Page 24 - Art Almanac (February 2020)

AND WHAT?

Ken Bolton and Kurt Brereton

Jellied Tongue Press

Ken Bolton and Kurt Brereton
pose the question, ‘and what?’
Both interrogative and blasé
in its delivery, these words AND WHAT ?
have piqued our curiosity
about its context; and in turn,
the contents of this limited-
edition publication. ‘AND
WHAT?’ is an intersection
of art and literature; an
entertaining mix of paintings,
drawings, photographs and
poetic responses to random Ken Bolton & Kurt Brereton
topics, which oscillate
between creative thought and
critical opinion. The book
opens with a garden hose
shaped in an ampersand, a
symbol of connection and
multiplicity. Throughout the
following pages, Bolton and
Brereton offer us the ‘what
for – “where” “why” “how”
“this”’.

The work, fragmented yet
elegantly written, touches
on philosophy, Modernism,
art and social history with
each turn of the page offering
a new perception, thought
and invented scenarios
or conversations. Although filled with printed images and the occasional artwork insert, ‘AND
WHAT?’ is primarily a playful, lyrical poem. Self-declared ‘trendy “mash it up” art bombers’,
Bolton and Brereton shout, ‘ENOUGH ART LET’S POETRY’ and direct us to the Poetry section in
the Dymocks bookstore; fittingly, ‘next to the GAMES and PUZZLES’.

So, join the game and see if you can connect the dots between cinema, celebrities, musicians and
artists, social media, life in New South Wales, unironed shirts and cooking, as well as mortality,
happiness and the term Arcadia repeated throughout the publication. This Fluxus, Mail Art and
Dada-esque art piece encourages us to ‘place a question mark in front of everything’; to consider
art as a verb, to think.

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