Wednesday was described as an historic day at the Art Gallery of NSW when Edmund Capon, after 33 years as Director, held a press conference to announce his retirement. As it happened, the event coincided with a planned trip to the gallery, so I was amongst the cameras, journalists, NSW Premier and board of directors bustling around the floor waiting for the announcement. My friend Flic, who works at the gallery as photographer, was in among the mix of media folk snapping away and got some wonderful shots.

I spent the remainder of the day soaking up all the current works on display and seeing the Kaldor Gallery/collection for the first time. One of my favourite works was that of Bill Viola whose looped projection titled 'Memoria' 2000 had me transfixed watching a disintegrating face move in and out of focus on a suspended piece of silk.-"Shot using an old surveillance camera in low light, the footage shows a man’s face but ‘visual noise’ intermittently obscures the image. This ghostly effect is exaggerated by projecting the image onto silk cloth hanging in a darkened room. The work recalls the shroud of Turin, a piece of fabric said to bear the imprint of the body of Christ. In a similar way,Memoria explores the idea of presence and absence." - AGNSW.
On the upper level of the gallery is an exhibition of works by David Aspden (1935-2005). I was immediately attracted to a large painting titled 'Mountain Scenery' 1973. I learned that he had spent time here in the Blue Mountains. No wonder the colours sang to me.