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.


12 October 2011

eyes BLOCKED out

.
Over the past week there's been ongoing news about a 14 year old Australian boy in Bali charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana.

bLOGOS/HA HA is particularly interested in the first published photo of the boy in remand : the composition of the image and the strange etiquette of hiding the eyes with black rectangular blocks.

We first saw this image in The Australian print edition. It included another boy, not named, holding up, and presumably looking at, an iphone with illuminated screen. The screen appears too bright and out of focus for us to see what's pictured there. We surmise he is photographing the photographer photographing the Australian boy (and himself).

Bali boys_eyes blacked out_sRGB_400 copy

In this detail below, we note the mysterious balance of obscure rectangles : the unseen black blocked eyes and the over-bright rectangular screen.



Forensic enhancement of the screen reveals interference from our Label mind blocks. (see previous post here)

Bali boys_eyes blacked out_iPhone with label blocks_sRGB.400

Perhaps The Australian realised this, too. In their online edition they removed the revealing meta screen. (We appreciate the appropriateness of the accompanying ads for DRAWING LIFE : MATISSE @ GOMA.)



But again, image enhancement reveals the mind of the present viewer.


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

LOGOS/HA HA