A bit of Dali and a bit of a break

Corinne has told me she wants my thoughts on Dali. And after seeing the exhibition on Friday I can say I have many thoughts on the subject indeed. Some good, some bad, but in essence, my response to Dali : Liquid Desire is that whilst some aspects were every bit as cliched and heavy handed as I'd expected, other, unexpected aspects were pleasantly surprising; exciting and impressive even. I maintain my position with regards to Dali's surrealist, biomorphic works -- melting clocks and cliffs that resemble vagina's just aren't my taste -- but his lesser work is truly fantastic, and technically, he is superlative. I was just about to list a whole bunch of superlatives, so I think the word itself works nicely.

One of my favourite things included in the exhibition was an animated collaboration between Dali and Disney, Destino, a short film which incorporates Dali's most well known motifs, and his beloved catalan landscape. Storyboarded by Disney and Dali during the 40s, Destino was judged to be commercially nonviable, and it wasn't brought to life until more recently, when Disney's nephew Roy took it on. The film was released in 2003, and consists mainly of traditional animation, with a few instances of computer animation.



Somehow, the transfer from painting to animation means the overwrought psychosexual connotations which put me off much of Dali's work, simply aren't present. Instead, the storytelling is light hearted, delicate, and the focus moves to the luminous quality of the light and landscape. Simply fantastic.

Lastly, I am heading to NZ for a wee holiday. I have a few exhibitions I want to see, but am not sure what my internet access will be while I'm there, so it may be a while until I post again. I can promise to head back to Melbourne with many a photo in tow.