Gone a wandering

I had a ‘wandering through the City day’ deciding a visit to the Brisbane City Council Library was in order. A time for reading, writing and contemplation supported by an internal environment that I find inviting. Not clinical and alienating as described by friends preferring the warmth of alternative design.

A time for requisite ‘around and about others’ solitude. My inborn precondition to be, at times, an observer and not a participant.

I have missed my days dedicated to solo ‘gone a wandering.’ A much needed call to negate an overload of what has seemed of late ‘busy for being busy’s sake.’

Travelling to Brisbane from Brett’s Wharf via the City Cat, I found myself within the huddle of the Jan Powers’ Farmers Markets in Brisbane City on the George St end of the Queen Street Mall.

I had indeed found a venue for ‘around and about others’ but the crush was a little too intense.

I have an interest in architectural space, shape, colour and form. I often find myself looking up when others around me look down.

Such was the case as I moved to the fringe of the seemingly ravenous gathering, to take my place in the line for the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM.)

I looked skyward and found the space, shape, colour and form desired and took a few snaps.

As the ATM line progressed I remembered when my interest in streetscape photography developed. An addition in visual appreciation rather than a switch.

Some 20 years ago I lived in the Adelaide Hills where my urgent want to wander off course was sustained.

Traversing the surrounding suburbs provided the opportunity to capture the quaint and tranquil.

My focus then was to proceed along an indirect course and appreciate such things as gentle streetscapes. To capture the distinct seasons unknown in Brisbane.

The dry heat crackle of Summer underfoot and around. The feast of Autumnal leaf scatterings. The woodpiles stacked and ready to fuel the fireplaces for Winter. Then in Spring the playful disorder of gardens returning to surround sandstone cottages.

My visual transcripts of tranquility was straying from tender excersions near my home. Not much more than a simple shack in the Adelaide Hills face.

An urge to gaze skyward and study an often stark urban reality was underscored by a happy accident on one of my regular visits to the Gallery of South Australia.

I found myself surrounded, as part of a touring retrospective exhibition, by the of paintings of Jeffery Smart [Frans Jeffery Edson Smart: 28/June/1921 - 20/June/2013. ]

I have ardent memories of his works. I stood in witness to his precisionist depiction of the poetry of the urban environment.

The auditory tour explained that his work was full of private jokes and playful allusions.

One quote I remember:

“America is the country of the art of the future. ... Look at the skyscrapers! Has Europe anything to show more beautiful than this?" – Marcel Duchamp, 1915.

My reverie over, as I reached the ATM.

I remembered that Smart had written an autobiography.

I walked into the Library on a mission. The monograph seemed an obligatory addition to my reading list

I had no luck beyond a catalogue from the retrospective tour and an educational DVD.

Opening my browser. I was determined to find it. I did at Angus and Robertson for $17.99 so I ordered it.

Reading the synopsis made me smile. It concludes with the following:

“Throughout he is candid, funny and engaging. Like Smart’s paintings. It offers a singular perspective shaped by a unique life.”

It’s called “Not Quite Straight” (published in 1996.)

I could relate ...

Pauline Fountain. © 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author.