bLOGOS/HA HA: How hierarchies happen in contemporary Australian art

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.

10 January 2015

How hierarchies happen in contemporary Australian art

We mentioned several of our local artists in the January 5 post : One for all the posties

Two more, both residents of Hepburn Springs, were singled out for comment by Sasha Grishin in his December 9 article at The Conversation : How hierarchies happen in contemporary Australian art.

"... the guidance by the artists’ voice was a crucial ingredient in my methodology. This exercise brought in sharp focus the whole question of how artists are constructed as successful or major artists in Australian art.

Also questions of what Bourdieu termed “cultural capital” and “economic capital” arose – in other words, artists who may attain great success in the market place, for example David Bromley, but who attract relatively little respect from the art establishment, or others, like Peter Tyndall, who have a high profile in major curated exhibitions, public collections and publications, but who are a long way from becoming an “art market darling”."