Shirin Neshat Montage

Shirin Neshat Montage from sam neave on Vimeo.

I first saw Shirin Neshat's work in an exhibition at ACCA here in Melbourne. I thought about it for days afterwards. And every now and then over the years her work pops into my mind, the power of images and almost emblematic gestures and actions is transporting and exciting. She's an extraordinary woman who inspires many, as well as making changes to consciousness.

an ode to Matisse's dance

I first saw this painting 'in-the-flesh', when I visited MOMA in NYC in 1999. I didn't expect to be quite so profoundly thrown and moved...It was a painting I had often soaked in from reproductions in books and on posters. It is so very famous. When I was a child, I thought it might be some kind of tarot card, its magical impact on my psyche had already begun by the time I was about eleven, when I saw a book my aunt, the Dutch sculptor, Katinka van Rood-Bruin, had in her Amsterdam studio.  

Her brother, my father had died just months before, and that day my heart was aching and heavy with grief.  So when I stood in front of this work, the tears flooded and I had to take deep breaths so that I didn't wail with passion and emotion. I was in front of it for about half an hour. All the wonderful works in that Museum were calling me, their voice faint and easily put on hold while Matisse's dance and I communed. 

I felt so deeply held and healed by the Spirit of this extraordinarily rhythmic and beautiful work.

a moment in Paris 1911

I saw an exhibition of Jacque Henri Lartigue at the Pomidou Centre in Paris when I was last there in 2003.
I loved the life and humour his photos were full of. And in this photo, you could just change the fashion, and it could be a scene from any city today, the rush and movement. And  guess the fashion is rather like 'slow food' or 'slow music', it would have taken more time to make, more time to put on, more time to take in all the details. Such was the way of that world.

Corot

Today I went to the NGV and saw the European Masters: Städel Museum, 19th–20th Century. I hadn't really planned to go, but a friend of mine was down from Byron Bay and hungry for culture, and also very knowledgeable herself.

I was very pleasantly surprised, I got educated and nourished with some wonderful works. 

One of my favorites was a small luminous painting of Corot's. (not the one shown here, but of the same ilk).

Also the Bonnard was hauntingly emotive and fine. I also loved the Oscar Schlemmer, very strong. All I wanted to do when we left there was come home and paint...but I had admin to do, my office is a mess etc. I was very glad to go, and will definitely go again to drink it in.

Tommy Spender

Here is one of the most inspirational things in my life, and I could say my best creation,
my son Tommy Spender. Not only this beautiful man now, but an exquisite Spirit who
has always been my greatest teacher, and with a deep soul, with much talent. (he is a musician,
photographer, writer etc etc...)
And now he is a great father to his beautiful son, Leroy. His partner Jesse is also
a very inspirational and talented woman, I am so very lucky to have these people
as my family, on this great journey together.

Ferry ride from Queenstown '95

I took this photo with my old Nikon F2 in 1995. Today it feels perfect as a reflection of darkish mood
I find myself in.
It also brings back memories of filling Sundays up with my teenage son somehow, to
keep some kind of connection going, struggling against all odds, as he pushed the boundaries to individuate, cutting his own path, however wild-and-woolly it seemed at the time. I'm sure today he's glad that I was able to let him explore, but I always kept a safety net suspended there (covertly). The dark and the light, the ambivalent tenuous hold one wants.

The ARt of Robert Frank

Yesterday was my birthday and my brother took me into my favorite bookshop and told me to choose whatever I wanted. So I chose a beautiful little book: Robert Frank - Paris. I wasn't familiar with his images of any European city. I've always associated him with America. (the above image is not in my book). So now I will spend the next weeks dipping in and out of these exquisite minimal images, evocative narratives.