Words Between Friends

Carrie Miller has some tough questions needing answers…

Tuesday night’s Sam Leach in conversation with Tim Minchin, Emceed by Marcus Westbury at Sullivan + Strumpf Gallery, Sydney, was a fantastic way to kick off the year in Australian contemporary art.

Clockwise from top: Ursula Sullivan, Sam Leach, Carrie Miller, Tim Minchin and centre, Marcus Westbury.

The audience of contemporary collectors could be nothing but charmed by the critically acclaimed, Archibald prize-winning painter and the legendary musical comedian. They laughed loudly and knowingly at Minchin’s quick-witted remarks about homophobes and pondered Leach’s rigorous insights into ecomimesis.

The snacks were fancy and the drinks and conversation were flowing. It was such a great night that you couldn’t help wonder: how could these jerks live with themselves?

Carrie Miller: How can you paint when there are children starving in Africa?

Sam Leach: No comment.

Carrie Miller: How can you do what you do when there are children starving in Africa?

Marcus Westbury: That’s why I don’t paint. I couldn’t paint while there where children starving in Africa.

Carrie Miller: How can you be a musical comedian when there are children starving in Africa?

Tim Minchin: Cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is where you compartmentalise…

I realised I wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of any of these out-of-touch bastards. I needed another approach. I tried to get Sam’s attention but he was on his iPhone checking the FTSE. Marcus was no good to me either. He had already created a pop-up festival inside the gallery and was busy creating a new business model to sustain it.

That left Tim. “He’s already gone”, said the actor/waiter. I ran outside into the moonlit street. As the star was being ushered into the most beautiful, diamond-encrusted limousine I have ever seen, it suddenly all made sense to me. So I asked him the only question that really mattered:

Carrie Miller: Do you believe in life after love?

Tim Minchin: I believe that’s a fucking amazing song.

Thanks to Sam Leach, Ursula Sullivan and Joanna Strumpf. Sullivan + Strumpf’s current exhibition is a group show of their artists which runs til 19 February.