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.


19 October 2009

oкнo сатиры : design for a projection-space

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Once again in the spirit of the previous post, here is Konstantin Egorov's 1931 design for a public projection-space.

1931_Konstantin Egerov_design for 'Satire Window'_sRGB_400w

An emanation of The Supreme Goddess as Void, with projection- space for image, I imagine.

S G as V_sRGB_600h

Ergemov was a Russian Soviet avant-garde painter and graphic artist; he lived in Saratov and Moscow. Here, inside the rectangular frame, he has inscribed oкнo сатиры (OKNO SATIRY is the English phonetic). It translates as Satire Window.



From wikipedia :

Rosta Windows or Satirical Rosta Windows were stencil-replicated propaganda posters created by artists and poets within the Rosta system, under the supervision of the Chief Committee of Political Education during 1919-21. Inheriting the Russian design traditions of lubok and rayok, the main topics were current political events. They were usually displayed in windows, hence the name.

The first Rosta window was created in Moscow by Mikhail Cheremnykh (1890-1962). He was soon joined by Vladimir Mayakovsky, a popular and prolific author, Dmitry Moor (1883-1946), Alexander Rodchenko, and others.
If I read it correctly, the design appears to be for a cut-out standing figure: an artist, with a pen in one hand and an open-palm gesture for the other, who creates and presents the latest Rosta poster.

Maybe this is also a portrait of Egorov, the artist whose pencil has drawn a pen that draws into being the [ projection-space for image ]. And is that a knowing wink of the eye as well?

Post Script :

On tonight's TV News former Australian Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson, about to retire from Parliament, was shown standing beside a political poster of his own face. Very much in the mode of the Egorov design, in this photo from The Age he is holding with one hand a formal rectangular projection-space onto which he has painted two words. With his other hand he waves to passes-by. Plus ça change!


detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something . . .

LOGOS/HA HA