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<\/a><\/p>\nIt was a Friday night, so the place was packed!\u00a0 Loved the hops hanging from the supports, even though I don’t like hoppy beers.<\/p>\n
The next morning was a Saturday, so we walked through the Salamanca Market, which is like a rite of passage in Hobart.\u00a0 We ended up at a booth that has artwork from Jake Mikoda<\/a><\/strong>, who makes beautiful bronze pieces, some of which we had seen previously in Cradle Mountain.\u00a0 I had been thinking about buying a Tasmanian Devil piece since then, so I went ahead and made the splurge.\u00a0 Here is a photo from his website (mine is all wrapped up for the trip home).<\/p>\n That afternoon we got on the ferry to a famous “must-see” called MONA, the “Museum of Old and New Art”, a bizarre collection of stuff from a very wealthy guy, David Walsh, who didn’t have anywhere else to store it.\u00a0 This guy apparently made his fortune\u00a0 by developing a gambling system to bet on horse racing and other sports.\u00a0 In other words, he is using art to launder money.<\/p>\n Hey, at least the ferry ride was fun, with Hobart in the background.\u00a0 In case you were wondering, in the foreground is the side of a white plastic cow, which was a sign of things to come.\u00a0 Mr Walsh isn’t exactly known for his tastes!<\/p>\n We passed under the Tasman Bridge, which feels like a very dangerous drive if you ever decide to cross it, with 5 lanes of traffic and no divider.\u00a0 You could easily high-five somebody driving the opposite direction.\u00a0 Just one more crossing on the way to the airport and we are clear!<\/p>\n After entering MONA you take the elevator down to the 3rd floor…most of the museum is underground (for good reason?).\u00a0 One of the first pieces of “artwork” is this young Mick Jaggar sleepwalking on a corn-hole target, with sausages hanging off the end.\u00a0 I can actually feel you asking WTF?\u00a0 I completely agree!<\/p>\n A MONA blog post states the following:\u00a0 “I have no idea what the salamis are about, but I feel the pose, the altered body scale, and the wonky table, together convey the artist\u2019s sense of helplessness and inadequacy in the face of art history.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Well of course!\u00a0 Like, duh!\u00a0 I feel so stupid having not seen this obvious reason for this artwork!<\/p>\n Then, just a few feet away from Mick is this Egyptian woman’s coffin from between 1550-1069 BC.\u00a0 Real artwork versus 3rd grader paper-mache crap just a meter or so apart.\u00a0 This David Walsh dude is a tool!<\/p>\n Here is a crushed car on an under-lit stand, something you can see in pretty much any wrecking yard (minus the dramatic stand).\u00a0 Not entirely sure what the point of this was, but to be honest, I don’t really car enough to find out (pun intended).<\/p>\n This McDonald’s arch was created by a Chinese artist, who makes these for a living.\u00a0 Here is the take on her artwork:\u00a0 “Through the combination of the McDonald\u2019s theme and carefully crafted, traditionally painted porcelain, Lihong sparks a dialogue on cross-cultural exchanges and opens a conversation between precious object and consumer commodity.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Do these come in the Happy Meals in China?\u00a0 Is Lihong friends with Fang Fang, Eric Swalwell’s girlfriend?\u00a0 These are questions that need answers!<\/p>\n Right around the corner from the Golden (Blue?) Arches are these two Egyptian hieroglyph stone art pieces.\u00a0 The one on the left is “Lion Hunt Scarab of Amenhotep III”, from 1380-1352 BC, which tells the story of how Amenhotep single-handedly killed 102 lions with his bow and arrow.\u00a0 The one on the right is also about Amenhotep, which commemorates his marriage to Queen Tiye in 1379 BC.<\/p>\n It was here I decided they need to have one floor for cool old shit like this, and one floor for the rest of the crap spread throughout, but that’s just one man’s opinion.<\/p>\n This huge piece of leather is supposed to represent a crushed Soviet tank, created by a Chinese artist. Yeah, so what?\u00a0 Crushed leather means what exactly?\u00a0 They used the leather from 250 cows for this.\u00a0 There are people in China freezing to death in the winter…make some clothes out of those poor cows!\u00a0 Oh, by the way, don’t even think about touching the leather!\u00a0 In the few minutes we were in this area the Gestapo guard had to remind 2 people “Thou shall not touch the sacred leather”, or something to that effect.<\/p>\n When we were in Melbourne just a couple weeks ago we saw the original Picasso piece titled “Weeping Woman” from 1937.\u00a0 MONA had a rather crude copy, based on my photo of the original you can see here<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 This was painted by artist Juan Davila after the original was stolen in 1986, and he offered it to the Melbourne gallery as a replacement.\u00a0 Sorry, but I’d not be interested in seeing a poor replacement of a Picasso in a gallery.\u00a0 Fortunately the original was returned unharmed.<\/p>\n This helmet was worn by the late Heath Ledger in the movie Ned Kelly<\/a><\/strong>, a movie we have yet to see.\u00a0 This guy’s collection knows no boundaries.<\/p>\n This Oliver doll from Oliver Twist” was supposedly cut in half by the same guillotine that cut off the head of Marie Antoinette.\u00a0 This guy searches out some fricking bizarre pieces!!\u00a0 I highly doubt some French dude bothered to cut a doll in half with a guillotine.<\/p>\n We actually liked this display, which was made from 80 tons of sand, and only sand.\u00a0 Quite amazing!\u00a0 Far more artistic than Mick Jagger on a corn-hole board!<\/p>\n This disaster landscape is quite remarkable based on the quality and reality of the artwork!\u00a0 All with sand!\u00a0 Amazing!<\/p>\n Ok, almost done with the weird art!\u00a0 You walk down a long tunnel and then into this room of bizarre colors and shapes.\u00a0 This would truly be a great place to get stoned…if I was still in my 20’s.\u00a0 This display is called “The Grotto”.\u00a0 There were some people laying on the ground looking up at this that seemed like they had been there awhile.\u00a0 We didn’t stay long, as it was giving off cult vibes. I’m pretty sure I heard somebody whispering something about Scientology.<\/p>\n Now this piece if very cool, and had I known it was here, it would have been worth the price of admission on it’s own.\u00a0 This is an authentic Enigma Machine from Nazi Germany, that was used to send secret messages about Nazi war plans.\u00a0 This machine was cracked by the famous mathematician Alan Turing, which was memorialized by the excellent 2014 movie “The Imitation Game”.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n There are several tunnels that look a lot like this one.\u00a0 I think he might be a bit obsessed with James Bond, or Stargate!\u00a0 Loud futuristic music plays in each of these, as if you are walking into a new dimension.<\/p>\n This is known as the “Fat Car”.\u00a0 It’s a full sized Porsche Carrera chassis molded into obesity using polystyrene and fibreglass.\u00a0 All I can say is, what a waste of a Porsche!\u00a0 Other than that, I don’t get it.\u00a0 Just another reason some people shouldn’t have that much money.<\/p>\n Ok, we finally left MONA, and got a photo of our ferry as it pulled in to pick us up.\u00a0 I’m unsure of the reason for the use of desert camo…just to be different?<\/p>\n We were lucky to see the sunset on the ferry ride back to Hobart.\u00a0 Tasmania is so gorgeous!\u00a0 Come here!\u00a0 Seriously!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n