Thursday, September 13, 2012

Enrico Baj ... illustration from The Book of Imaginary Beings by J L Borges 1973



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"Let us move now from the zoo of reality to the zoo of mythology, that zoological garden
whose fauna is comprised not of lions but of sphinxes and gryphons and centaurs.
The population of this second zoo should by all rights exceed that of the first,
since a monster is nothing but a combination of elements taken from real creatures, and the
 combinatory possibilities border on the infinite...
Readers browsing through our own anthology will see that the zoology attributable to
dreams is in fact considerably more modest than that attributable to God. We do not know what the dragon means, just as we do not know the meaning of the universe, but there is something in the image of the dragon that is congenial to man's imagination, and thus the dragon arises in many latitudes and ages. It is, one might say, a necessary monster." 

from The Book of Imaginary Beings (Borges, 1954)


2 comments:

  1. had the pleasure of seeing your works at the Blake exhibition yesterday, as I came up the stairs & took a first quick look round the space they seemed absolutely extraordinary---two pools of darkness with strange glittering events taking place deep within them (& they were very dam' fine close up too, xxx)

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    1. ah thats great Paul, thank you so much! :D good you made it, so glad got to spend some time with you in Brighton, splendid indeedy! have some work on show in November again in London (sculpture this time)so will give you a shout if you are around then, thanks for your lovely gifts,just back from travels now so I can get to enjoy them! love and hugs for now x

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