bLOGOS/HA HA: Speak Truth To Power : LOGOS/PFFFT!

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.

16 October 2015

Speak Truth To Power : LOGOS/PFFFT!

Hugh Heffner has confirmed that Playboy magazine will no longer show photos of nude ladies.

Now readers of Playboy, the glossy men's magazine known for its nude fold-outs, can honestly say they are buying the magazine for its articles.
Playboy will no longer publish nude photographs of women, the New York Times reported on Monday in an article quoting Scott Flanders, the company's chief executive.
The Age (here) 13 October 2015

Call us pedantic, or voyeuristic metaphysical, but "nude photographs"? We'd like to see that.

Headline : Nude Photos Reveal Nothing

Anyway, O spirit of the times, today we read in The Age that federal Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly reckons the image of a bare blue-painted bum of a witch is not something appropriate for the bloody corridors of power at Parliament House.

Pass slowly with non-attachment : (above) Theatre of the Actors of Regard at Parliament House yesterday and (below) a detail of 'The Witches' by Wendy Sharpe. Photos: Andrew Meares

Which reminds us of another round of recent arse-baring, an
art-historical reconstruction of a sort, a celebration of the great Edo period Japanese scroll so euphoniously named He-Gassen: The Battle of the Farts. Here's the particular scene that inspired (exhausted!) the TAR group 'Falstaff Four' ...