bLOGOS/HA HA: re. Covers & Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

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.

01 January 2023

re. Covers & Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

Yesterday, @livres_hon posted a photo of a page of the new journal KAFAY LARDAY. It showed various responses to the question WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE ART WORLD?.

Elizabeth Pulie wrote: “If I could, I would change the art world’s relation to, and view of, the period of conceptual art that occurred in Lippard’s ‘six years’ between 1966 and 1972. In my view, the aims of the original conceptual artists were, broadly : to practice art conceptually, in dematerialised or ephemeral forms, to escape the institutions of the object, the market, the exhibition space and even “the artist” itself, as identity. Unfortunately, these aims seem to be badly known in the current moment: this is something I would change. I would change the fact that, as predicted by Kosuth, conceptual art forms became a ‘style’ in the post-conceptual era. I would change the fact of conceptual art’s romanticisation or poeticisation in much current art, in order that its less romantic origins be made clearer.”

This morning, we listened to The Music Show on Radio National. Andrew Ford in discussion with James Gavin, responding to Ted Gioia’s new book The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire (2nd Edition).

Thus, this first drawing of 2023, headlined standards and covers; and the second, riffing on The Way You Look Tonight, original lyrics by Dorothy Fields.