NGVenerable

Big institutions generally get a bad rap. And state institutions, like the NGV, can appear conservative - especially in a city well endowed with artist-run initiatives. But I regard our fine gallery as that favourite old teacher from school with whom you credit (to some degree) for being who you are now. The one that saw your talent before you did.

On a recent visit to the permanent collections, the NGV re-presented me with the nuts and bolts of traditional art-making: displaying exemplary skill in drawing and painting. Without it, there would be no foundation for the relatively new mediums of photography, film or installation.

Robert Hughes once described the necessity for the traditional arts in the following way. 'A good drawing says: "not so fast, buster". We have had a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn't merely sensational, that doesn't get its message across in 10 seconds, that isn't falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures.'

The NGV's permanent collection preserves milestones of Australian culture that would otherwise leak away and be lost. Its being represents an ever-evolving lesson for artists. And one of the better ones. Like excursions or electives...

by guest: Molly Grasson