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.


26 April 2018

From the matrix of TAR, learn of ...


Following on from the previous post with it's essay first paragraph by MB, headed For those who know how to look, today it's the first paragraph of John Wolseley's essay of introduction to his forthcoming
exhibition at Australia Galleries, Melbourne. 

 When the full essay becomes available online next week, we'll provide a link to it here.

 JOHN WOLSELEY 
The Life of Inland Waters 

EXHIBITION ESSAY

As a small boy, I was inordinately interested in insects, animals and reptiles. At the age of six, I spent so many hours watching lizards on a decayed walnut stump that my father contacted a child psychologist. I never knew what he reported but whatever it was it cannot have been helped by my saying that I didn’t much like being human, and very much desired to become a lizard. As I grew up, I became more and more interested in trying to look at the world through the eyes of creatures other than myself, and was helped in this by a series of obsessions with certain writers and philosophers. This included Basho who wrote, From the pine tree, learn of the pine; And from the bamboo, learn of the bamboo. 


detail | click for full image  
 BEETLES IN THE SALT – LAKE TYRRELL 2014-18
 watercolour and etching on paper, 130cm x 220cm, AG11129

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