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.


30 January 2014

Everyone, In The Ring


Another in our series The Fabric of Regard

This fearless torero of Theatre of the Actors of Regard shows to those assembled a sequence of muleta capes.



As she calls the Name of each...
     Carmine Monochrome!
         
...the assembly responds.
     Toro! 

She holds the cape to the wall. 
       
No one knows for how long. 
       
It is understood : this is

 The Fabric of Regard

Then, when she will, she flings that cape aside.
     Ole!

Now, as pictured above, another :
     Yellow Monochrome!

The response is fierce.
     Toro!
      
It is understood : this is
      
The Fabric of Regard
    
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
 
LOGOS/HA HA
      

This same TAR torero troupe recently presented an Australia Day action in Vienna : 
'Blood on the Wattle', after the poem by Henry Lawson, 'Freedom on the Wallaby'. It ends...

So we must fly a rebel flag,
As others did before us,
And we must sing a rebel song
And join in rebel chorus.

We'll make the tyrants feel the sting
O' those that they would throttle;
They needn't say the fault is ours
If blood should stain the wattle!
      
Not surprisingly, in that old nest of Actionists, they were very well received. They got as good as they gave.

 For this event, there was just one cape :
    Wattle Yellow Monochrome!

It didn't take long for the fyrest 'bull' to charge head-first out of the pack.  Ooooooooooh! 
      
     Toro!

A very long night. Blood on the wattle, blood on the wall.
    
The Fabric of Regard
  

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

         
Before returning to Oz, the troupe accepted an invitation to share their muleta pass and non-pass practice with some young French toreador apprentices in the ring at Garons, near Nimes.

     Toro!

Happy days, happy days.


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