Sivilised Supper Number 5
Toy Porn 2
For our fifth excursion into dark culinary delights, we returned to Mission Restaurant Bar and NG Art Gallery for another stunning evening of fine food, fine wine and fine conversation.
Our evening kicked off, upstairs at #3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale, in the modern NG Art Gallery for a special viewing of the stunning artworks of gay artist Nick Stathopoulos. Here guests where greeted by their PoDE Hosts, offered a complimentary glass of bubbles and given the opportunity to mix, mingle and meet some new friends. Guests where able to meet Nick and had him explain some of the finer points of his work.
As a bonus, some of the guests from this years Frosty Fruits Ski Trip where able to meet each other for the first time. This was a great chance to get to know their soon to be on-mountain buddies.
At 7:30pm, Adam Bold, Founder of Point Of Difference Events, welcomed all to the event. He reminisced that the very first dinner event for PoDE, was also held at NG Art Gallery and
Mission Restaurant Bar back in 2008. That event was held on the gallery floor, during the Sordid Tales Exhibition. Adam then introduced Nicky Ginsberg, the Gallery Director, as well as officially introducing
Nick Stathopoulos.
Guests where then directed downstairs into the welcoming warmth of Mission Restaurant Bar and settle in at long tables for our meal. Here head chef David Walker, under the guidance of award-winning restaurateur Piera Potter, prepared a special feast. The menu consisted of 3 sparking courses, with guests selecting:
Entree
Rabbit & pork terrine with caramelised red wine vinegar prunes
or
Baby beetroot salad with skordalia, watercress, avocado and tahini
Mains
Slow roasted lamb shoulder with green cardamon, chilli and tahini
or
Crisp skin fish with chestnut puree, celeriac roulade and crispy crackling
And for Dessert, guests where served a delightful selection of Petit Fours from the PoDE Master Kitchen.
During the course of the three courses, Gallery Director, the ever-knowledgeable Nicky Ginsberg, facilitated a fascinating guided conversation with Nick; a queer Q&A where guests found out more about Nick's background and his history working in animation (and law studies!), as well as details around the stunning large portraitures hanging behind the tables.
Guests then continued on to enjoy the wine selection and a few works of Nick's where purchased. You can see a selection of images from the evening below.
For more on Nick's exhibition read on, or to view the event details below, jump down here. 
What Andy Warhol did for soup cans, Nick Stathopoulos does for toys in Toy Porn 2 - the sequel to his hugely popular 2009 exhibition.
Despite the provocative title, there’s nothing pornographic here. Rather, the title refers to the obsessive, seductive thrill of collecting and the dichotomy implicit in the depiction of toys - the innocent and the sinister rolled into one, the sad clown, the reflection on childhood from an ever-increasing distance in time.
This exhibition, is a by-product of Nick’s quirky take on his obsession with collecting media-related toys of yesteryear, and a tribute to pop-cultural icons such as Astro Boy, Batman and TinTin.
‘I was always fascinated how Tintin had the ability to travel freely all over the world, not just in his comics, but also as a cultural phenomenon.’
In Nick's canvases, the artist paints his toys in all their die-cast and plasticised resplendence. His technique is hyper-real, tricking many people into assuming he has used an airbrush.
Drawn to the strong graphic quality of his toys and their packaging, painting them evokes not only a palpable nostalgia in Nick, but also an intense emotional connection with his toys. ‘My heart will go on’ references Nick’s heartbreak upon watching Astro Boy fly into the sun, sacrificing himself to save the world in a rare episode of the original Japanese cartoon, while his portrait of Batman, ‘He looks better in vinyl’, humorously alludes to rubber fetishism.
Nick is one of Australia’s most celebrated artist/illustrators. Born in 1959, he has painted some of the best cover art in Australian science fiction, produced extensive box art and graphics for computer games, and worked for Hanna Barbera and the Disney Corporation as a background artist. He has been a multiple finalist in the Archibald Prize and the Doug Moran Portrait Prize and his work is held in public and private collections across the world.
(text and images taken from the NG Art Gallery website, used with permission)
NICK STATHOPOULOS
"He always comes between us"
...tee-hee!
Details:
When: Friday, July 29, 2011 @ 7.00pm for pre-dinner drinks and viewing / 7.30pm seating
Where: Mission Restaurant Bar & NG Art Gallery, 3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale NSW 2008 (click here for venue information).
Tickets: $95, price includes sumptuous three course meal, sparkling conversation and a glass of bubbles on arrival.
Queer Screen SOS - $10 from every ticket purchased will be donated to Queer Screen, to assist them in producing the queerDOC and the Mardi Gras Film Festival. For further information on donating to Queer Screen, jump here for donation details.