Geoff Dyer at MiCK Gallery - 24 February

The Big Lamington team has planned a quick trip to Tassie so we thought a visit to Geoff's current show 'Recent Tasmanian Landscapes' would be good prep. My first thought was that the gallery had taken on the trappings of the music biz with a 'Geoff Dyer featuring Julia deVille' show. Julia's leather saddled and feathered ostrich skeleton still dominates the room (this got the points on our last visit). I suppose once installed it must be a bugger to move but still if I was Geoff I'd be wanting all the attention on my own stuff rather than the unmissable ostrich in the room.

On to Geoff's landscapes which are all quite abstract and certainly more bleak and gloomy than the Tasmanian tourist board would want to admit to (note to self, pack a weatherproof jacket). The big thing I noticed was the overpowering oil smell in the room. It seems like these were freshly painted. They are dry but Geoff uses a lot of paint on the canvas, I guess en masse the works emit an odour that a punter would hope wouldn't be replicated by just a single purchase. On the whole an interesting collection of works. I can't say Tasmanian geography is a strong suit so none of the place names resonated with me (except for Barnbougle towards Bass Strait) and it was very hard to pick a favourite.

Points. 3 to Barnbougle (pictured above), mainly because I want to play there. 2 to Midlands II and 1 to D'Entrecasteaux Near Cockle Creek. Now those few regular readers may recall we were big fans of Geoff's Archibald entry (MONA's David Walsh surrounded by meat) and I reckon a whole meat show would do the trick for his next Mick outing.