Kean Onn and I went to a lunch at the AGNSW for the artists and sitters of the Archibald. This was before the judging. My two favourites, besides Kean Onn’s painting of me, of course, were Mitch Cairns’ portrait of Gerald Murnane, for its subtle tones and colouring, coming together in quiet power, and secondly Sean Layh’s picture of Hamlet, for its theatricality and faint homoeroticism.
The catering was good and they had a bar in the space. It wasn’t too crowded so I could get around the room. The actual winner was not on my radar. Kean and i enjoyed ourselves. Go see. #
Great night at the opening of The Archibald at AGNSW. I went with Scott Grimmett, Meg Hewitt and of course the painter Kean Onn See. Meg went to art school with the winner of the Sulman, Lucy Cuiliton. Congratulations to the winners, you know who you are.
Kean Onn See, Meg Hewitt, Scott Grimmett and I went to Chez Beckett’s in Spice Alley for dinner. It was the dinner we meant to have after a great opening night at the Archibald the previous evening. The food and cocktails were good. I ordered the Crepe Suzette’s for visual effect. Kean Onn picked up the tab, insisting his mother told him that is the way to treat an elder (me). I guess old age has its benefits. Congratulations Kean Onn for a successful Archibald. 👏
THE LUMINAS is the first of its kind national honours program spotlighting the contributions of First Nation and culturally diverse creatives in two sections, the Arts and the Media. Further categories were for Storytelling, Leadership and Hall of Fame. I was awarded the Storyteller Honour in the Arts section. I congratulate the other recipients of awards: Jan Fran, the late Rhoda Roberts, Lorena Allan, the late Oodgeroo Noonuccal, and Majida
Abboud-Saab. The event was hosted by Diversity Arts Australia and Media Diversity Australia.
The Lucky African Dancers completely upstaged the ceremony with their brilliant drumming, dancing and audience participation, although they did not overwhelm the event they were just a highlight.
I invited my own cheer squad and we had a great time.
I went to a preview of the objects, works of art and furniture belonging to the late Martin Sharp at his home, Wirian, in Bellevue Hill. The two trustees of his estate who have stayed on are Roz Sharp and Sandy Sharp, Martin’s cousins, and they along with the staff of Shapiro’s Auctioneers, have assembled the pieces in lots. They have done a great job.
I’d seen most of the stuff before, but always in a jumble, now it is sorted and laid out. It’s an amazing, eclectic collection, the toys dazzle.
The house is open for inspection this weekend if you feel like a trip down memory lane, but if you knew Martin you might be ambushed by unexpected emotions. Definitely the end of an era.
Joyce Morgan took this picture of me at a preview event at Wirian. We were inspecting the objects and furniture about to be auctioned. Everything for auction is displayed here and open to the public 1 -3 May.
Joyce felt it a bitter sweet experience seeing all the stuff, it made me very reflective of Martin’s life and work.
Oh that’s my photo on the catalog cover. And I’ll do another post when I have spare minute on the weekend.
The first picture of David was taken in his study/home in Chippendale in 1987. The second was taken last year, 2025, at a Peter Rose event at Australian Book Review. This was the last time I saw him, and he seemed alert, in good spirits and enjoying the socialisation. In his time he achieved longevity, high station in life, wealth, and I’d say happiness. Vale David Malouf.
AUDREY KIM, nee Quong Chong, was a descendant of the illustrious See Poy family who owned the big See Poy department store at Innisfail NQ for nearly 100 years. It was at the store she met Ray Kim. They married and had three children Leslie, Gillian and Graeme.
At her funeral her children, grandchildren, relatives and friends spoke. Many broke down in tears, an indication of how much she was loved and how much she will be missed. Vale Audrey Kim.
Annemarie Kimble, her son Alasdair, and friend Kerrie Anne came over to dinner at Scotts in Buderim. Alasdair is 17 now. Scott slow cooked a leg of lamb, while I did the vegetables, which included a big plate of home grown chokos with onion sauce.
My photograph of Scott at Frogs Hollow Maleny is in an exhibition MARKING TIME at University of Sunshine Coast Gallery. It shows work from their collection with works about Queensland and by Queensland artists. There are works by Michael Cook, Jeffrey Smart, Tracey Moffatt, and two artists new to me, Elizabeth Duguid and Jonathan McBurnie.
Scott and I had coffee with director Megan Williams on my recent visit to Buderim. Go see this delightful exhibition at Sippy Downs.
Each Easter Sunday Scott hosts an Easter egg hunt for his small relatives at his place in Buderim. He and his mother June scatter the eggs around the garden for the children to find. Loud squeals of delight. Then we have lunch, mainly for the adults as the children having eaten all that chocolate are not hungry.
This year as the children were playing on top of a big plastic storage tank, the lid of the tank buckled in. It was decided to empty the tank and then jack up the lid from inside the tank to push out the dent. For the children it was an added bonus to play in the stream of water. More squeals of delight.
Happy Easter folks.
