgeous colours. You can also see how the pastels are created on their website – yummy.