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.


02 February 2016

doing doodles on the void

  
One notices a certain something then sees it here and there and soon it appears to be everywhere, right?
             
Sketchies, for instance, as predicted yesterday, from tags and selfies to artisanal selfie-sketches. After meta-sketchies, obviously space-sketchies and void-sketchies would quickly follow. 

 It was no great surprise therefore to see the front page photo on last weekend's The Saturday Paper : above the headline 'Unless you bare your arse you've no chance', there's Bill 'The Devil' Heffernan drawing his own immaterial Senate sketchie.


 Senator Bill Heffernan                         The Saturday Newspaper

 You can play that other track now :
         
'Flowers on the Wall'
written by Lew DeWitt
recorded by The Statler Brothers (1965)
performed by free pencil movement (Festival Hall, 
Melbourne 2016)
I keep hearin' you're concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you're givin' me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin' in your shoes, I wouldn't worry none
While you 'n' your friends are worried about me I'm havin' 
lots of fun
           
   Countin' flowers on the wall
   That don't bother me at all
   Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
   Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
   Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do
       
Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it's hard to slow this swinger down
So please don't give a thought to me, I'm really doin' fine
You can always find me here, I'm havin' quite a time
     
   Countin' flowers on the wall
   That don't bother me at all
   Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
   Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
   Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do
 
It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete
         
   Countin' flowers on the wall
   That don't bother me at all
   Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
   Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
   Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do
   
Don't tell me I've nothin' to do            
        
               click image to enlarge   

  back page of PT catalog for 'the go-between' (May 2000) 
  Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne

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

 LOGOS/HA HA