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 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 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.
