The working week is over, it’s a bright, serene Saturday afternoon with a hint of spring in the air here in Brisbane and my desire to find the (perhaps tenuous) links between art, cycling and this great city is bubbling to the surface. What better way to realise my whimsy than to grab a bike and skedaddle over to Gallery Of Modern Art to see Patricia Piccinini’s Curious Affection exhibition? Especially seeing as though this would be it’s last weekend on display.
The plan in my head was to take in the GOMA exhibition after snaring some of the sights of the city dappled in the light of this day. So with that, I pointed the Crossrip down the Kedron Brook Bikeway in my favourite cargo shorts, flannelette, Boneshaker cap and canvas sling bag. “Cruising” was the word to sum up my attitude for the afternoon. Implying that I didn’t have much in the way of a schedule, the said cruising led me up a little track off the bikeway which I had seen often but never took the time to venture into. Given that I was in the middle of suburbia, I had no expectations of “epic trails” but what a pleasant little oasis it turned out to be.
After my little detour, I meandered back onto my intended route and not many revolutions later, I was in Fortitude Valley snapping up some public art.
And some of the sights of the city.
Before long, I was at my destination.
So, after lunch, I grabbed a ticket for the Curious Affection exhibition and allowed myself to sink into what I had come to see like holding your nose, closing your eyes and drifting to the bottom of the pool on a hot summer’s day.
How many different possibilities for the manifestation of life could there have been? What conditions different to the ones that have occurred until now would have been required to result in life as familiar but strange as this? What about the future? We might never know all that for sure but this art exhibition can help you to imagine or at least open your mind. With ever darkening political agendas at every turn lately, open mindedness is something we can’t have too much of right now. Indeed, showing that an open mind is a better alternative to conformity, obedience, apathy and fear is vital.
With mind blown and bicycle itch mostly scratched for the day, I started meandering home through the Roma Street Parklands when the air began to fill with the sound of jazz. It was the Parks Alive festival and although I merely passed by, it was enough to add an ambient cherry atop the day and I carried on to the Victoria Park bikeway.
See you out there some time.