I’m a bit late on my review and snapshots (by David Russell) for this show. Last Friday Suburban opened at NGV Studio – Federation Square. Walking to the venue I could already see hundreds of people inside and also crowded outside the gallery. An incredible turn out, the biggest I’ve seen possibly.

After watching the preview videos I wondered what to expect and what else Ian could do with what he teased us with a few weeks ago.

Viewing the works was actually rather difficult with the sheer number of people in the place on the night. So a return visit was definitely in order.

I’m not going to reveal too much of the exhibition in this review, because I encourage you to go and see it yourself and experience it in person, the show runs until early September, so you have plenty of time. Spend a good half hour plus in there. Make sure you check out the video room; and don’t forget to scan the QR tags next to each photo and see the making of the works and other interesting stuff.

Each giant photo of the houses was incredibly well composed and added so much feeling to the subject matter. Amazing in quality the photos captured the suburban concept very well.

The video room was my favourite part. Surrounded by 3 giant screens and an amazing sound system; I sat down to enjoy the show.

The cinematography was captivating. I sat there, mesmerised, from the second the short film began.

Sweeping, panning views in full HD filled the screens; like the camera was hovering in mid air around each of the proprieties. Rain, fire and sun, all adding to the atmosphere..

As the film moved from house to house, the camera focused on textures and minute details, like the road or a letter box. It was hard to know where to look as each screen showed a different angle or perspective on the house, often the 2 screens surrounding the middle screen were in sync, but other times showed 3 different perspectives.

The sound was brilliant and complimented the cinematography perfectly; I particularly thought the sound of roaring fire against the burning house was very effective and added a great backdrop for the visuals.

I also got down to “Talking Strange” a Q&A session with Ian, hosted by Acclaim magazine‘s Andrew Montell.

Ian talked about his roots in Perth, and move to Melbourne, Sydney and beyond, his attraction to graffiti and vandalism and most importantly about the show itself.

Great questions from Andrew covering, how the project was funded, how he found the houses, which prompted some funny little stories from Ian; I loved that each house had its own story, wether it be the neighbours, or the events surrounding the project, like demolition crews turning up minutes after they finished filming. Oh yes, and is Ian going to tour the exhibition? Of course he is, so watch out world, it’ll hopefully be coming your way soon!! All in all a very interesting session.

Check out these pics below from David Russell.

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