When the dust has settled

Celebrated several birthdays today and the agency devoured the chocolate mousse cake like a flock of angry seagulls on a discarded Bondi chip. I almost feel sorry for the cake. At least, I would if it weren't so yummy.

Ben & Jerry & Matt

Sprng finally arrived in Melbourne yesterday, blessing us with a sunny 28 degree day. Which of course resulted in the Wunderkids contemplating an agency ice cream run.

Problem was the gelati shop across the road had recently closed down. As has the Trampoline outlet up the street. Leaving us a little lost when it came to ice cream.

Enter the lovely Laura Newman from our sister agency HMA Blaze, who very kindly gave us access to a huge tub of Ben & Jerry's.

And who better to taste test a tub of chocolatey creamy goodness than new kid on the block art director Matt Stoddart? As you can imagine, he gave it the thumbs up.

Babies on the way

Our building in Collins St is an old department store. As you can imagine, it has lots of hidden nooks and crannies.

Kelly Swan sits by a window that looks out onto one of those nooks, where she spotted a pigeon nest with not one but two eggs! Ah the wonders of springtime in Melbourne.

Did you send that email?

Hardly a day go by where someone at Wunderman asks why their internet is so slow. Given the amount of wiring it has to travel through, is it any wonder?

A cheesy anniversary

On Friday the ever smiling Kelly Richardson notched up 12 years as an employee of the PattsY&R/Wunderman family. That's certainly an impressive achievement and an anniversary worthy of celebration. And what better way to celebrate, given it was Fromage Friday, than with a cheese for each year of service. Congratulations Kells!

Amazing Installation at Art Gallery NSW

We had a meeting at the Art Gallery of NSW on Tuesday. While there, we had a peek at an installation exhibition that is out the front of the gallery. It totally blew our minds. For anyone even remotely interested in creative thought, this installation is an absolute must-see.

To each side of the gallery's portico stand enormous bronze statues of figures on horses titled 'War' and 'Peace'.

Currently they are ensconced in scaffolding and what appears to be a temporary room built around them. At first, I assumed it was for restoration or cleaning. But it is the work of Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi.

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SPOILER ALERT!
For those who will take my advice and visit the gallery, read no further.
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If you are unable to attend or a complete unculturati, then amuse yourself with my poor description and photos.

Visitors walk up the scaffolding ramp to enter the structures and find a perfect replica of a home interior with the statues now inside the room. It was wisely recommended to us that we enter the left-hand structure first and then the right.

In the left is a small lounge room with chairs, coffee table and small cupboard. The coffee table appears to have a large bust placed on top, but it is in fact the top of the giant figure of the statue protruding through the table top. And opening the cupboard reveals the horse's enormous head, artfully concealed. Not only has the room been built around the statue, but the coffee table and floor rug have been seamlessly constructed around the sculpture. It's not simply a matter of cutting a hole in the base of items and dropping them over the top, but carefully piecing each item in parts around the sculpture without appearing to have done so.

After the initial surprise and humour, we went to the other installation.

Much larger than the first, we were awestruck upon entering. This room, a bedroom, completely encased the whole horse and rider so that the horse was stepping upon two dishevelled beds, the pillows cast aside and the doona sprawled beneath it's gargantuan bronze hooves. The rider, high amongst the room's chandelier, reached for the ceiling with his staff. Over 20' high, the rider and steed appeared to have simply trampled into the house and set up watch over the bric-a-brac.

A Bachelor of the Arts, I've been a semi-regular attendee of AGNSW, and have been to the Guggenheim, Louvre, d'Orsay, Tate Britain and National Gallery of London, amongst many other smaller galleries here and in Paris, London, and Italy. In all those halls in all that time, I have only had a handful of experiences that left me feeling as inspired yet also as creatively inferior as Tatzu Nishi has left me.

Thank you Art Gallery NSW. Thank you Tatzu Nishi.

Snacks are here kids!

There is an air of excitement and positivity in the agency today. Everyone is itching to get their hands on some of the savoury snacks that arrived this afternoon. Except for Ian, of course, who'd much rather tuck into some dry and tasteless cardboard disguised as a corn snack.

Work Experience Mayhem

The Wunderkids are all for helping talented youth get started in this industry we love. From Stan's work with Junior, to DM Creative School, to work experience kids.

But when the latest 2 year-old intern does this to the bosses 'puter. That is a step too far!!

They're up to something

What exactly are Anna and Mel up to, sitting by the window in an office that doesn't belong to either of them? Mischief most likely.