.
Yesterday
senior actors
at the National Galley of Victoria
used a classic LOGOS-centric, Golden Guillotined painthing
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
by Correggio
as
mise en scène
to the revealing of
the NGV's latest, 15oth anniversary acquisition
Black Veil ] Theatre of the Actors of Regard [
at a of cost of $AUD5.2 million.
bLOGOS/HA HA applauds this bold addition to the NGV collection.
Yesterday's presentation by NGV director Gerard Vaughan and NGV trustee Andrew Sisson was wholly inspired.
Few will question the appropriateness of this acquisition
Black Veil ] Theatre of the Actors of Regard [
but we wonder how many of yesterday's media assembly fully gauged the wit and wisdom of that presentation.
Some have since published in their articles and reports certain facts about the background artwork - the artist's stage name (Correggio), his given name (Antonio Allegri), the better known names of selected peers (Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo), the authenticity (tick), price, size, aesthetics, provenance and so on - but, apart from their various attempts to render the title of that picture, we have read no analysis as to why
this object with
this scene was centre
+stage in yesterday's tableau. Why was
this object
this scene the one to receive the Black Veil?
That is where the cleverness lies. Rather than merely holding up, or down, or pointing to, or in some other way indicating a ready set stand-alone display of
Black Veil ] Theatre of the Actors of Regard [
as might well have been done
yesterday's presentation reveled in layers and levels.
First (as described in a 'live report' on ABC radio) the media theorin were led through a titillation of basement corridors into a room where they beheld against a black background an exemplar art historical object set within a Golden Guillotine, this all held aloft (see:
Triumph of Christianity over Paganism, by Tommaso Siciliano, 1585) on an artist-style easel pedestal.
Act one :
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist :
within the Four Right Angles of that painthing's Golden Guillotine is a
tableau of three significant figures. At the centre is the baby Jesus. Later he will be known under the stage name The Christ and will be reckoned to be The Logos, The Word made Flesh,
Agnus Dei - obviously
bLOGOS/HA HA has an interest in this - and we all know he will come to be represented by the Sign of
+he Cross, inverted torture frame of the Four Right Angles. In summary, we are presented with a classic, originary [Western, Christian] Phallo-LOGOS-centric opening scene. In the Centre, The One; with supporters of import to either side : mystical earth mother Mary and Media Agent to the Word, John the Baptist.
Act two replicates the form, then releases a killer punch.
A
ct two, tableau one :
Again the centre position is the most important. The Golden Guillotine, previously seen to frame that
within its bounds, now is seen to turn on itself, as it were, and frame that
without, in this case its supporters to either side : the Director as Ring Master (Frame Master) Advocate on one side and on the other the Trustee Provider Regardist (
"You look at the way things move over time, and this is a great opportunity to buy something using our dollar and get a lot of value for it." - Andrew Sisson).
A
ct two, tableau two :
Cometh the moment...
...cometh the Thing.
Gallery unveils its newest, nearest and dearest
NGV unveils highest priced piece in its history
NGV UNVEILS MAJOR ANNIVERSARY GIFT - NGV Media
Black Veil ] Theatre of the Actors of Regard [
Gasps from the theorin, the immediate recognition of the rightness and boldness of this acquisition; then quiet as the implications begin to build
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
Nicolaus van der Horst (Antwerp circa 1598-1646 Brussels) 
