briar against bubblegum youth

art of all kinds. one post a day, every day. music, visual art, writing. whatever takes my fancy. and it's all in the name of enhancing the artistic experience of myself and the lives of others living in a miley cyrus and rihanna saturated world - that dreaded bubblegum youth.
April 12
This is the first painting that ever made my breath catch when I saw it in real life. It is Colin McCahon’s Northland Panels, and this occurred mainly, I think, because it was also the first painting that I saw in real life after having studied it in art history. It was suddenly Real. And after that point in time, I’d always assumed that when I saw paintings by the Big Artists I’d studied, rather than just NZ ones (although Colin McCahon is about as famous as NZ artists go), I would go absolutely crazy. And it’s true, when I saw Full Fathom Five by Jackson Pollock at MoMA, I did gasp. And my first Rothko did the same, and so did the many Picassos I have now seen. But it still wasn’t quite the same as how I felt walking in to Toi Te Papa and seeing Northern Panels right in front of me.

This is the first painting that ever made my breath catch when I saw it in real life.

It is Colin McCahon’s Northland Panels, and this occurred mainly, I think, because it was also the first painting that I saw in real life after having studied it in art history. It was suddenly Real.

And after that point in time, I’d always assumed that when I saw paintings by the Big Artists I’d studied, rather than just NZ ones (although Colin McCahon is about as famous as NZ artists go), I would go absolutely crazy.

And it’s true, when I saw Full Fathom Five by Jackson Pollock at MoMA, I did gasp. And my first Rothko did the same, and so did the many Picassos I have now seen.

But it still wasn’t quite the same as how I felt walking in to Toi Te Papa and seeing Northern Panels right in front of me.