The Gang fanged up to the ‘Berra last Thursday for the grand re-opening of the NGA – specifically the glamourous new extension/entrance and cluster of (11!) additional indigenous galleries. And it’s all pretty sensational, we gotta say.

While the cognoscenti mustered in the forecourt to await the GG’s dedication ceremony…

 

…we took advantage of the delay to check out the new James Turrell (dusk being the optimum time to experience it, we’ve been told)…

…and hey, the beam-me-up-Scottie aspect aside, it really is somethin’…

…though a little akin to being on acid, truth be told, so we didn’t linger long.

Back to the speeches…

…Ron was at his arousing heroic best and the GG suffered a severe case of adjectivus overloadus, but let’s not nitpick. (She clearly enjoys the attention and with the election fandangle she’s been given a hefty taste of it lately.)

There was plenty to look at, meantime, including that infamous sacred wallpaper…

And then we were in!

…and it just got better and better from there as we meandered through gallery after gallery…

…until we arrived at last at the Gandel Hall for the partay…

As a space, this last sits surprisingly on the hotel-decor side of the fence – none of the Leonard French class of the NGV equivalent (and the naming rights executed with a serious lack of style) – nonetheless it’s a classic function room which will no doubt see plenty of chi-chi hire action. And it’s the perfect repository for those big mo’fo marble urns.

And then at journey’s end, the bar – with the hit of the night, Gilded Lily cocktails; a lovely lemony vodka concoction floating with gold leaf. Choice.

All in all it was a wonderful evening predicated on a genuine celebration of the rich breadth of Indigenous culture, past and present.

Bleedin’ marvellous.

Social scene here.