David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
Laughing Christ, Noel Counihan, 1970
Lazarus is dead, they said.
Jesus the Christ the Logos spoke thus unto him,
saying :
"Arise, Sir Lazarus!"
Chorus :
Lazarus is dead, long live Lazarus!
Lazarus is dead, long live Lazarus!
Lazarus is dead, long live Lazarus!
Lazarus is dead, long live Lazarus!
Auferweckung des Lazarus, St. Maria in Kapitol, Koln
Jesus and Lazarus had a good laugh together...
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And now the TAR Chorus :
Art is dead, long live Art!
Art is dead, long live Art!
Art is dead, long live Art!
Art is dead, long live Art!
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Cross (Small Cross in Black over Red on White), 1920-27, Stedelijk Museum : johan's photoblog
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Marie's words to Jeanne have long since reached the sea and returned into the various atmospheres.
Art is dead, Long live Art!
Verbum mortuum est, dum vivat.
The great circulation of language continues. Below, a new reign falls upon the ground of all, and on those standing around; on the dog, too.
In 1808, Théâtre des Acteurs de Regard proposed that this monument should be inscribed with a poem beginning
'Passants, contemplez cette pyramide…'
'Passers by, contemplate this pyramid...'
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...but it never eventuated.
A.B. is writing to chere Leontine : the fall of words align with the obelisk (atopped by the funerary vase intended to hold the bullet-pierced heart of Louis Desaix ...but it never eventuated) and with the rood tree, stripped and strung with the lines of the new langue : telegraph, telephone and electrification.
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La Langue, French, is both tongue and language
The Logos, from the Greek, refers variously to the Word of God, the Christ... and (also our) Speaking the World into Being
bLOGOS/HA HA is all of the above plus burps and blots and laughs and farts and dribbles and
1904 : words of Marie, script, flowing to the see
to observe the life cycle - Bonne Fete - of her friend Miss Jeanne at the House of the Water Castle (Villa du chateau d'eau), Bort.
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. . . .
Today is variously known in Australia as Australia Day and Invasion Day.
"It was like a church turned inside out."
Christine recounting her experience of Uluru
. . . .
In the Beginning
the circle
the sun bright and looking out
and the moon often inward
both within
Then the Terrible Twos when
one day the circle stuck it's tongue out
stuck it out so far
it went all the way round
Now the sun and moon inside and out
such fun to see the rivers run...
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When The Duke toured Australia in January 1970, we were there to see and hear him, up the back at Festival Hall, Melbourne.
Now comes the unexpectedly wonderful news that Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to make The Duke a Knight of Australia.
Arise, Sir Duke!
Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move
They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people
They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people
click below to play
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Heapster reading Harold Mitchell's Time to recycle Australia's economy in The Age today, looks up at last year's FIAPCE Values poster and nods.
Oh yeah!
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lineage
nib pen and ink
paper and white out
ex-postal pre-digital rubber stamp
scanner
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Today, our postman delivered this postcard.
It shows a portrait of the distinguished veteran postman Le Père Huguenin, as photographed by the Robert Brothers of Le Locle for Theatre of the Actors of Regard.
The verso postmarks indicate the card was first sent in 1903, from Le Locle, to the writer's dear son in Germany : Cher fils Gustave...
Huguenin the intermediary fixes his gaze. To his right, he holds a small rectangular parcel; to his left, from his shoulder, he suspends a large rectangular deliveries box.
click image to enlarge
We have no record of the messager-facteur who first delivered this postcard; or what, if anything, was made of the meta- moment the card's imagery provided.
What we can add is this early photo portrait of Le Père Huguenin. Already practising his intense regard, he was known then as Le Bébé Huguenin.
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It's the last week for Eikōn: Icons of the Orthodox Christian World at the Ballarat Art Gallery.
Of particular interest to bLOGOS/HA HA, given the present turmoil at the meeting points of Islam's blasphemy proscription and the West's ideal of free expression, is this image of this image of the Christ.
'The Image Not Made by Human Hands’, also known as ‘The Mandylion’, or ‘The Holy Face of Edessa’ (Russia, 17th century), egg tempera and gesso on linen over wood, 30.8 x 25.7 cm, (Private Collection, Sydney).
So too, the accompanying gallery wall text. Notes were made : "The existence of this image was the primary argument for the Divine Sanction of images...".
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name "Veronica" comes from the Latin vera, meaning "true" or "Truthful", and the Greek eikon, meaning "image"; the Veil of Veronica was therefore largely regarded in medieval times as the "true image", the truthful representation of Jesus, preceding the Shroud of Turin. (Wikipedia)
Albrecht Dürer, Sudarium of St Veronica supported by two angels, an engraving (British Museum)
What about blasphemy by web bots? Is that possible? The nuances get so angels-on-a-pin-head weird.
Here's what happened as we transferred this Portable Network Graphic of The Image Not Made by Human Hands to Google Chrome Photos in order to upload it to bLOGOS/HA HA. The bots sent in their Facial Recognition engineers :
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The Masked Mesmer and model at the local TAR - always a great Saturday night out.
courtesy Theatre of the Actors of Regard
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"Who did you say you were, again?"
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P.S. clue matrix here
A man of Middle Eastern Appearance walks into this Modern Western Office of bLOGOS/HA HA.
He says, I Am the Logos, the Word of God.
He asks to speak to the Editor.
image courtesy Theatre of the Actors of Regard
Next thing we know, He and our staff are splashed (like an Oil Painting) across the latest cover of
God Speaks To Modern Man.
This, on the same day that Charlie Hebdo publishes again; one week after eleven of their company and two police (later, elsewhere, five others) were murdered in their Paris office by Islamic extremists.
Above, editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo work on the new issue in the offices of French newspaper Liberation (photo AFP/Bertrand Guay) and below, Charlie Hebdo staff at the launch of the new issue.
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Today, online, we received this image and text
from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney :
Chuck Close: Prints, Process and Collaboration
‘It may seem at first that you are looking at a face, but it soon becomes clear that each work is a document of a mind-boggling process’ – Sydney Morning Herald.
MCA Members receive unlimited FREE entry to the Chuck Close exhibition.
Daily until 15 Mar
The SMH quote set us thinking again about the latin dictum Nomen est omen. Meaning, in relation to people and their occupations or significant activities, the name forebodes the act. Sometimes referred to as nominative determinism.
It occurred to us that the Mr CLOSE might well be regarded as a fine example of such a view.
We appreciated the simple meta-complexity of the image the MCA provided :
someone(s) looking at something :
we (you, me) and the father look at an image/
a child and the image of a child look at us...
A CLOSE look at the detail of the 'actual' child in the overall image - simply by clicking ENLARGE - and it now appears more like the image made by Mr CLOSE :
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Situation Vacant : Stop Looking! And Start Acting
Employment File : Theatre of the Actors of Regard
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We mentioned several of our local artists in the January 5 post : One for all the posties
Two more, both residents of Hepburn Springs, were singled out for comment by Sasha Grishin in his December 9 article at The Conversation : How hierarchies happen in contemporary Australian art.
"... the guidance by the artists’ voice was a crucial ingredient in my methodology. This exercise brought in sharp focus the whole question of how artists are constructed as successful or major artists in Australian art.
Also questions of what Bourdieu termed “cultural capital” and “economic capital” arose – in other words, artists who may attain great success in the market place, for example David Bromley, but who attract relatively little respect from the art establishment, or others, like Peter Tyndall, who have a high profile in major curated exhibitions, public collections and publications, but who are a long way from becoming an “art market darling”."
above : Bromley & Co, Daylesford shopfront
below : Art Market Darling t-shirt (Sold Out)
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In Reims, a massive Police force is hunting the French Islamic terrorists who, 12 hours ago in Paris, assassinated ten cartoonists and journalists of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the two police (one of whom was Muslim) assigned to protect them.
Je suis Charlie has quickly become the unifying expression as protests begin in major European cities.
Many hold up a pen or pencil.
In Melbourne, fpm (free pencil movement) stickers are appearing again on the streets.
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Monday. For many it's the first day back at work after Christmas and New Year.
We check the mail box : fourteen envelopes, happily none are bills.
It's a pleasing sight and prospect. A good number, for sure, but far from the one-day record. That goes to QLD artist friend Bob, a regular correspondent for around 35 years. 49 on one day is his record. There's no photo of that, but here's one of 33 on another day.
Back to today's 14 envelopes. One large one has a hand drawn Official Stamp and no sender's name.
What a ripper! It's from Nick the Postie : a self portrait with his Australia Post motorbike helmet, leaving behind a dog and diving Spring magpie.
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We do appreciate our posties, their pre-dawn starts, their trials by weather, their responsibility and good care. (Some months ago, Jeff told me that Nick had told him that for two consecutive days he had no mail to deliver here. Jeff said, they had even considered sending some themselves. Fortunately, on the third day the drought brought and the mail came through again. Top spirit, that!)
Since we've mentioned Jeff, here's his 2014 Christmas stencil card. Another beaut.
The card that Nick refers to on his portrait was this one, below, showing a French country-postie on his saddle-packed velo approaching the challenge of a farmhouse dog.
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Nick the Postie and Greg the Postie, who also dropped-in a drawing just before Christmas...
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... delivered the 25 Christmas cards (and others since - thank you) now hanging on our office wall.
In tribute to all posties post-Hermes and Mercury, who have stamped sorted and delivered the extra-ordinary volume and variety of correspondence between peoples, we have strung this year's cards across a made-in-China oil-on-canvas re-imaging (it too, sent and received through the mail) of an 1888 Vincent van Gogh portrait of his friend and final postman, Joseph Roulin.
Van Gogh and Joseph Roulin met and became good friends and drinking companions. Van Gogh compared Roulin to Socrates on many occasions; while Roulin was not the most attractive man, van Gogh found him to be "such a good soul and so wise and so full of feeling and so trustful." Strictly by appearance, Roulin reminded van Gogh of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky - the same broad forehead, broad nose, and shape of the beard. Roulin saw van Gogh through the good and the most difficult times, corresponding with his brother, Theo following his rift with Gauguin and being at his side during and following the hospital stay in Arles.
- wikipedia ( here )
Below, peering through the very apt cards of inter-mediacy by Christian and Tash, postman Roulin returns our recognition.
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antique |anˈtiːk|
noun
a collectable object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its age and quality. Pauline loves collecting antiques. [ as modifier ] : an antique dealer.
Not so long ago, the appreciation of antiques was relatively common in Australia. Cities, suburbs and country towns all had their prominent main street Antiques businesses.
But, who collects antiques now? Or even aspires to? Scarcity, price and the spirit of the times have mostly cleared that field of activity.
Until recently, as the categories of the collectible changed, the collectors still continued to collect. The model seemed solid : plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
As Australians slowly got Modern, display behaviour shifted from objects of antiquity toward things of the present. A change towards currency and presence.
In the collection and appreciation of Australian Painting, for example, the spotlight moved from Colonial art to the Heidelberg School and then to The Antipodeans. Minimalism, too, was embraced; not so much in painting as in domestic architecture : but where do we put things...?
Just as the art of the present (so-called Contemporary Art) was claiming its turn in the light, deconstructive interrogation and postmodern theory were making plausible sense to the Gen Next of would-be collectors : they paused...
Then came the digital net, hauling in and offering everything (sic) at little cost. So what if it wasn't real or original? The simulacra was well rehearsed and already quite sufficient for most.
. . . .
Wemmick's advice to Pip
At Mr Jagger's office, Wemmick shows to Pip a plaster cast death mask of one of their clients,
a murderer.
Illustration by John McLenan - courtesy TAR
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While he was putting up the other cast and coming down from the chair, the thought crossed my mind that all his personal jewelry was derived from like sources. As he had shown no diffidence on the subject, I ventured on the liberty of asking him the question, when he stood before me, dusting his hands.
“O yes,” he returned, “these are all gifts of that kind. One brings another, you see; that’s the way of it. I always take ’em. They’re curiosities. And they’re property. They may not be worth much, but, after all, they’re property and portable. It don’t signify to you with your brilliant lookout, but as to myself, my guiding-star always is, “Get hold of portable property”.”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
. . . .
The Depression generation of hunters and gatherers, hoarders and collectors, is no more.
Now, faced instead with an embarrassment of excess, the ethically chic are transforming their previous collecting zeal into aspirational down-sizing and displays of decluttered-ness. At the de-centre of this, the ubiquitous digital genei.
In May last year, we wondered here about the future of going to art galleries and collecting art as part of a cultured way of life? Might that be a way of the past?
A few years ago, your correspondent was astonished to hear a young art museum senior curator say she could not understand why people collect things. Huh?! Surely, a contrary canary-in-the-mine sign.
In October, David Byrne blogged about his changing perceptions and personal disenchant-ment around Contemporary Art. click to read :
I Don't Care About Contemporary Art Anymore?
As these observations continue to mount, the Melbourne art critic Robert Nelson's Year In Review in yesterday's print edition of The Age was summarised as Galleries at crossroads. He begins :
For me, 2014 has been a year of reckoning. The art scene has had to reckon with the collapse of substantial parts of the commercial gallery system, which used to be a mainstay. Every year, the scene appears more fragile, reflected in galleries closing or merging.
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