Page 21 - Studio International - May 1965

The new abstraction on the West Coast U.S.A.

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seems to be dominated by a kind of moral quality in a
way more to be associated with the New York School
than with the distant, impersonal qualities we associate
with the hard edge movement
The characteristics that emerge d isti ng u ish California
art from both movements: we get an irrepressible
optimism, which comes through in spite of rigorous
working rules. Thus, little is left to chance: the struggle
to create is in the studio, and not reflected as part of
the work. A regular use of symmetry signifies calmness
and order, rather than frenzy, and risk is in the quality of
inventiveness, not in the gesture of execution The high
excitement of this art derives from the same source as
that of New York painting in its heyday-the manner in
which each artist finds his own pathway to the new.
There is a feeling of refined craftsmanship and finish
which can now be identified as part of the Los Angeles
sense of surface. Order is seen as an extension of will
over matter. The form employed is dependent on con­
sideration, that is, fitness for the intended purpose: thus
precision has no virtue in itself. Attention to detail
arises out of a sense of wholeness and slight distinc­
tions have important connotations. Materials are not
chosen for their potential of excitement, though there
is no question of a certain amount of fascination with
materials involved. But they finally become sub­
ordinated to the required results-which vary from
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