I Saw Sculptures by the Sea

The 20th anniversary of "Sculptures by the Sea" exhibit began running on my younger brother's birthday. (October 20; I won't reveal your age, Ignacio!) So I headed to "the sea" to see it via public transit. It was only two buses; the first stops in downtown Sydney while the second takes you to our world famous Bondi Beach (a short ride away).

While waiting for my second bus, I snapped some of these wonderful images (1-5). Downtown Sydney is a lot like Chicago in that it has some lovely old architecture intermingling with new modern skyscrapers, like this corner building (1). Lots of Art Deco around the city too, like Chicago, which is lovely. This shop reminded me of my sister (2-3) and this other of my mother (4). It is a fancy little store that had a shoe and some cats (favorites of my mum) made of milk chocolate. But there was no time to stop, as the bus arrived quite quickly.

We were at Bondi about 20 minutes later due to the traffic, even at midday. There's a reason that Bondi's so famous. It is a beach on a wide bay. The land all slopes down to the water (5). And there is a big grassy area before you hit the sand. Turn of last century buildings line the busy streets that skirt the whole area. Lots of hotels and little open air cafes…Just a little bit of heaven.

Each year about this time, they bring in sculptures along a walkway that snakes along the Pacific and the beaches (6).The size of these temporary exhibits (the show runs only for about two weeks) is amazing. I have sort of put them in the order, as I remember them. There were also others but I wasn't too impressed. I think there might have been about 50 scultpures in total!

I won't comment on each of them. (I'm not an art historian and really have no idea about these artists.) But I will share a bit of my impressions. I was amused/surprised by some of the titles. Some had really arty, pretentious titles like this one by Inge King AM entitled "Celestial Rings I" (7). Others relished being just fun, like this one (8). It's a huge purse, opened and filled with flowering shrubs. This sculpture would have come to my shoulders if standing next to it!

This piece is interesting in that it almost seemed to be something natural (9). As if it had been washed ashore from the ocean. I suspect many just passed it by, thinking it wasn't a sculpture at all. It, too, was rather large, taller than me. It was titled, again pretentiously (yet humorously) "Alien-Self Consciousness Is A Virus From Outer Space."

I liked this work because of its simplicity and beauty that comes from the materials used (10). And this piece, thankfully G-rated, is just funny (11). Simply called "Dave," it faced the water and looked as if ready to dive right off the cliff!

I delighted in the sculptures that used the natural shape of the landscape as part of the art (12-14). These first two (12-13) are of the same sculpture that looks like a sunken ship. The other looked like an alien postcard with asparagus tips popping out of the ground in blues and whites. Others were wonderful because of the scale (15-18). This also looked alien (19) like spores from space had landed and began growing in the trees.

Some were interactive in that you could climb on them and enter them (20-21). This one was just fun (23). A big pom pom of red! I took a selfie by it to show you the scale (24). All around you see the sea. Beautiful cliffs and water and sun (28-29).

I thought that these eerie garbage bags full of people (made of bronze) would be entitled something social justice, like "People Aren't Trash" (33-36). Instead the artist, Zheng Yuan Lu called them generically "Chronic Series" and then numbered them. They did look real!

This pillar of blue glass was mesmerizing (37). Check out the detailed close up (38). The creepiest sculpture was this one (39); it reminded me of a Japanese horror movie ghost.

This series utilized the landscape (40-41). It looked like a series of huts tumbling down the hill. the contents were stuck to the floor as it spilled on down (41).

I liked "The Pearly Gates" (43-45) as it used all found objects. Look at the intricate details (44) and how wonderful the light is off the milk containers (45). It looked like it was all set up on a bed of luminous clouds.

These were intricate metal works (46-47). Really lots of it and so tiny, as if made by robotic bees.

The exhibit ended at the beach with a series of sculptures on the sand (48-56). My favorite of the whole show is of ths one aptly called "Buried Rhino" (50-54). It was massive! Look at how big the head is (53)! (The rhino's not mine!) It really did give viewers the impression that the rhino was just enjoying itself at the beach. Kids couldn't keep away from it!

Photo 55 is a sculpture that looked as if it were soft, but was very hard and cold to the touch. And 56 is mostly a Caterpillar machine with a pink goo seeming to pouring out of the scoop! end with some of the natural beauty (57-58) that hopefully didn't go unnoticed.

Ths last shot is of a great Japanese restaurant that faced Bondi Beach (59). It was open air and just a perfect way to end the day.