We visited the National Gallery today to view some of the artworks therein. We've been in the building before and seen the kids' gallery on the first floor, but this was our first time really exploring. It's definitely worth a visit for the building alone - the old City Hall and Supreme Court. All very grand, and nicely democratised through adaptation to art for the common folk.
As for the art, as I suspected there was a bit too much of it for me. I'm someone who can spend a long time in front of a single canvas, not so much having deep thoughts about what I'm viewing as just in a sort of relaxed, half-meditative stupor. There were lots of opportunities for such states today with a lot of colourful stuff, generally easy on the eye.
Generally I was most taken with the work out of Vietnam. The overtly political pieces, especially those relating to the war for independence, spoke with intensity and conviction in a bracing manner. Indeed, the anti-colonial slant of so much of what was on display was a reminder of tormented, twisted histories made palpable through the often highly individual works of the various artists. Again, I felt an uneasy sense that I just don't know enough about the area of the world in which I'm fortunate to be able to make a home.
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