BEIJING CALLING – and not to talk real estate

Zhang Xiao – Shaanxi No 2.

China is in the news every day in Sydney. Nearly every story is about economics.

“Slowing Chinese demand ends Australia’s resources boom,” “Sydney real estate unaffordable thanks to Chinese investment,” scream the headlines.

We hear little about Chinese art and culture and the way it reflects the fast changing face of modern China. Dr Yeqin Zou is determined to change that, opening a new Sydney gallery dedicated to cutting edge Chinese art.

SCULPTURE FOR ALL FOR FREE

Louis Pratt – King coal

We’ve never found a better public art event anywhere in the world than Sydney’s wonderful Sculpture by the Sea.

CYCLING THE GREEN HEART – Holland’s most beautiful

The oldest town in the Netherlands. Not so many people know about it.

‘This landscape always reminds me of Holland,’ said my mother, years ago, somewhere outside Melbourne, on a road between Springvale and Frankston.

She’d never seen Holland and neither had I, but we both knew what she meant. What I only discovered recently was that the image we had of classic Dutch landscape came from 19th century paintings. Even the word ‘landscape’ comes from the Dutch ‘landschap’.

ARTZUID PHOTO TIP – take a lady in red with you

Our favourite for 2015 – Duma, by Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa

Mevrouw T and I are big fans of Amsterdam’s biennial sculpture exhibition ArtZuid.

The setting may not be quite as spectacular as that of Sydney’s wonderful Sculpture by the Sea, but the leafy gardens of the Apollolaan and Minervalaan in the Oud Zuid (Old South) district are lovely too.

PUTTING THE ART INTO HOBART

Our favourite piece was the first work we saw.

My Scottish Presbyterian forefathers were sure no good could ever come of money not earned by hard work combined with thrift. David Walsh has proved them wrong.

His professional gambling earned him a fortune. He somehow managed to avoid paying the $37million the Australian Tax Office claimed he owed them and used it to buy art instead.

In 2011 he generously opened his collection to the public in MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, an extraordinary new gallery which has rapidly become Tasmania’s premier tourist attraction.

DANCES WITH WARRIORS

They’re just fun to play with.

We get a lot of Chinese visitors in Sydney these days, particularly around the Chinese New Year.

They all want to see the icons around the harbour.