I’m sure as eggs not an art aficionado much less an artist. The fact that I spend most of my time using the opposite side of my brain required to create art is testament to that. Try as I did to draw and paint when I was a younger human, life and other interests took over and my artistic aspirations along with my meager skills shriveled and died like an abandoned pot plant.
Still, none of that should stop me or anyone else immersing themselves in art. Even if you haven’t been trained what to look for, making your own sense of the art in front of you is one of the most profound, calming, inspiring, escapist, perspective adding and enriching things you can do almost any day. And maybe not knowing what you’re really looking at is the best way to appreciate art anyway.
Further, if you live in this fine city of BrizVegas, you’re in luck because you have what is surely one of the finest art related establishments in Queensland if not the whole of Australia. I am, of course, talking about the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at South Brisbane where I’m going to see some of Japan’s finest – Yayoi Kusama’s Life is the Heart of a Rainbow exhibition .
Well, we’re into the fourth paragraph of this post and you may be asking yourself why this fool is rambling about art on a bicycling blog but I’m about to show you the tantalising intersection between riding and enjoying some art because instead of the drudgerous cycle of pain that is driving and parking and exiting parking and driving again, I rode my bike to GOMA instead.
I came in from about 15kms out of the CBD and used mainly bikeways which lead into the CBD from most directions these days. It was a summer day and the temperature was in the high 20deg C so I made it a slow, easy journey on the way in.
Which brings me to one of the main points to highlight here – just how slack and uncyclist-like I made a point of being about this little jaunt. Sure, I was getting some exercise and clocking up a few kilometres but there was no visible lycra clothing, power metres, GPS equipment, sugary gels, road cleats or any other paraphernalia to help me go faster for longer. In fact, the plain black quick dry polo shirt and beige canvas shorts from K-Mart that I wore are about as inconspicuous as you can get and the two combined were cheaper that some lunches I’ve had. Off the bike, probably the only giveaways that I rode there were my trusty Shimano Click’R shoes which look and walk like ordinary runners and occasional glimpses of the nicks under my canvas shorts (surely you can’t possibly count that as visible lycra) which weren’t completely necessary but made my rapidly aging arse just a little more comfortable. Adding a small canvas satchel about the size of an A4 sheet for a phone, keys, whatever and I was set for the morning.
The bike for the job was my trusty Trek Crossrip LTD. Despite it’s name, this inexpensive little aluminium whip is really not limited to anything – I’ve ridden it on roads, fire trails, single tracks, bikeways, to the Sunshine Coast, over Mt Nebo and for commuting. It’s running some 28mm road tyres at the moment but happily takes up to 43mm knobies for the rough stuff. There’s some BB7 mechanical discs for stopping, 105 drivetrain and some I-don’t-know-or-care-what-they-are wheels. Perfect for a trundle to the art gallery.
So, having gathered everything I needed which was not much at all, I set off and before I knew it the Brisbane city skyline stood before me.
A few more turns of the pedals and my destination was in sight…
….where I was able to park my bike in GOMA’s undercover bike parking.
And gorge my senses on the treasures within…
Then it was time for food, drink and a gaze at the city before slowly heading back.
So, there you have it. Art is cycling and cycling is art. And you can be high brow without high brow cycling gear because cycling is high brow anyway…or something like that. Most important, though, is that now you know that outings are way more fun when you can pack a casual ride in too.
Until next time, enjoy your art and ride safe.