Substation

Ok ... knowing that we would be out drinking later on Saturday night, we decided to have a quick snack at the Antipasti over at Yazza's.

Coffee ain't that great here which is annoying, but the arrancini ball and ham and cheese in turkish bread that we shared were exactly what the doctor ordered. I like doing the grocery shopping here because this deli is great, there's the meat shack a couple of doors away where youc an score a hefty aged beef fillet for about $40 total .. and the eye candy ... both the 2 legged kind and the 4 legged furry variety. Its not exactly our local but quite often on our way ...

We chanced upon the Williamstown Festival Art Prize Exhibition being held at The Substation in Newport coinciding with a monthly arts and crafts market ... and it was the perfect way to spend a couple of relaxing hours before heading out to meet P and R for drinkies at South Paw.

Substation - 1 Market Street Newport

These old buildings of industry are always the prefect foil for an art exhibition, something about all that brick, concrete and large windows, elements in themselves that are of artistic note ... I was tempted to explore the surrounds rather than the art works themselves ... and I'm sure M was inwardly hyperventilating at all the stairways leading off and away from the beaten path ...

The very first piece we encountered as we walked in was Amaia Iturri's Convinced Pacifist. Blindfolded bearded man in animated comicbook brushstrokes on linen ... the combination of muted pinks, blues and purples aestheticly pleasing .. my mind registered terrorist ... why? because of the artist's name? because of the beard and the blindfold? Because of the word pacifist? I knew I was in for an interesting time.

Here are some of our favourites:

Suzie Bourne's photo called Alfresco Dining. M was so taken by this that he is comtemplating buying one of the 8 prints available. I'm not actively encouraging this as its really time to tighten the belts at the moment. But the whimsy of it with the Melbourne skyline in the hazy background is very appealing ... and it would look so good in the house. (sorry no pic!)

We also loved Patrick Delbosc's whimsical blue dog ... we would love this in the garden ... peaking out of the ferns under the magnolia tree!

Julie Collins & Derek John's scupltural "Shared Journey" offered strong colour and texture .... although P was puzzled at first as to what he was looking at on the iphone.

There was whimsy amongst the wares ...

Amanda Hills Carp ... plastic bag fish arranged as sculptural installation ($90 each but!!!)

Liz Walker's Junk Mail - envelopes fashioned out of discarded corrugated iron:

Apart from the Bourne photo, M was also taken by Louise Skacej's Brain Patterned Heart:

2 vietnamese artists certainly caught our eyes:

Trinh Vu's light fixture called Sacred Season -

And an amazing video installation of morphing japanese tattooes by Phi Van Nguyen.

Kirsten Perry's ink sketch called stroke really made me wish I could draw ... and also that i had the money to collect ... this would have certainly been a purchase!

Ditto for Veronica Kent's print called The Young Spaniard - I have exactly the spot for this ...

And I took a photo of this light block because its called "Like Spinning Plates" - by the Contextual Villains:

I can keep boring you with more examples and unfortunately I can't encourage you to go as the prizes have been awarded and the exhibit is now closed. But you can still look out for the monthly art markets for a chance to view the space.

Oh and surely I wouldn't have dropped a radiohead reference without belabouring the point ... so enjoy: