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.
MANUS REFUGEE SUICIDES IN BRISBANE : OFFSHORE DETENTION CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM A 32 year-old mentally-distressed Afghan refugee, Sayed Mirwais Rohani, has committed suicide in Brisbane. The Afghan doctor jumped to his death from the 22nd floor of a Brisbane hotel on Tuesday, 15 October.
Mirwais is the seventh Manus refugee death.
Mirwais was brought to Australia from Manus Island in 2017, as his mental health badly deteriorated following his detention on Manus Island in September 2013. He had been living in community detention in Brisbane for the last year.
The tragedy is shocking tale of deliberate abuse and neglect.
Mirwais had a medical degree from a Chinese university which is recognised by Australia. He completed his degree in English and spoke 6 languages. He offered to work in the Lorengau hospital for free and was moved out of the Lombrum detention centre on that basis. Despite being moved he was not allowed to work in the hospital.
As his mental health declined he was attacked, beaten and imprisoned.
His father, a refugee living in Britain, travelled to Manus Island in 2016 in an effort to have him released so Mirwais could join his parents in Britain. Peter Dutton refused the request on the basis that Mirwais was over 18.
There was a second attempt to try to get Mirwais to join his family in Britain after he was moved to Australia. That attempt also stalled with Peter Dutton and the Department of Home Affairs. His father visited Mirwais again in 2018.
“Manus Island, offshore detention and Peter Dutton are responsible for yet another refugee death,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “In 2010, Australian of the Year, Patrick McGorry, labelled detention centres ‘factories of mental illness’. Mirwais death is yet more evidence of the damage that offshore detention is doing. It’s time offshore detention was ended.”
. . . .
"We extend our sympathies to the individual’s family. To ensure we respect their privacy, no further information will be released," a Home Affairs Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Above, 19th century celadon crackle glazed porcelain gourd vase of good scale.
This vase employs a delightfully pale shade of celadon glaze. The cracquelle surface is especially pleasing as it exists in two shades: jet black lines over much fainter and lighter crazing. Below, Label-crazed triple-gourd void vase regard.
FIAPCE
detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS/HA HA
Don't miss the October edition of Picture Club, as the Guides lead Members on a fascinating and insightful tour of one of AGWA's newest exhibitions.
Meet us at the main reception desk before proceeding through to the Gallery for a deeper insight into a current display under the expert guidance of our Gallery Guides, followed by tea, coffee and conversation in the Foundation Clubroom.
Please RSVP by Sunday 20 October to foundation@artgallery.wa.gov.au We also hope to see you on Monday 18 November, where we will be enjoying some festive cheer in the Foundation Clubroom as we celebrate the final Picture Club for 2019!
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
ARTWORK CREDITS
Fritz KosArt Gallery of Western Australia 1979 (detail). State Library of Western Australia. Sourced from the collections of the State Library of Western Australia and reproduced with the permission of the Library Board of Western Australia. (224275PD).
FIAPCE
detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS/HA HA
Yoshitomo Nara Knife Behind Back (2000). Courtesy Sotheby's Hong Kong
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS/HA HA
A work by the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara sold for nearly $25 million at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale in Hong Kong on Saturday, smashing the artist’s previous auction record by a factor of five. As protesters flooded the streets of central Hong Kong over the weekend, the sale carried on—and, perhaps surprisingly, outperformed expectations. The auction brought in HK$538 million ($68.6 million), exceeding its pre-sale high estimate of HK$408 million ($52 million).
Six bidders duked it out for a lengthy ten minutes to get their hands on Nara’s Knife Behind Back (2000), which ultimately sold for $24.9 million with premium. The artist completed the canvas—his largest ever to come to auction—the same year he returned to Japan after spending 12 years in Germany. In the painting, one of his trademark wide-eyed children stares out crankily at the viewer with one hand behind her back; only the title offers an ominous indication of what she is holding in her hand.
Peter Tyndall (c.1986) after Lucio Fontana (1964). Courtesy FIAPCE
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS/HA HA
[Chorus] Upside down Boy, you turn me inside out And 'round, 'round Upside down Boy, you turn me inside out And 'round and 'round Upside down Boy, you turn me inside out And 'round and 'round Upside down Boy, you turn me inside out And 'round, 'round Upside Down Lyrics Diana Ross After yesterday's mirror and lens image reversals, especially this by Bass|Duchamp...
Marcel Duchamp (American, b. France, 1887-1968). Details of
To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour, 1918.
Oil, silver leaf, lead wire, and magnifying lens on glass, mounted in a standing metal frame, 20 1/8 x 16 x 1 3/8 inches.
Museum of Modern Art (New York) Katherine S. Dreier Bequest
The figure of the jester or fool is found in 16th century Flemish painting, such as in works by Quentin Massys (1466–1530) and engravings by Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533). It is therefore not surprising that while in the Hintze Collection, our painting was considered to be by Massys. The work offered here, however, is a rarity in that the figure of the jester is depicted as a portrait against a black background, and the entire composition concentrates on his facial expression. The painting becomes particularly interesting when one knows that it depicts the Dutch proverb "door de vingers zien" (literally "to look at the world through one’s fingers" – to turn a blind eye), still in current use. In order to illustrate this proverb, both the hand gestures and the motif of the glasses play a central role: the jester, who has put his glasses in his coat, looks at the world through his fingers. This proverb reveals an attitude that consists of distancing oneself from everything that goes wrong in the world. By closing his eyes and remaining silent, the individual succeeds in protecting himself. The jester also calls on the viewer to behave just as favourably towards him. The conventional symbols of the jester can also be found in this representation: the yellow-red costume, the cap with the dog's ears, the cockscomb, the fool's staff on the right and the glasses in the foreground. The latter, usually a sign of scholarship, are here associated with glare and deception, because making glasses at the time was a technical challenge, causing their quality to vary greatly – for this reason, their makers were sometimes considered charlatans.
The painting has been dendrochronologically examined by Dr Peter Klein and may have been made as early as 1548. Last week, it sold for CHF 695 300 (incl premium).
Lyric Eye: The Poetics of 20th-Century Surveillance University of Melbourne
William Macmahon Ball Theatre Old Arts Parkville campus
Over the course of the 20th century, the Federal Bureau of Investigation developed an obsession with the content, form and authors of modern American poetry. At the same time, poetry underwent a series of radical changes in the ways that it communicated ideas of privacy, observation and the self.
The inextricability of poetry and surveillance during this period offers a new and productive framework for theorising our current techno-political crisis. In this lecture, Dr Tyne Daile Sumner will discuss how the deceptively simple arena of poetry became a source of intense focus for the FBI and, subsequently, a crucial site for seeing, watching, evaluating and surveilling.
Theatre of the Agents of Regard
detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something...
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