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.
Researching Sister Corita Kent's artwork recently, we found this image & quote from the Vatican Two instigator and reformer Pope John 23 (1958-1963).
A skew second to the open spirit of that statement, nonetheless noted, was the pun-ish play between guard and garden.
From there to thoughts of the observer ("I like to watch") and projection-space 'Chauncey Gardiner' in Being There.
Yesterday, reading the following description of the National Gallery of Victoria by a former NGV guard rang that same odd sense of right and wrong delight.
"I can't even walk into the NGV anymore … it's lost its reputation for me and I consider it now to be like an illegal sweatshop."
The ABC report included this image of a blur-headed guard, with the same caption as below.
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something...
LOGOS/HA HA
