On the Beach : Australian tide disciplined (2)

 

 collection AGNSW  

same again

Pagan Christmas

On the Beach

early 90s

 FIAPCE  

 detail

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

repelled not

We too participated in the courtroom Theatre of the Actors of Regard over recent days, watching on TV much of the interrogation and testimony of Cardinal George Pell by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In the 1960s your correspondent was an altar boy at St Monica's church, Kangarro Flat. We learned on Day Two that the notorious paedophile Father Gerald Ridsdale, moved-on by Pell & Co from one parish to another, was also sent to Kangaroo Flat. Phew!

Day Two recap : ABC online

- Cardinal George Pell faced continued questions on how much he knew about Ridsdale's crimes against children 

- He maintained he knew nothing, and says he was grossly deceived by then Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns 

- He said Ridsdale's offending was a "sad story" that was "not of much interest to me" - comments that sparked anger and disbelief amongst survivors 

- The commission heard Ridsdale was moved from Inglewood, to Kangaroo Flat, to Bungaree, to Edenhope and to Mortlake throughout the 1970s and 1980s 

- Cardinal Pell said he had attended a meeting that discussed moving Ridsdale between parishes, but said he could not remember what reasons were given 

- He said paedophilia was definitely not discussed at the meeting

There but for the grace of God (sic), go we.
         

   We have admired the dignified witness of those Ballarat and other survivors (above) who travelled to Rome to be present, in person and together, as Pell responded by video to the Inquiry being held at Ballarat, to where he claimed to be too unwell to travel.

Theatre of the Actors of Regard  

       
   End of Day 2 news conference (above) : we noted the words of survivor David Ridsdale, abused nephew of Gerald Ridsdale :

"As I said yesterday, all we've seen is a performance. We've not seen evidence."

Theatre of the Actors of Regard  

Cardinal Pell arriving at Hotel Quirinale to give evidence.
               
End of Day 4 news conference : David Ridsdale again 

DAVID RIDSDALE: We hear so much people say things like, "It was a different time, or we didn't know." I don't buy it because it was never a good time to rape children. 

RACHAEL BROWN: He'll be part of the group who'll meet with cardinal Pell tomorrow. He says these men might be broken, but they're not beaten. 

D R : Don't ever underestimate broken people. Just because you see people in the street and you think there is something wrong with them, stop the judging. You know, pick them up, like we picked each other up. 

ABC RN : PM

And from the header to this blog, the name of which alludes to the Spoken Word, the broken word and to broken people :

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)

 collection AGNSW  

The image above derives in part from a votive offering placed inside the supposed tomb of St Peter, directly underneath the present St Peter's Basilica at The Vatican. Placed there at the time of Constantine's Christian ascendency, the eyes either side of the Cross are there as custodians, to 'take the hit' as it were, to protect their important charge from the deadly first glance of the Evil Eye as the Cross soul travels in the underworld. Regard : it seems as applicable as ever to this present Church shame, if only as a reminder of failed responsibility.
       
detail

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

On the Beach : Australian tide disciplined

          

Stanley Kramer's 1959 film "On The Beach" was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Neville Shute. It starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins and was filmed at Melbourne, nearby Frankston, and Cowes at Phillip Island.

                   

After World War III, Australia is the only remaining haven for mankind. However, wind currents carrying lingering radiation all but condemn those on the continent to the same fate suffered by the rest of the world. When the survivors receive a strange signal from San Diego, Cmdr. Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) must undertake a mission with Lt. Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins) to see if there is hope for humanity - leaving behind Moira (Ava Gardner) and Mary (Donna Anderson), the women they love.

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

       

 Left to right: Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, John and Sunday Reed 
 at Point Lonsdale, Victoria, 1945. Nolan is holding Sweeney, the 
 child of Hester and Albert Tucker, later adopted by the Reeds. 
 Photo: Albert Tucker. Source: State Library of Victoria, 
 Pictures collection, H2008.98_126

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

       

 Melbourne Becomes A Dead City 1959. 'On The Beach Filming'  

          
It has often been claimed that Ava Gardner described Melbourne as "the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world." However, the purported quote was actually invented by journalist Neil Jillett, who was writing for the Sydney Morning Herald at the time. His original draft of a tongue-in-cheek piece about the making of the film said that he had not been able to confirm a third-party report that Ava Gardner had made this remark. The newspaper's sub-editor changed it to read as a direct quotation from Gardner. It was published in that form and entered Melbourne folklore very quickly. (Wikipedia)
         

The English-born writer Nevil Shute emigrated to Melbourne in 1950. In the decade or so before he arrived, before he wrote "On the Beach" (1957) and before Hollywood came to Melbourne to film that post-apocalypse story, some of the local artists had already rehearsed the Melbourne beach scene as a setting of anxiety and ill portent.

(Above) "At Sorrento, Sidney Nolan buried,  John Reed, Sunday Reed, and Joy Hester, pregnant 1944". Photo by Albert Tucker
                 

 Sidney Nolan, Bathers, 1942 collection NGV

Sidney Nolan's St. Kilda beach Bathers of 1942 (above) presents as mostly bright, matey and untroubled. (The isolated figure lower-right may presage the arrival of the outlaw Kelly.) Nolan paints this scene again several times in 1943. At first continuing this mostly free theme...


 Sidney Nolan, Bathers, 1943 collection NGA
         
...but then muddying the paint, lowering the sky and introducing a mood of foreboding.

 Sidney Nolan, Bathers, 1943 collection NGV

Fellow artists Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker and Charles Blackman made similar bleak representations prior to "On the Beach".

       

 Arthur Boyd, The Beach, 1944 collection NGA

 Albert Tucker, Sunbathers, 1944 collection NGA

 Charles Blackman, Man Floating c.1954

 Charles Blackman Sunbather c.1954

So, why this "On the Beach" theme today? We were looking at some Edo period hanging scrolls on a Japanese website and wondered who had painted and written this particular haiga or Zenga Sunbather.

We clicked on Google Translate and the artist's name came as quite a surprise : a contemporary of Sengai (1750-1837), with whom he had contact, a Tendai Buddhist monk known as "Australian tide disciplined" (1749-1835). Another Oz/Zen link!
        

 Charles Blackman Sunbather c.1954

 Australian tide disciplined (1749-1835) Sunbather 

In Melbourne, post-Cézanne, the sun bodies bath. In Sydney, more hardcore, they bake :

Max Dupain Sunbaker  c.1937 / 1948 / 1970s

Although Dupain took some photographs of his friend as the sunbaker in the 1930s, this image did not appear until his monograph was published in 1948. The image he chose was slightly different, a little less monumental due to the positioning of the arms, and with less sand and more sky. The negative was lost and in the 1970s the other version was printed for the first time and, through exhibition and reproduction, became the icon that it is today. (Extract from AGNSW website text)

 detail

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

How to look at The Field of Regard

We were not surprised yesterday when this 1968 NGV poster for The Field well exceeded the pre-auction estimate.

AAA_Art Archive Australia  

 detail

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

      

Today, How to look at The Field of Japanese Art 
as Attempted via Books by Stephen Addiss.

The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin (with Audrey Yoshiko Seo). Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 2010.

Stitching Speechless. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Blue Bluer Books, 2009.

Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems (with Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto). Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 2009.

Zen Art Book (with John Daido Loori). Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 2009.

John Cage Zen Ox-Herding Pictures (with Ray Kass), New York City: George Braziller, 2009.

Zen Sourcebook (assisted by Stanley Lombardo and Judith Roitman), Hackett Publications, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008.

Mountains of the Heart (with facsimile of 1816 book by Kameda Bosai), George Braziller, New York, 2007.

The Zen Art Box (with John Daido Loori), Shambhala Publications, Boston, 2007.

Haiku Humor (assisted by Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto), Weatherhill-Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568–1868 Shambhala Publications, Boston, 2006.

Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture: An Illustrated Sourcebook (coeditor), University of Hawaii Press, 2006.

The Art of Chinese Calligraphy, Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005.

Haiku Landscapes (assisted by Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto) Weatherhill, New York, 2002.

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (translation into Portuguese based on that by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, plus 21 ink paintings by Stephen Addiss). Martin Fontes, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2002.

Old Taoist: The Life, Art, and Poetry of Kodojin (with Jonathan Chaves), Columbia University Press, New York City, 2000.

The Resonance of the Qin in Far Eastern Art, China Institute, New York City, 1999.

Three Three Three, Josh Hockensmith, Richmond, Virginia, 1999.

Haiku People (assisted by Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto), Weatherhill, New York City, 1998.

The Art of 20th-Century Zen: paintings and calligraphy by Japanese masters (with Audrey Yoshiko Seo, with a chapter by Matthew Welch), Shambhala, Boston, 1998.

Nakahara Nantenbō (Tōjū Zenchū, 1839-1925) by Matthew Welch
Deiryū Kutsu (Kanshū Sōjun, 1895-1954)
Yūzen Gentatsu (Sanshōken, 1842-1918)
Takeda Mokurai (1854-1930)
Sōhan Gempō (Shōun, 1948-1922)
Yamamoto Gempō (1866-1961)
Nishiari Bokuzan (Kin'ei, 1821-1910)
Taneda Santōka (1882-1940)
Kojima Kendō
Rozan Ekō (1865-1944)
Mamiya Eishū (1871-1945)
Seki Seisetsu (1877-1945)
Shibayama Zenkei (1894-1974)
Fukushima Keido (b.1933)

Six Directions (illustrator), La Alameda Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1997.

River of Stars (illustrator), Shambhala, Boston and London, 1997.

How to Look at Japanese Art (assisted by Audrey Yoshiko Seo), Harry N. Abrams, New York City, 1996.

             

  detail 

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

A Haiku Garden (assisted by Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto), Weatherhill, New York City, 1996.

Haiga: Takebe Socho and the Haiku-Painting Tradition, University of Richmond Marsh Art Gallery and the University of Hawaii Press, 1995.

Four Huts (Illustrator), Shambhala, Boston, 1994.

Tao Te Ching (translated with Stanley Lombardo, and illustrator), Hackett Publications, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993.

Phoenix Papers: 26 Lawrence Poets (coeditor, coauthor, illustrator), Penthe Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1993.

Art History and Education (with Mary Erickson), University of Illinois Press, 1993.

A Haiku Menagerie (assisted by Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto), Weatherhill, New York City, 1992.

Narrow Road to the Interior (illustrator), Shambhala, Boston, 1991.

Shisendo: Hall of the Poetry Immortals (coauthor), Weatherhill, New York City, 1991.
     
The Art of Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by Japanese Monks, 1600–1925, Harry N. Abrams, New York City, 1989.

Konoe Nobutada (1565-1614)
Takuan Sōhō (1573-1645)
Kōgetsu Sōhan (1574-1643)
Shōkadō Shōjō (c. 1584-1639)
Ishi Bunshu (1608-1646)
Seigan Sōi (1588-1661)
Fūgai Ekun (1568-1654): "OUTSIDE THE WIND"
Ungo Kiyō (1582-1659)
Gessū Sōko (1618-1696)
Bankei Yōtaku (1622-1693)
Ingen (1592-1673)
Mokuan (1611-1684)
Sokuhi (1616-1671)
Dokutan (1628-1706)
Tetsugyū (1628-1700)
Shin'etsu (1639-1696)
Ryōnen Gensō (1646-1711)
Taihō (1691-1774)
Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769)
Tōrei Enji (1721-1792)
Suiō Genro (1717-1789)
Reigen Etō (1721-1785)
Gako (1737-1805)
Shunsō Shōjū (1750-1839)
Jiun Sonja (1718-1804)
Ryōkan (1758-1831)
Gōchō Kankai (1749-1835)
Sengai Gibon (1750-1838)
Nantenbō Tōjū (1839-1925)

Tall Mountains and Flowing Waters: The Arts of Uragami Gyokudo, University of Hawaii Press, 1987.

Japanese Quest for a New Vision: The Impact of Visiting Chinese Painters 1600–1900 (editor and coauthor), Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1986.

Japanese Ghosts and Demons (editor and coauthor), Spencer Museum and George Braziller, New York City, 1985.

The World of Kameda Bosai, New Orleans Museum of Art and the University Press of Kansas, 1984.

A Myriad of Autumn Leaves (one of five coauthors), New Orleans Museum of Art, 1983.

Samurai Painters (with G. Cameron Hurst III), Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1983.

Japanese Paintings 1600–1900 from the New Orleans Museum of Art (editor and coauthor), Birmingham Museum of Art, 1982.

Tokaido: On the Road: Pilgrimage, Travel and Culture (editor and writer of introduction), Spencer Museum of Art, 1982.

Masterpieces of Sung and Yuan Dynasty Calligraphy (assisting Kwan S. Wong), China Institute, New York City, 1981.

One Thousand Years of Art in Japan (editor and coauthor), Colnaghi Oriental, London, 1981.

Catalogue of the Oriental Collection (coauthor and coeditor), Spencer Museum of Art, 1980.

Tokaido: Adventures on the Road in Old Japan (editor and coauthor), Spencer Museum of Art, 1980.

A Japanese Eccentric: The Three Arts of 村瀬太乙 Murase Taiitsu (1803-1881), New Orleans Museum of Art, 1979.

Obaku: Zen Painting and Calligraphy, Spencer Museum of Art, 1978.

Nanga Paintings, Robert Sawers Publications, London, 1976.

Zenga and Nanga: Paintings by Japanese Monks and Scholars, New Orleans Museum of Art, 1976.
Japanese Calligraphy, Shirley Day Limited, London, 1975.

Buson and His Followers (coauthor, plus writing an addendum on signatures and seals), University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1974.

 Stephen Addiss [inset] and The Field of Regard

 detail

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

Auction today : The Estate of NGV Curator, Jennifer Phipps

   
Jennifer Phipps was a Curator of Australian Art at the NGV over several periods from the early 1970s to the the 2000s.

Reproduced on the front cover of the auction catalog is Robert Rooney's 'Canine Capers 1' (1968) :


               
As is mentioned in the AGNSW online commentary about their 'Canine Capers 3' (1969), Robert Rooney participated in the important opening exhibition of contemporary Australian art at the then new NGV (St. Kilda Rd, Melbourne) in 1968.

The poster for THE FIELD is also in this personal collection :

Lot 150

ARTIST UNKNOWN The Field 1968

        

[Kendrick Lamar]
Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holla at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa--, about a metaphor actually, you spoke on the ground. What you mean ‘bout that, what the ground represent?

[2Pac]
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil

[Kendrick Lamar]
Right

[2Pac]
That’s how I see it, my word is bond. I see--and the ground is the symbol for the poor people, the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people. Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetising, you know what I’m saying, wealthy, appetising. The poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I’m saying it’s gonna be like… there might be some cannibalism out this mutha, they might eat the rich

FIAPCE  

 detail

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

       

        

The Lepidopters : 'The Brisbane Intervention : Flee, Pnebulons! Flee!'

     
 THE LEPIDOPTERS  SLAVE PIANOS - PUNKASILA - MICHAEL KIERAN HARVEY - RACHEL SARASWATI - DOMINIC HARVEY THE BRISBANE INTERVENTION : FLEE,PNEBULONS! FLEE TONIGHT FREE AT THE TURBINE PLATFORM AT BRISBANE POWERHOUSE

AAA_ArtArchiveAustralia  

  detail 

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

  LOGOS/HA HA 
         

       

        

Punkasila & Slave Pianos & TAR present : Regards of the Golden Matrix

Standard magic fare reveals... a rabbit from a hat.
   

Bendigo Art Gallery  

Standard illusion... a flower from a pot. 
Ceci n'est pas une fleur; ceci n'est pas un pot.
       

Bendigo Art Gallery  

Standard regard, then... Ah, such beauty, wot! 
      

Bendigo Art Gallery  

Theatre of the Actors of Regard
presents 
A Primrose From England 
by Edward Hopley (c.1885)
        

detail

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

LOGOS/HA HA 
         

     
Matrix magic fare...  ------ from ------
     

Theatre of the Actors of Regard  

Theatre of the Actors of Regard 
presents 
A Primrose From England 
after Edward Hopley (c.1885)
as Performed by the Inmates of Punkasila & Slave Pianos : The Trial (Regarding Certain Deliberations of the National Committee for Art Purification)

        

detail

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

LOGOS/HA HA 
         

       

        

The Finger!

After yesterday's post (and even as the 2016 Melbourne Art Fair is cancelled) there's been a clamour from the Art Cult faithful for more Ar Cul.

From c.1976, long before the recent fashion for artistic finger nail decoration, here's a Hand Space Theatre publicity still : white page mise-en-scène projection screen and a white painted finger actor with black-on-white Ar Cul nail mask.

AAA_Art Archive Australia  

 detail

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

 LOGOS/HA HA 
         

       
          

2016 Biennale of Sydney

We have received an invitation to the March 16 opening of the 20th Biennale of Sydney : 

The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed

                 

The invitation features this image of regard. 

                           

Shahryar Nashat, Parade (still), 2014, HD video, 38 mins.   Image courtesy the artist, Rodeo Gallery, London   and Silberkuppe, Berlin © the artist

 detail

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

 LOGOS/HA HA 
       
We are reminded of a similar Prime Scene from the recent Theatre of the Actors of Regard production of Melencolia 1 featuring the Culture Hero turned Deity of the Art Cult, Ar Cul.

Theatre of the Actors of Regard  

 detail

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

 LOGOS/HA HA 
         

         
          

"What you mean ‘bout that, what the ground represent?"

So weird to wake up - still white, yes - with this insistent earworm courtesy Kendrick Lamar by way of Boris Gardiner...
       

Every nigger is a star, ay, every nigger is a star

Every nigger is a star, ay, every nigger is a star

Every nigger is a star, ay

Who will deny that you and I and every nigger is a star?
         
...to then sing it, to be sung it, all day.

After yesterday's highly addictive A New Ground by Henry Purcell ("Here the Deities approve" Z.339/3) and with the "every nigger is a star" earworm still at the mindophone it seems an appropriate moment to record here Lamar's question to 2Pac on "Mortal Man", the last track of To Pimp A Butterfly :

        

[Outro: Kendrick Lamar & 2Pac]

[Kendrick Lamar]
"I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power, full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn’t wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn’t stop survivor’s guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn’t mean I can’t respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don’t know, I’m no mortal man, maybe I’m just another nigga”

Shit and that’s all I wrote
I was gonna call it Another Nigga but, it ain’t really a poem, I just felt like it’s something you probably could relate to. Other than that, now that I finally got a chance to holla at you, I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa--, about a metaphor actually, you spoke on the ground. What you mean ‘bout that, what the ground represent?

[2Pac]
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil

[Kendrick Lamar]
Right

[2Pac]
That’s how I see it, my word is bond. I see--and the ground is the symbol for the poor people, the poor people is gonna open up this whole world and swallow up the rich people. Cause the rich people gonna be so fat, they gonna be so appetising, you know what I’m saying, wealthy, appetising. The poor gonna be so poor and hungry, you know what I’m saying it’s gonna be like… there might be some cannibalism out this mutha, they might eat the rich

[Kendrick Lamar]
Aight so let me ask you this then...
           
The Ground is a key term and reference for many, which is why we were so interested to hear it focussed on in this Kendrick Lamar album. 

Here, we sometimes use that term for the undifferentiated matrix of interconnectedness out of which and into which...

Theatre of the Actors of Regard  

 detail

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

 LOGOS/HA HA