JGB Meets John Constable
Author: Simon Sellars • May 14th, 2006 •Category: Ballardosphere, architecture, non-fiction, visual art
Mr Rent-A-Quote is at it again. “I prefer car washes and chinese takeaways” — another classic soundbite.
From The Telegraph, 14/5/06.
“Next month at Tate Britain, John Constable’s magnificent canvases of the English countryside will be shown together for the first time. J.G. Ballard, Jon Snow, Sir John Mortimer and others describe what his paintings mean to them…
JG BALLARD: I have a feeling that Constable supplies the heart that is now missing from this country. England is now a nation of suburbs and a few decaying cities, but its spirit lies in the countryside, in the rolling meadows and the scudding clouds and the settled order of ancient country ways.
But now all that is gone, and a modern-day Constable would have to cope with the fact that the countryside is a factory floor owned by business conglomerates. So Constable touches on our powerful nostalgia for red tunics and maypole dancing; we need him to satisfy our dreams of what we once were. He provides the opportunity for a huge emotional bath.
I always disliked the notion of Constable country. Meadows and haycarts drive me up the wall. I prefer car washes and Chinese takeaways - they’re truer of the world we live in.”
Read what lesser mortals have to say about Constable.
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Simon Sellars
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Of all the pundits asked to comment on Constable, Ballard is the only one to provide a quote not awash in nostalgia and fake sentiment.
Long may he continue.
I like Sir John Mortimer’s comments.
The Haywain? Give me an abandoned petrol station, a dual carriageway,anyday.
That’s a given, preaching to the choir. But beyond that? An interesting face (mind you) beats a fuckin feild.
An interesting face alone isnt very Ballardian though. An interesting face with the scars and stitches of a face-lift, like in Jenny Saville’s paintings.
How right you are.