Monday, May 25, 2009

Latte and Long Black


The annual Melbourne Italian Festival was apparently on this past weekend, however me with my usual hopeless sense of direction couldn't find it. With no internet at my current place (joys of house-sitting for a fortnight) I decided to just follow my nose and hope for the best.


I of course didn't actually find anything, except for these this pair of PX200s. They were both kept in immaculate condition, with retro whitewall tyres and looking at the side of the black PX, maybe some engine mods.

A couple of years ago when I was waitressing (working my way through Uni) the garage across the road from the cafe had the regular visitor of a black PX200 with a tan seat just like the one above - watching as that beautiful little one arrived each morning was one of the things that made me fall in love with Vespas, and finally decide to get my first one.

This little Fiat was parked on Lygon St too...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Piccinini's Nest

How cute is that little one?

This sculpture by Patricia Piccinini was shown at Fed Square about a year ago. For those not familiar with Piccinini, she's an Australian artist who experiments with themes of biotechnology, genetic engineering, and future lifeforms. She's represented Australia twice at the Venice Biennale, and operates out of a studio with several assistants with an arrangements a la some of the old Italian painters - she produces the idea, and other people's hands sculpt and create the piece. I've been a fan of her work for a long time (since we studied her work when I was at school and I first came across her).



This work is called Nest and was created in 2006. Mediums used are enamel paint on fibreglass, leather, plastic, metal, rubber, transparent synthetic polymer resin and glass. Some of the parts, like the mirrors. taillights and dash, are actual Vespa parts she's sourced.

One time I turned up at Vespa House just as she and an assistant were leaving, and Frank filled me in about a new project she was working on. She's taken inspiration from the softer curves on the old ET4 for the feminine shape of the mother, and was interested in using the shape of the GT60 for a more masculine shape (used in another project which I'm not sure came to fruition - a pair of cock-fighting males).

It's amazing the tenderness she's created between the two - such an instinctual animal bond between mother and child captured so perfectly in fibreglass and resin.