Page 53 - Studio International - September 1965

motion as an ART form. And I will tell you another thing:
Sandy Calder is not related to our present Space Age.
I am less concerned with the "illusion" of Motion. What
does interest me is real motion and changes of colour
and time. Aesthetics of real motion. as I see it. is almost
an unexplored field. We appreciate the motion of the
ballet and music; but Motion in fine art has not been
expressed till recent times. So. Time will tell! I will
end by stating that if my individual art is little known in
Britain it is because art galleries do not make the
artist. it's the contrary. I am independent and refuse
to be pushed around to make contracts with art dealers.'
Our national poet. Robert Burns. wrote ·o whistle
and I'll come to you. my lad.' The most extraordinary and
fascinating art-machine I have ever seen in my life
was shown to me as I took leave of Frank Malina. I will
end this ·expose· of Frank Malina's brilliant inventions
by quoting Christopher Marlowe who wrote: 'Clad in
the Beauty of a Thousand Stars.'
I stood in front of Malina·s latest masterpiece and he
simply said 'Give a whistle'. To my astonishment. the
composition stopped moving and then went into
reverse. I whistled again and off it worked in the correct
order. from left to right. Malina now plans to play
classical music in front of his latest ·contraption' and
thus combine revolving coloured Kinetic Art.
Malina's last words to me were 'Kinetic painting is, I
believe. going to become an important part of the reper­
toire of the visual arts, for the cinema and television
are increasing human sensibilities to transparent colour
and real movement. It will also help to close the chasm
between science and art which exists today.'
Jesus Raphael Soto, another Kinetic artist was one of
the pioneers of Optical Art. Now he has introduced
movement into his compositions. thus he has moved one
stage up, so as to speak. Both Pop and Op Art are fading
out and Kinetics is now 'le dernier cri'. Currently. Soto is
holding an important exhibition at the Galerie Edouard
Loeb. Kinetics has been explained as being the science
of the motion of bodies produced by the forces acting
upon them (in Soto's case, his latest compositions are
made of fine wiring twisted on an optical striped white
and black background: by a gentle touch of the hand
these wirings move to make fascinating rhythms.)
Motion involves the ideas of space and time. We
Frank J. Malina
Behind the scene view of measure space by the time which a body takes to move
Kinetic Mural for the new
building of the from one part of space to another. Heraclitus was the
Pergamon Press Oxford. first to insist on the fact of movement as constituting the
Picture shows the
complex interior arrangement most characteristic aspect of the universe.
of lights and rotors Soto's original research into Optical Art resembles the
patterns of pre-Columbian art, doubtless traceable to
his Venezuelan origin. Soto's Kinetic compositions are
full of wit but a form of wit which is far removed. for
example. from the hilarious humour of a brilliant artist
liked Paul Klee. or even Tinguely, the sculptor.
Yet another gallery has just opened on the Left Bank.
I can hardly call this a 'new· gallery because the
Director. Monsieur Jean Larcade ran a very successful
Gallery on the Right Bank (called 'La Rive Droite·. on
the fashionable Faubourg Saint-Honore) which he
closed down about a year ago. For certain reasons, he
has crossed the Seine-he explained to me that he
found the Latin Quarter more stimulating and less
'snobbish' than the galleries on the Right Bank which
certainly do possess masterpieces of painting and
sculpture of all periods. but at exorbitant prices.
Monsieur Larcade has stuck to his original formula and
exhibits what he terms 'Art Contemporain'. The present
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