Darlinghurst Blog: Detritus: Winter 2012

Why have I not blogged in so long? Well, let's just say I'm glad winter 2012 is over. I'm going to pretend it never happened and move along. 

But still, it's hard to dismiss a whole three months of my life and there were some OK moments in that bleak time, including the official switching on of the El Alamein Fountain on Saturday 28 July.

Heaps of peeps turned out for the ceremony, which included short speeches by the RSL and family members of the fountain's architect and original manufacturer. There was also lots of people taking photographs and recording footage:

The cameraman on the left is filming me photographing him.

This photograph (above) captures the moment after the fountain was switched back on and everyone cheered. It was a good day so it was lucky it didn't rain.

During winter, I also discovered the joys of the Bandstand Cafe (above) at Green Park and its marvellous owner, Carlos. Please support his business because he is one of the friendliest cafe chaps in the neighbourhood and he makes a good soy flat-white too (with Bonsoy)! I also tried the cafe's lasagne and it was one of the best I've eaten.

Winter also welcomed a new mural on the exterior wall of the Darlo Bar, which features wolves walking all over a woman's face. 

I also spent quite a bit of winter with the animal in my life, Ralf the street cat, who came over to my apartment quite regularly to eat and run. He may only be in it for the food, but I still appreciate his friendship. Meow! This photograph (above) shows him sleeping on some dirty old mattresses that someone dumped at the bin monster in the middle of my street. 

On cold winter nights, a local chap with a telescope could often be found outside Strawberry Cream with the lens trained on the moon or a planet. He let passers-by take a look for free. I don't know the chap's name but he has a dog called Sarah and he's also on the St John's Church board. 

During winter walks I spotted a couple of Will Coles artworks, including the balaclava man at Belmore Street in Surry Hills and the culture teddy near the Taylor Square substation.

Speaking of Coles, this little dog was left in a handbag outside the supermarket in Kings Cross. The poor dog didn't look very happy. Just imagine how embarrassing it must be for him or her stuck there looking like that.

It was also during winter that 18-year-old Thomas Kelly died after being king-hit in Victoria Street, Kings Cross. It's still not known if the alleged offender, Kieren Loveridge, 18, was drunk at the time, but the NSW Government reacted by introducing tougher restrictions on the area's pubs and clubs, including the use of ID scanners at all licensed venues. 

The media went crazy with the story, publishing infographics, like the one below, "Dark Heart", which maps out the different areas of the Cross. Fitzroy Gardens, according to The Daily Telegraph, is known as "Poets and Pimps Corner". And bugger if you happen to live on Kellett Street, because it's known as the "Personal Services Strip". Hehe.

Kelly's death and the massive amount of media it attracted may have also deterred quite a few people from coming to the Cross for their night out. On Saturday nights it is normally impossible to find a parking space in my street, but a few weeks ago there were four empty spaces at about 10pm. 

But it's still the same old Cross with its proliferation of kebab shops, Chinese massage places, tobacconists, hairdressers and chemists, although some people might like to see an Italian delicatessen or homewares shop on the strip:

This poster was pasted-up on the window of the old Kirketon Road Centre at 38 Darlinghurst Road. I personally wouldn't mind another dress shop or a place where I can buy home-made dinners so I don't have to bother cooking. 

What would you like to see on the strip?

Darlinghurst Blog: Street Art: Nimrod Street

You may remember that in January I posted on my Facebook page this great photograph, which shows an amazing and inspirational piece of street art on the side of the Stables Theatre's administration building on Nimrod Street. I had always thought it was a perfect white wall, ripe for some street artists's magic, so I was really happy when crystal k pasted up this poetic line. 

"I am the cave through which the river runs and I am myself the river. crystal k.''

No idea what it means, but I still like its rhythm.

Anyway, when I was going past the other day, six months after it was pasted up, I noticed how much it had deteriorated, so I hope crystal k returns with another line to fill its space sometime soon:

Meanwhile, other street artists have also been taking advantage of the wonderful white backdrop and interesting crevices this wall provides. Can you spot the Will Coles in the picture below?

It's actually been there for a month at least, but I never remember to photograph it:

In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't been nicked like the other pieces Coles left down on Ten Buck Alley. It could be because it is so well camouflaged.

Coles isn't the first street artist to use this little white brick alter to display his work. 

Back in December last year, a red and gold nativity scene appeared one night:

It was really sweet, with a little baby Jesus in a manger and a buxom Mary in a red, low-cut dress:

But it wasn't glued down so it was gone within about three days. 

Darlinghurst Blog: Street Art: Will Coles Work Can

Despite the rain I was able to have a sweet adventure on Saturday with two of my most favourite people, blogger Sarah Allely and her 19-month-old daughter, Billie. I took Billie to the Caldwell Street Garden with the promise that fairies lived there and on the way home we came across a different kind of magic outside the Stables Theatre: a little piece of street art by Will Coles.

Across the Border: Newtown: Art and Culture: Will Coles Exhibition

I have never written about the neighbourhood of Newtown before, because I have tried to confine this blog to Darlinghurst and its four or so neighbouring suburbs. Newtown is about three suburbs southwest of Darlinghurst as the crow flies, and six train stops (and two trains) away from Kings Cross. 

But there have been many times I have longed to write about Newtown and its fantastic clothing shops, endless cafes and excellent street art. And like Darlinghurst, Newtown also has a rich history. 

One of the most interesting historical stories is that of resident Eliza Donnithorne, who lived in Newtown from the 1840s and who was said to be the inspiration for Miss Havisham, the bride left at the altar in Charles Dickens's 1860 novel Great Expectations. 

I should also mention that Newtown has quite a few good pubs. 

Anyway, I finally hit upon a My Darling Darlinghurst-Newtown connection, which is why I am writing this post.

One of the most popular stories on this blog is a street art post from October 26 titled, Concrete Penis Gun. It featured the concrete sculpture pictured above, by artist Will Coles, which I found stuck to the wall of the old Darlinghurst Gaol.

I like to think it made the top three posts of ''all time'' because Coles's work is witty and finely executed, but I really suspect it's to do with the word penis in the blog title. Ah, penis. People must google that word all the time.

So I thought, considering it was such a well-visited post that My Darling Darlinghurst readers would like to know that Coles's work will be featuring in a new exhibition that opens this Saturday at the Wilson Street Gallery in . . . Newtown.

Coles's show, Tom of Blokeland, will run alongside an exhibition of works by Melbourne artist Melanie Fizmaurice, The Explorer.

The gallery's website features this excellent portrait of Coles:

And this excellent picture of one of his works:

This is not a Bomb, cast aluminium cement, by Will Coles, 2010.

And the website also includes a press release about the joint exhibition, which opens with a word from the gallery's director Janet Clayton:

''In 2011 we place our confidence in the future, launching two artists whose attitude and intellect reflect the frustration and hopes of those who must live over the next few decades with the consequences of yesterday's and today's mistakes.''

Later, Ms Clayton describes ''the pretension of art (as) just some of the fodder for (Coles's) keen jibes.''

Rather ironic, don't you think?

Sometimes - not all the time - I think it's best to just look at art, rather than write about it, or have someone explain it to you. Ignore the gallery directors and listen to the artists, I say. Wisely, Coles makes no comment in the press release. Make sure you visit this show soon, as it only runs for a short time.
UPDATE: Coles's work will also be included in two group shows - that incidentally have the same title - at galleries closer to Darlinghurst, opening this week:

Sculpture 2011, runs from January 19 to February 12

Brenda May Gallery

2 Danks Street

Waterloo NSW 2017

02 9318 1122

www.brendamaygallery.com.au

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Sculpture 2011, runs from January 20 to February 13

Global Gallery

5 Comber Street

Paddington NSW 2021

02 9360 5728

www.globalgallery.com.au

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Tom of Blokeland, by Will Coles runs from January 22 to February 6

Wilson Street Gallery

5/30-34 Wilson Street

Newtown NSW 2042

02 9516 3144

www.wilsonstreetgallery.com.au

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www.willcoles.com

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While I am on the topic of Newtown, I should also mention a brilliant website devoted to the suburb, developed by the talented archivists at the City of Sydney Archives.

The Newtown Project features maps, history, biographies and loads of other fascinating bits of information about the suburb. 

There is a great feature called A Short History of the Streets of Newtown, which alphabetically lists all the streets in the suburb with a brief explanation of how they came to be named.

O'Connell Street, for example, was named after Lieutenant-General Maurice O'Connell, the son-in law of Governor William Bligh, who was captain of the ship during the famous mutiny of HMAS Bounty. 

There is also a brilliantly researched biography by Matt Murphy about Eliza Donnithorne aka Miss Havisham.

The Newtown Project is a must read for the neighbourhood's residents who are also asked to contribute their own stories to the site. It is also interesting reading for anyone curious about Sydney history, its inner suburbs or its people. 

I was also excited to learn that archivist Naomi Crago included a link to My Darling Darlinghurst on the site, even though my blog has nothing to do with Newtown. Well, until this post, that is. 

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www.sydneyarchives.info

Darlinghurst: Street Art: Concrete Penis Gun

This concrete penis gun sculpture was well-camouflaged on the sandstone walls of ye old Darlinghurst Gaol. The gun is just one of many concrete works - including concrete televisions, concrete remote controls and concrete teddy-bears - by artist Will Coles, which he carefully places among the landscape in Darlinghurst, neighbouring Surry Hills and Newtown, in Sydney's inner west.

If you can manage to prise the cock-gun off the wall, you could flog it on eBay or just give it pride of place in your pool-room. But I would never condone such theft.

The work is called, Guns for Wannabe Gangsters (Suck My Cock), and you can read Coles's take on it at his Flickr site here.

I like Coles's work, which seems to be a timely comment on society's endless consumerism: at the moment around Darlinghurst there are loads of old televisions sitting on the footpaths and around garbage bins, as viewers are forced to upgrade to new digital sets before the analog signal is switched off next year. It seems like such a waste and it's a shame they can not be recycled.