bLOGOS/HA HA: Oh SupermART, oh flippin' heck!

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.

09 April 2016

Oh SupermART, oh flippin' heck!

After the severity and pricking humour of Ian Burn, Mel Ramsden and Roger Cutforth in Ann Stephen's significant 1969: Retrieving the Black Box of Conceptual Art at the VCA's Margaret Lawrence Gallery...

Ian Burn, Installation photograph for Xerox Books, Pinacotheca,
1969, black and white photograph. © Estate of Ian Burn.

... arriving at the NGV presented quite a contrast. The Warhol-Weiwei exhibition felt more like a fun fair or Boxing Day sale. Very crowded, obviously the word was out that this was a fun thing to take the children to in the school holidays. The loud music from the NGV Teens Art Party dance squad rehearsals in the Great Hall added just one more upper there, like at The Factory perhaps, or whatever...

Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Shoobie doobie do wop
I wanna dedicate this
Pop pop shoo wop
Everybody made it
Shoobie doobie do wop
Infiltrate it
Pop pop shoo wop
Activate it
New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Talk about, pop musik
Pop pop pop pop musik

- M (Pop Musik, 1979)

... but was quite inappropriate when also heard in the Asian and European galleries. Nowhere to hide. Where's Poly Styrene when we need her?

Some people say little girls should be seen and not heard
But I say... 1 2 3 4
Oh Bondage! Up yours!
Bind me tie me
Chain me to the wall I wanna be a slave
To you all
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more
Chain-store chain-smoke
I consume you all
Chain-gang chain-mail
I don't think at all
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more
Thrash me crash me
Beat me till I fall
I wanna be a victim
For you all
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more
Oh bondage up yours
Oh bondage no more