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 November 2010

freehand (#3)

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freehand: recent Australian drawing
Heide Museum of Modern Art
25 November 2010 - 6 March 2011

Bye to friends at the Bubble & Prick.

Out of that place and into a taxi for Southern Cross station. The driver is listening to music. Body compulsive, it's bhangra. We talk about Bhangra (for dancing) and Qawwali (for trancing: sacred and seated).

Out of the taxi and into the Ballarat train.

Open the catalog for freehand. Domenico De Clario's introductory text focuses on the drawing of breath: drawing breath in, drawing it out. This he deepens by reference to the Bhuddist practice Tonglen:
...and in this sense is not the most splendid drawing of all the one Tibetan Bhuddists term tonglen, the art of breathing in difficulty and breathing out ease?
Also in the catalog, an edited essay by Francis Plagne addresses the Mass Black Implosion series of Marco Fusinato. Below is one of the 10 parts of Mass Black Implosion (Enantiodromia, Jani Christou) shown in freehand.



In the exhibition, curator Linda Michael has positioned this Mass Black Implosion opposite, or in front of, depictions of a man, woman, girl and boy, their gaze turned inward, each holding to a sign of dependent arising.



click upper and lower images to enlarge

Exit train at Ballan, enter car to drive home. Radio on: Mozart, Wind Serenade in E Flat by the Amadeus Winds. And it's raining hard.

By Korweinguboora, in the Wombat Forest, the rain is belting down. An extreme condition that demands concentration. From the radio, Brahms' Violin Sonata No 2 in A somehow seems perfect. As the headlights probe the blackness they illuminate the tracer lines of rain that bullet out in all directions from a single appearing-point directly in front of and somewhat above the now highly focused wheel holder.

Futurist metronomes strain to maintain the vision forward. The car wheels sheet up flares of blinding whiteness. Through a prick point in some bigger bubble, Mass Black Implosion is forcing through > inverts and transforms < into Mass White Explosion.
A tonglen force is drawing in black holes, breathing out radiant matrix.


Through the dark forest, the bubble and it's passenger move on.

In the rear view mirror ...

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

LOGOS/HA HA