bLOGOS/HA HA: TAR : Taking After Redon

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.

06 August 2023

TAR : Taking After Redon

The exhibition 'Photography and the Performative' at Sydney University's Chau Chak Wing Museum, displays a work by Imants Tillers, If I close my eyes. His instagram website describes it thus :

Curated by Katrina Liberiou, the show explores the intersection between photography and performance.

Imants Tillers
If I close my eyes (2021)
189 Polaroids 1980–1982, nos. 112966–113161
10.7 x 8.9 cm (each); 75 x 239 cm (overall)
University of Sydney Art Collection

This conceptual work comprises 189 Polaroids made between 1980 and 1982. Tillers carried a camera with him during his daily life and documented those he encountered, asking his sitters to close their eyes. Interspersed with these portraits are landscape scenes depicting the view from his flat overlooking Sirius Cove.”

click image to enlarge

‘Taking After Redon’ re-imagines ‘If I close my eyes’ with the views of Sirius Cove replaced by views of Odilon Redon’s ‘Les yeux clos’ (Closed Eyes) c.1890.