"Negotiating this World: Contemporary Australian Art" (NGV Australia)

Some days one is open to art, other days not so much; last Sunday, when I dropped in for this exhibition, turned out unfortunately to be one of the latter. And so, in lieu of synthesis or exegesis, my notes verbatim (these were the pieces that struck me for one reason or another):

* David Rosetzky - "Self-defence (Sarah)" (2005)
- large digital print of a woman, cut out - tree branches
- tv screen - weather atmospherics
- projected on wall

* Tom Nicholson - "Drawing and correspondence 1" (2008-11)
- large charcoal drawing
-- mysterious
-- cave painting?
-- artist's book of emails/archival photos

* Rosemary Laing - "Welcome to Australia" (2004) - large photo - Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre

* Siri Hayes - "Paper bag lovers" (2008) - photo

* Janet Laurence - "Botanical residues"
- colour transparency on transparent synthetic polymer resin
- six overlapping panes
- green, ghostly images of glasshouses

* Bill Henson - "Untitled 2009/10"
- photo of crowd looking at a Rembrandt at the Hermitage
- ghostly, can't tell at first

- another untitled Henson - 09/10 - foggy, island mound surrounded by water

* Mira Gojak - "Sung out of sight" (2008)
- suspended sculpture - wire, steel, copper, wool - automatism - flowing

* John Spiteri - "Hard rain" (2006)
- enamel on glass