- By Kaylia Payne

I have a confession.  This morning I woke up in a cold sweat when I remembered that I was reviewing the first day of the Paste-Up Project, a You Are Here festival event that involves turning the outside wall of the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) into an open-air gallery.  I considered not going at all.  This is because visual art terrifies me; I don’t get it at all, and how can I review something that I don’t understand?

I knew, without a doubt, I was walking into the event with a strong prejudice against it, which doesn’t make for a fair and impartial review. Writing about something I don’t particularly care for seemed dishonest somehow.

But I decided that today was time for a change. It was time to open up my mind and heart to visual art in all of its forms, and so I headed over to CMAG with my prejudices left behind and surveyed the artistic wonder creative Canberrans had put on display…

…and I was not impressed.

The work just didn’t ‘pop’. Colours weren’t dancing off the wall, fighting for the attention of all those who passed them. I was hoping for something that would stop people on their boring walk or drive to work and get them, if only for a few minutes, to really see the world around them.

That’s not to say that there weren’t some cool pieces – I especially liked the Wonderland-esque people with native birds and animals for heads. There was another piece as well; I’m not sure exactly what it was (being abstract and all), but it was eye-catching.

And as a concept, I quite liked the Paste-Up Project. It was as if the artists were turning the wall of the CMAG into our own little East Side Gallery, only without all the, like, history, and you know, boring stuff like that. (Random fun fact on that topic: the Harmonie German Club in Canberra has the biggest piece of the Berlin wall in the Southern Hemisphere).

But visually I just wasn’t overwhelmed.

So would I recommend going? Surprisingly, I would have to say yes. It livens up an otherwise dull part of the city, it’s easy to get to, and, as much as it bothers me, people have different opinions to mine (I know this for a fact, since Ulysses still sells and every copy of Eraserhead hasn’t been burned into a giant plastic lump), so you might just love it.

The Paste-Up Project is running until March 18^th, so if you want a small taste of art, you can head on over to the Canberra Museum and Gallery, London Circuit, to check it out for yourself.