City. Art. Buzz.

You can almost sense that spring is approaching in the city as tourists from across the globe pound the pavement along Princes Bridge, young folks sit on the ledges that scatter across Federation Square and you can lap up the atmosphere and people watch as the city pulsates.

There’s nothing better to do on an afternoon in Melbourne than get lost in the myriad of things to do, hence I spent my afternoon with a close friend at the Guggenheim Collection exhibition at NGV International. The exhibition itself was an opportunity for me to revisit some of the fantastically abstract and colourful artwork I’d seen at the original Guggenheim in New York City.

The exclusive exhibition at NGV showcases the most interesting and inspiring pieces from 68 artists from across the four Guggenheim collections around the world. With artwork from the world’s most popular contemporary artists including Jackson Pollack, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Roy Lichtenstein, the pieces are abstract, large and come in a variety of media such as video installations, iron, string and the regular ‘oil on canvas’. Some will inspire, some will repulse and some will make question what the artist was thinking but all the pieces in the exhibition will certainly provoke a response.

It’s almost okay to say that given it’s a Guggenheim exhibition that the entry price is reasonable, but the fact of the matter is that this exhibition is over-priced and should be at least $5 cheaper. The exhibition is not as big as previous exclusive exhibitions held at NGV such as the popular Impressionists or Picasso exhibitions. Yes, the pieces are great, inspiring and colourful. And yes, there are some big names from within the art world that are being shown here, but still, it should have been slightly cheaper to be accessible to more people.

Despite this, I still enjoyed the exhibition and encourage anyone who has a slight interest in art, has been to any of the Guggenheim museums before or anyone who wants to spend a quietly relaxing afternoon somewhere, then NGV is the way to go. The exhibition runs until 7 October 2007 and is exclusive to Melbourne.

As we headed to Federation Square, the buzz of the city continued - students taking abstract photography, tourists pouring through their guides, business types dashing from appointment to appointment and us… relaxing and basking in the winter sun.