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.


14 April 2010

Same Old Same Old

.
le bLOG qui rit previously presented the plight of a Heidelberg artist attempting to render Australian landscape with a cow breathing down his neck.



Minus the bothersome cow, a similar scene greets us today on the front page of THE AGE (Melbourne).



The newspaper's headline writer has had fun too:
Double Dutch as our Sam paints
 it again to take Wynne prize

"You painted it for her, you can paint it for me!" - bL

Turns out that Sam Leach's winning work in the Art Gallery of NSW's 2010 Wynne Prize for ...
"the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists completed during the 12 months preceding the [closing] date"
is a reworking of a 1668 painthing by Dutch artist Adam Pynacker.



Is this a problem? Consider and discuss.

1. Look at the painthing


 archive : Theatre of the Actors of Looking
26 March 2010 AGNSW
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA
2. Read the Label


archive : Theatre of the Actors of Looking
26 March 2010 AGNSW
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA
3. Consider your verdict

If bLOGOS/HA HA recalls the above TV news item correctly, art critic John McDonald made no mention of any problematic copyness attaching to this painthing when he addressed the Australian people immediately after the Wynne Prize announcement.

Today he addresses the cosmos again. On TV news; on the net, with a prime-ministerial chat from the study ( video here )



and quoted in THE AGE article, where he concludes :
''I don't think Sam is really the villain here. I think it's the judges who are culpable for making a rather silly decision … It is an embarrassment for the art gallery. It shows up how little judgment they showed.''
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA