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.


04 January 2013

Must Be A Zeitgeist Thing

        
One of our favorite exhibition titles from 2012 was 
Ten Years of Things  
at the University of Queensland Art Museum.


As a bonus, the printed invitation characterised this exhibition as an Actor of Regard:
"Ten Years of Things looks at
the open-ended approach artists are taking to..."
          
Today, the latest issue of Art Monthly Australia arrived. Of interest to bLOGOS/HA HA is an article by Ruark Lewis :
Anubhava & the politics of things 
An Index for Max Lieberman
A definition of anubhava provided by Max Lieberman is quoted in a footnote:
Anubhava is an ancient Indian Sanskrit word that means direct knowledge through experience or realisation. It also refers to intuition, feeling, emotion and consciousness.
bLOGOS/HA HA is interested in such ideas and experience - of direct perception unmediated by conception.
     
Rather than here risking an unhelpful reduction of the Lewis index, you might wish to read it yourself (Art Monthly) and visit the Max Lieberman website (here) from where this drawing is reproduced. 
      
      
     
One Hundred Years of ] looking at ( Things
         
bLOGOS/HA HA has a small collection of French rebus - from res, Latin for thing. We are surprised that this form is so little known among the Anglo artists and writers of whom we've enquired.

Here, from the archive of our Paris Bureau, as mentioned recently, is a rebus from around a century ago.
        
    click image to enlarge
           
Stepping outside the office door, back into the World Of Things, t|here it all is again.
      

  click image to enlarge
      
And again...
  
 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something ...

 LOGOS/HA HA