bLOGOS/HA HA: November 2023

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.

19 November 2023

TAR presents The Assured Result

specific-bonding detail

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

18 November 2023

Original Face

"Sweep away thoughts!" means one must do zazen. Once thoughts are quieted, the Original Face appears. Thoughts can be compared to clouds. When clouds vanish, the moon appears. The moon of suchness is the Original Face. Thoughts are also like the fogging of a mirror. When you wipe away all condensation, a mirror reflects clearly. Quiet your thoughts and behold your Original Face before you were born!

— Daito

Cease practice based
On intellectual understanding,
Pursuing words and
Following after speech.
Learn the backward
Step that turns
Your light inward
To illuminate within.
Body and mind of themselves
Will drop away
And your original face will be manifest.

— Dogen

You cannot describe it or draw it,
You cannot praise it enough or perceive it.
No place can be found in which
To put the Original Face;
It will not disappear even
When the universe is destroyed.

— Mumon

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

17 November 2023

after Tachihara, the Architecture of Regard : From the Mountains to the See

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

16 November 2023

TENEZ LE DROIT / Uphold the Right [Angle]

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

15 November 2023

poem to the see after Cy [ canvas offcut )

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

14 November 2023

TAR presents : Twombly, the Ancient Remains

Cy Twombly moved to Italy from the USA in 1957.

His ‘Poems to the Sea’ suite of twenty-four drawings were executed in a single day in 1959.

Twombly lived north of Rome at Bassano in Teverina. “Downstream from the city centre, not far away from the Tiber, lies Lake Vadimo, locally known as the "Pond", described by Pliny the Younger as "a lying wheel with a regular circumference [...] paler, greener and more intense than the sea." - Wikipedia

At the 1988 Venice Biennale he exhibited paintings responding to the Bassano in Teverina “Pond” along with unpainted plaster sculptures. Henry Weatherfield chanced upon that exhibition just hours before leaving Venice, that one time visit. “Paler, greener and more intense than the sea is the see", he later wrote.