I don’t know what it is with Firefox tonight, but it’s eating up memory like Dee & I ate Korean Barbecue at Westfield tonight. It tasted good. Wait a few minutes and you’ll hear all about tonight.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-01.jpg[/img]
Dee called me up after I’d had a job interview yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go with her tomorrow (so that means tonight… which was actually yesterday… and that doesn’t mean today… or tonight… how about March 1… does that fucking work?!) so I of course said yes because I love spending time with Dee.
Plus, it’d give me more material for this thing… my blog. For the all-three-of-you that read it.
Anyway, we’d be going to an art opening from one of her mates from first year who dropped out because he was going to be an artist without art school… or something like that. My memory — much like Firefox’s use of it tonight — fails me at this moment so while I can’t remember exactly how Dee had described the guy, it was something to that effect.
His name is Anthony Bartok. Can you tell? You know, aside for that glaring image I have proudly stating his name a few lines above?!
For the entire night, I didn’t know his name… even though it was printed on the glass window. I’m like that. I miss the obvious things.
Anyway, this is Mr. Brown — as Dee has come to call him — below:
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-08.jpg[/img]
And this is Dee with him…
[url=https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-03-Full.jpg][img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-03.jpg[/img][/url]
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Why he’s called Mr. Brown? Shit. I probably should’ve been paying attention when Dee told me why. Umm.. don’t know. Forget I said he was called Mr. Brown by Dee. We’ll just call him Mr. Bartok since it shares the “Mr” bit and the B in the start of his name. I guess. Fuck. Where was I.
I’m not one to normally like painting… I’m proud of my opinion and I never let someone tell me what I should be thinking as it’s really not their right. As such, I’m not normally one to like paintings. There are really only a few painters I’ve ever liked and I definitely don’t sit there with all the other artists praising painters like… well… like artists do.
Okay. You know what? It’s almost 4 am and I’ve been coding most of today so most of my brain matter has really been thrown out the window. Look, I guess what I’m trying to say with this little blog-interlude is that… don’t expect any real comprehension from me tonight. It won’t be there. Not unless you’re an oyster. Or a vagina. Or a vaginal oyster. Wait… I’m not even sure I want to know what that is. Especially if it’s off.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-06.jpg[/img]
Anyway, as one to not normally like painters, I actually like Mr. Bartok’s work. It’s vibrant and interesting and it doesn’t seem pretentious or bullshit like a lot of artists seem to be. It also doesn’t seem to apply to a niche that would necessarily net him a following. It exists as its own form and there’s nice separation between shape and colour.
The work doesn’t seem at all photographic to me, but yet it feels like it has similar aspects to photography in that the works seem to push out a feeling of the distinctive difference between a colour or pattern (in this case, the background) and a shape or sense of dimensionality (in this case, the foreground with the portraiture of the subject).
It’s definitely not for everyone, but the show is worth a look. Also, the prices are actually pretty good so if you’re looking for some very cool works by an up-and-coming artist, it’s absolutely worth a look-see when it’s on for the next two weeks at [url=http://www.blankspace.com.au/index2.html]Blank Space[/url] on Crown St.
[url=https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-10-Full.jpg][img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-10.jpg[/img][/url]
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Since I’m not really the most artistic of art people, I entertained myself a bit through the night by taking random pictures of people who probably would’ve liked nothing more than to throw me at the nearest car (and on Crown St., there are a lot of them) if they’d have known I was taking pictures.
I also got to talking to people I’ve never met (and knowing my luck and / or social life, probably never will again).
One was the manager of Mr. Bartok. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Can’t really say a lot. Didn’t talk to him for that long. Anyway, I got a picture of him looking like a wanker. I don’t actually know your name Mister Manager Sir, but in case you visit my page, here’s you looking like a wanker in a triptych of sorts…
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-02.jpg[/img]
Huh. He looks a bit like Nigel Kennedy. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing… for Nigel Kennedy’s sake. Sorry Nigel!
I also got a picture of this girl. I don’t know who she is… or was… or is… but here she is taking a picture of one of the paintings with her phone camera. Is that a Motorola I see, ma’am?
[url=https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-05-Full.jpg][img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-05.jpg[/img][/url]
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And then I got to talking with a couple of people who were… err… a couple… damn… that’s hard to lead with. Anyway, they were a couple: the guy (I think) was from Sydney while the girl was from Melbourne who’d moved up here for more TV and Video work… and they both worked as Post-Production people.
[img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-07.jpg[/img]
There they are. Happy couple of sorts, I guess.
They were both really into their TV… probably more so than me. Liked similar stuff to me which made a nice change from the usual TV conversations I have with people who are obsessed with crap like Prison Break and Lost… blech. So we talked about Weeds and The West Wing and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip before moving to Beyond Productions… err… productions… like Mythbusters, as the guy (whose name I didn’t get but who now has my email address and website) works for Beyond, the company responsible for the show.
The conversation also told me what happened to the rehashed Beyond 2000 show “Beyond Tomorrow” which has irritating hosts and whose stories were only half-interesting (half of the time). It’s gone. Axed.
Probably a good thing. These days, techies who want to learn about the newest in crap will find it on some place like Slashdot or another news source site first. And parents who might want to know will either hear it in passing from their kids or as they’re not really paying attention when their kids are enthusiastically telling them about it. I know that last one well. Happens to me with Dad all the time.
By now, I think Dee was getting bored. Luckily, she had a phone call.
And me being the documenter of her life, I took pictures. Well… picture. Okay, so it was plural… but for this blog entry, it’s singular.
[url=https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-09-Full.jpg][img]https://www.leighlo.com/uploads/random/2007/03-ArtWithDee-09.jpg[/img][/url]
[i]Click the image for a bigger version![/i]
Have you noticed how the images have mostly been appearing in a odd-even like fashion in regard to “click for a bigger size” images on this blog entry tonight? That’s not intentional. It’s just a coincidental mathematical connection between the placement of the images and how I was writing about what they connect to.
Anyway, Dee & I left there as it headed towards 9. We’d been there long enough, I guess, and we could now go and get dinner together.
So we went to the Westfield in Bondi since Dee always gives me a lift home (thanks Dee!) and we had Korean Barbecue. We had to ask the girl at the stand (who was around our age) if it would be spicy as Dee didn’t want spicy. I had to warn the girl that if it were spicy, my head was libel to explode randomly and then she’d have to call up someone to clean up the mess. Dee told me to shut up. :P
We had BBQ Chicken with Noodles (Dee’s dish) and BBQ Seafood with Noodles (my dish, “medium spicy”… but it wasn’t) and Dee’s was the better of the two. Though the ockie (octopus) in mine was really nice. Cooked really well.
And we talked about TAFE and her life and my … life… if you can call it that… and she tried Aloe Vera. She seemed to like it, but mind you, Aloe Vera drink is hard not to like being that it’s really just aloe vera jelly, the sugary-sweetness of corn syrup or glucose, and flavouring. Great for your stomach though.
And then we quickly went down to Coles because I wanted some grapes. And then bread. And then Dee looked at the marked-down Apple Spice Cake (which looked more like some sort of butter cake with an apple crumble topping) and said she didn’t want it. So I bought it for her.
Hope she likes it. Worst case is her dog Tiny eats it. Best case is — knowing Coles cakes — her dog Tiny eats it.
And then she dropped me home. Hopefully we do it again soon.
And here I am.
It’s 4.30 in the morning. I’ve been writing this for a little over half an hour and I’ve had to deal with Exetel dropping out in that time (go… Exetel!!!). I’ve already solved (sort of) a coding issue on Bowie’s site and have answered Dee’s phone call questions (which were technically her boyfriends’ questions on her other line) about 3D videos… and that was within a second or two of the phone waking me up.
My brain’s synaptic relays probably need a break from all that work. Or whatever they’re called. It’s not like I have a clue. I’m not a doctor.
I did work out one more thing tonight (I also wrote a verse of a new song our band was working on today… hopefully we use it!).
Ok… here’s the thing I worked out…
My brain is like an oyster: It’s an acquired taste and it’s usually off.
It’s also an aphrodisiac, but being that no one has actually tried eating my brain, it explains why no girl will go out with me (or sleep with me… fill in whatever you think goes here).