The only national art competition to be judged by a Cockatoo - the 25th Bald Archy Exhibition - has taken to the road. Until the end of June, it is residing in the Club House of the Leura Golf Club, and is well worth a look. If you can't get to The Blue Mountains, check the schedule on the website - it may end up closer to you, sometime this year.
It is as wide ranging as ever in the variety of styles displayed, and range of subjects portrayed - for copyright reasons, photographing the exhibits is not permitted, so you will need to make the trip to see the real thing, though this article from the ABC gives a sense of what is there.
Many of the usual suspects are represented, some of them in most unexpected poses and settings, while the winner - Anh Can Do by James Brennan - is a wonderfully whimsical work. Keep your eye out for Sam Dastyari -his portrait is a rib tickler, and not the only one that will make you laugh. A couple of our more rough and tumble politicians have somehow ended up looking almost cute.
Between the politicians you will find a superb portrayal of one of Australia's best known rock stars, as well as an equally well known, but non-human figure - it's possible Maud the Cockatoo was slipped a bucket of oats by this character.
A certain former Prime Minister makes a number of appearances, with the most notable being a blend of reality and fictional mythology that is a dark but apt caricature - it needs to be looked at closely, there are subtle details near and far that add meaning and pathos.
My favourite was not a prize winner; perhaps it lacked the levity that many other pictures had, but it is possibly the most original and subtle work in the show. See if you can find the two dimensional representation of a three dimensional image of our present PM - the artist has done a superb, poignant work, and she deserves to be more widely known and viewed. This one picture would make the trip worthwhile.
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