Watching the water flow

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Last weekend's rainfall has brought replenishment to the watercourses and some relief to the people of Victoria. Susie and I often amble our way around the ravine track behind the local footy ground. What a pleasure these last few days to see and hear the usual trickle of a creek now rushing to the water storages. These photos from this morning's walk.

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What You See ...

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From today's Wall Street Journal's Pictures of the Day :

The sculpture What You See Might Not Be Real by Chen Wenling was displayed at a Beijing gallery Sunday. The artwork is a critique of the global financial crisis, with the bull representing Wall Street and the man pinned to the wall representing Bernard Madoff.
(Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)

More photos and exhibition info here

( click image to enlarge )

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Screen bites

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We are what we ...

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CATS WIN

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After a great AFL season a worthy Grand Final today : Cats by 12 points over The Saints.

This snap from 2006 as Half Cat walks among the long waiting faithful at Kardinia Park, Geelong.

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The object is ...

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Last night's dream :
"The object is appearance in the form of emptiness".

I awoke, wrote the statement accurately and returned into the dream, seemingly for the remainder of the night, into to a flow of exegetic drawings none of which survived the awakening.

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Shadow Play

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Continuing the ground, path, shoes and shadows theme is this recent addition to the bL heap. Bought online, it was titled or described there as MAN OBSERVES WOMENS SHADOWS. Theatre of the Actors of Looking presents "Shadow Play".

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Ground and Path

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Leonard Cohen 75 today

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Leonard Cohen, "Tower of Song"

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the tower of song

Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah Leonard, Happy Birthday. Herewith: my treasured old song book of yours from 1969, bought in the early 70's, strummed through and sung from and never tossed away.

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Sophia Loren 75 today

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Self, light and other.
Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1961.
LIFE Magazine caption: Actress Sophia Loren reading newspaper by candlelight while in costume for role in movie “Madame Sans Gene.”

(from Ordinary finds )

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Behold : Held To Be

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Head in the clouds, feet on the ground : someone looking at something...

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Shortly after posting the previous blog, with it's final image of a barefoot monk looking at a sky-scraper City, at Vanity Fair online I encountered this 1996 Josef Astor photograph of architect Philip Johnson.

Yesterday I travelled to Melbourne for the opening of three new exhibitions at West Space. It rained all day and the city appeared exceptionally gray.

This seemed appropriate and auspicious :

Then back to west space that night to paint some walls... I'm going to paint the room a dark gray.

and later

(now) all I need to do is go and buy some cool down lights because the ones I have installed at the moment are too warm.

Kelly Fliedner, curator of someone looking at something...

Here is a photo of the lights and of the feet they show and the shadows they cast of someone looking at something...

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Greetings EARTHonauts

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And why take ye thought for what to blog today (sic)?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mathew 6 : 29, King James Bible

Doth morning mail and email not arriveth just as surely?

First today, sent overnight from New York, Eric Baker's
("Give us this day our daily bread") regular email bundle of recent gleanings. From these, I set aside this one tagged fullerkuppel, which translates as Fuller dome.

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In first year architecture (1970) bL learned about Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic dome. 'Bucky' was a pioneer of much that is of great import today.

Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.

Fuller published more than thirty books, inventing and popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetics. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, the best known of which is the geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.

(from Wikipedia : more here )

Perhaps Fuller's interconnected system view, as represented by his triangular matrix, has been a seed of influence in bL's diamond matrix view. Here is Fuller, again.

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Then the mail arrived. It included this leaflet from the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute. Voila! Is this not the same image, with the same view? In the foreground one who walks lightly on the earth/Earth, who looks with mindfulness upon the interdependent-arising that is City. Helicopters hover and at least one geodesic dome features in the mix.

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ICONOLOGOS/HA HA

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bL went to Castlemaine yesterday for lunch and a catch-up with KF prior to this Thursday's opening of the group show someone looking at something... at West Space. At the next table members of Punctum ; people on the street; cafes spilling out. All in all, Castlemaine seemed very buzzy.

At a secondhand book shop, bought another cover for my small Comic Depictions of Art/Artists sub-heap.

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Have been interested for yonks in the mythoLOGOS/HA HA of the one-eyed strongman Popeye. (Wikipedia on Popeye here )

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In particular, Popeye's 1933 self-portrait song "I Yam What I Yam" has exerted a special fascination.

I Yam What I Yam
(Lyrics from the 1980 soundtrack album of Popeye.)

[spoken]
You don't have to be no fish to tell when you're flounderin'
What am I? Some kind of barnacles on the dinghy of life?
I ain't no doctors but I knows when I'm losin' me patiensk
What am I? Some kind of judge, or a lawyers?
Aw, maybe not; but I knows what laws suits me
So what am I? I ain't no physciscisk, but I knows what matters
What am I? I'm Popeye, the sailor

[sung]
And I yam what I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam 'cause I yam what I yam

And I gots a lot of muskle and I only gots one eye
And I never hurts nobodys and I'll never tell a lie
Tops to me bottoms and me bottoms to me top
And that's the way it is 'till the day that I drop
What am I?
I yam what I yam!

I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam

I can open up an ockean I can take a lot of sail
I can lose a lot of waters and I'll never have to bail
I can pushk up Madagascar grab a whale by the tail
What am I?
What am I?
I yam what I yam!

I'm Popeye, the sailor
I'm Popeye, the sailor
I'm Popeye, the sailor
I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam
I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam
I'm Popeye the sailor man!

With a Judeo-Christian upbringing, to my ear Popeye's self-declaration has long echoed of another : Yahweh / YHWH

I Am that I Am (Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה‎, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje]) is a common English translation (King James Bible and others) of the response God used in the Bible when Moses asked for His name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means "existed" or "was" in Hebrew; "ehyeh" is the first person singular imperfect form. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is generally interpreted to mean I am that I am, though it more literally translates as "I-shall-be that I-shall-be." (Wikipedia : more here )

The foundling Swee' Pea appears to view 0r interpret Popeye through the philosophical filter You Am What You Eat.

I'm Popeye the sailor man!
I'm Popeye the sailor man!
I'm strong to the finich,
'Cause I eats me spinach.
I'm Popeye the sailor man.

When young we were told " If you don't/eat your greens you'll be...

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AUSTRALOGOS/HA HA

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Here are two headlines from today's The Age and The Australian.

Lest one imagines something too grand, both are from the Sport sections. The first refers to cricket, the second to Australian Rules football.

This is the image and caption that accompanied the second.
Man with a plan. (It didn't work - they lost.)

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P.S. In today's local Grand Final footy result, we lost too.
Daylesford 10.12 (72) def. Hepburn 9.13 (67)

⎱ʘ

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bL was one of those who missed out on this tintype photograph in the rough & tumble of last second bids on eBay this morning.

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something to look at : In Our Time

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It was today's second image that reminded me of this famous first one above. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938, before the microphones and cameras of the world, holds up some thing to the crowd and declares, "A Piece of Paper in Our Time". (click here for more info)

Looking at the image below (from a contributor to adski_kafeteri under the heading War Art), after a while it was the moustache and the turned collar that set it, for me, in the period of that similarly appointed public salesman Chamberlain. Otherwise, it is both of our time & timeless.

I-Be-Hold
+
U-Do-2

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free pencil movement : CARTRAIN v HIRST

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"On top of Cartrain's arrest, his father, aged 49, was also arrested on suspicion of harbouring the pencils although he was subsequently released."

Here's the full report by Chris Irvine at the Telegraph (UK) :

Last year Cartrain was ordered by the Design and Artists Copyright Society to hand over collages based on Hirst's famous diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God, and pay the £200 in profits he made.

In an act of revenge, Cartrain visited Hirst's installation Pharmacy in July, which was being shown as part of Tate Britain's Classified exhibition until it closed last month, and removed a few of the rare "Faber Castell dated 1990 Mongol 482 Series" pencils.

Cartrain then made a mock "wanted" posted that read: "For the safe return of Damien Hirst's pencilers I would like my artworks back that DACS and Hirst took off me in November. It's not a large demand... Hirst has until the end of this month to resolve this or on 31 of July the pencils will be sharpened. He has been warned."

But the stunt backfired when the antiques squad from the Metropolitan Police arrested the artist, informing him the pencils were worth £500,000 as part of the overall installation which was valued at £10 million.

Cartrain is now on bail until September 11, and if convicted, the incident will be one of the highest value modern art thefts in Britain.

"I went to the Tate Britain and by chance had a golden opportunity to borrow a packet of pencils from the Pharmacy exhibit," Cartrain told The Independent.

"The same day (sic) I made up a fake police appeal poster advertising that the pencils had been removed from the Tate and that if anyone had any information they should contact the police on the phone number advertised.

"A few weeks later I went out and I returned home to find out the art and antiques squad from New Scotland Yard had called round with a warrant for my arrest."

On top of Cartrain's arrest, his father, aged 49, was also arrested on suspicion of harbouring the pencils although he was subsequently released.

A spokesman from the Tate Gallery said: "On Saturday 4 July 2009, a member of the public removed a box of pencils from the desk in Damien Hirst's installation Pharmacy. The matter is being investigated by the police."

Below, the 'police' poster outside the Tate Britain.

The poster advertised as a limited edition print at 1ooArtworks, above which it now states : We are sorry to say... For legal reasons this print is on longer available.

Also from the 100 Artworks site :

All posters are signed with one of hirst's pencils.
Signed and numbered by the artist.
Limited edition of 40
Size 21x29 cm approx.

The artwork comes with an official Cartrain cardboard mount just like the artist's street pieces. The mount is stenciled on one side and is not glued to the artwork.

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This post supported by :

free pencil movement

John Brack @ NGV Ian Potter Centre : the Giving and Receiving of Regard

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There always seems a further depth to be plumbed within the oeuvre of John Brack.

On my first visit to his recent retrospective ( click here ) at the NGV Ian Potter Centre, apart from the renewal of pleasure and admiration, what registered most was the breadth of French influence, from an earlier period when French Art ruled the roost.

The work that floated to the fore over the following days was Portrait of Dr. Ursula Hoff, 1954 . Something about it intrigued.

There was no plan to the second visit beyond the opportunity for another quick walk through. Soon, however, I am again fixed face-to-face, as it were, before the Hoff study. Such severity. Such unblinking return. So simple. So, what's different here?

Next, around the corner, I stop at Little girl's head (Vicky), 1955. A similar sort of stop-in-tracks seizure as at the Hoff, but different. So clever (laugh out loud). Immediately curates a small Brack exhibition in the gallery of the Imaginarium : just these two works, placed opposite each other.

Go back to the entrance again. Thinks: maybe I'll look at the looking in the work of John Brack. The first work, the host, the one that greets us is Men's wear, 1953. So much that will follow is here already fully realised. Plot the levels and layers of looking, all straight at us.

Also at the entrance, placed side-by-side, two 1948 black and white pencil studies complete the welcoming party. These spectres, too, appear to regard us. A man looks at ( ... us) and a woman looks at (... us); artist and model both look at (... us). The passing (... us).

Immediately curates another Brack exhibition in the Imaginarium : just these two works, placed opposite each other.

No need. Brack had already done this himself and built upon the scenario. Woman and dummy, 1954, brings the desire realm player(s) together. Sense Being Regards Art(i-facere)/someone looks at something. Self and Other, the primal chemistry of duality's infinite congress. You and I; Us and Them; This and That; Inside and Outside; Illusion and Disillusion; Coming and Going; Here and There; on and on through the scenes and titles of his next 40 years.

After these clear-seeing openers, there appears to be a change of strategy. For the players, the fourth wall turns opaque again. For the play, a re-commitment to proscenium theatre. For us, to play the witness of those who, in our period, "strut and fret their hour upon the stage" (Macbeth). Almost no character other than (that of) the artist will look through to us again. Not until Finale, 1992.

The nudes all avert their gaze. Things with no eyes are no trouble to us - still lives, nature morte - flowers, cards, pens and pencils, things without senses. Of the portraits, Hal Hattam looks outward, but from the shadow. Dr Hoff, her body posed at standard oblique, still determinedly fixes her eyeballs upon the artist and to the return view of history.

I imagine her saying, "We've been through this before, John. That's why I wore the cameo for you today."

Occasionally one or other of the children is transparently direct but as a rule the play's the thing. The elaboration of this is in the detail. In The Hands and The Faces, 1987, even there, a generation further distanced, still no painted eye meets ours. At the show I scribbled a note, "an embarrassment of eyes". (A deference of eyes; a politeness of eyes; a sophistication of eyes; a discretion of eyes... )

Similarly with the history cards of Kings and Queens, 1988. Except here Brack has also represented some children's depictions of royalty in the gathering. These, unlike their well-bred wisdom-bound elders, have big open eyes that connect straight through to us.

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In popular theatre at play's end the curtain is summarily closed. Then is reopened for the actors to acknowledge their audience and to be acknowledged in return : we knew you were there/we knew you knew we knew you were there. The villain and the hero, the maiden and the beast, all equal as merely players. All finally acknowledged.

So with Brack. As with the triple greeting at the start, so at the conclusion.
Watching the Flowers (1990-91)
The Celebration (1991)
Finale (1992)

At journey's end the end of the exhibition. We arrive at that point from which we are always beginning (Here and Now, after T.S Eliot) to recognise, if we care to, a performance of our own performance: we, his Actors of Looking, figured here in Watching the Flowers, 1990-91.

Well, that was fun wasn't it. It wasn't? Of course it was/wasn't. We are the busy bodies: we like some/we do not care for others. Now all is Said and Done, let us hoist the Jolly Lot and Dance ourselves to Dualistic Death. The Celebration, 1991. ["They shoot horses, don't they?"]

Curtain closes, curtain opens. Behold, we are your actors of the dualistic view.

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A few personal notes: With John Brack minutes after we first met. Polaroid by Daniel Thomas who introduced us after the opening of Melbourne Cool, 1983.

A jotting made after first visiting Brack's mighty 1987 exhibition at George Mora's Tolarno Gallery, South Yarra.

( click image above to enlarge )

Collins St. 5 p.m revisited. Made after the return visit to the 2009 John Brack retrospective.

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