Page 59 - Studio International - April 1966

exhibition, there is a powerful ensemble related to a Columbian art. There is a fine sense of balance apparent,
polygon painted on the floor. An asymmetrical, trian- and a sophisticated craft. On the whole, Novros is com-
gular structure of heavy wood beam and steel straddles mitted to a purist reduction of means, but he manages to
the centre, while a configuration of wood beams and a suggest breadth and invention nevertheless.
small ladder are suspended in occult balance from the The stretched canvas relief was pioneered by Sven
ceiling. Di Suvero successfully masters a continuum of Lukin, among others. Lukin moved on from low to high
space here. relief and has elaborated an eloquent vocabulary in his
Other works explore other situations : a warped steel new work at the PACE GALLERY.
figure-eight cradling two tyres spins from the ceiling, Blithe, witty, beautifully fashioned, Lukin's new works
swinging in free curvilinear configurations. A bowed steel depend largely on paradox. He begins at the wall, setting
piece resembling a farm implement rocks in wide arcs, up a back plane against which his curving volumes are
incorporating an element of humour characteristic for posed. The sinuously curving extrusions are painted to
di Suvero's idiom. Di Suvero's range is so broad, his suggest a double illusion: they are at once drawn out
invention so unpredictable, his structural sense so im- from the back plane, as if they were forms in a painting
pressive, that it would not be too much to predict that realized in three dimensions, and they are independent,
he will become a major American sculptor much in the emphatic shapes structured into almost—but not quite—
manner of David Smith. He leaves himself enough space sculptural terms.
in which to develop. Take, for instance, a piece composed of two equal panels
Accompanying di Suvero's exhibition is a first one-man of stretched canvas painted high orange from which a
show by the young painter David Novros. Perhaps dipping grey S-curve billows out. The subtle calculation
`painter' is not the right word, since Novros is really of colour makes it difficult to determine whether this is a
working in a low-relief mode. His compositions of three-dimensional painting or a two-dimensional sculp-
stretched canvas silhouetted against the white gallery ture. Or a humorous piece in which a cascade of shapes
Roy de Forest walls depend largely on the degree of elevation from the fall to the ground like ribbon, as though sliced out of the
The Neon Kirtz 1965 wall. The slight cast shadows are important. Novros's two rectangular panels that hold them. But the length of
Acrylic/canvas the overflow is as out of proportion as the arm in an
59 1/2 x 53 1/2 in. shapes range from strict rectilinear occlusions to geo-
Allan Frumkin Gallery metric designs resembling the angular patterns of pre- Ingres portrait: it fools the eye, but it works in terms of
the painting. Lukin paints his illusionistic reliefs in
bright pinks, blues, and oranges, but always with an eye
on the flattening effect. Like many other artists, he seems
endlessly intrigued by the questions of definition and
enjoys the play of ambiguity. As clean-lined and meticu-
lously crafted as his pieces are, they never suggest the
stern dogmatism that motivates so many others working
in this hybrid idiom.
I should say the same about the work of John Carswell
at the FISCHBACH GALLERIES. His paintings, in particular,
struck me as dynamic and rather open statements despite
their austere black-grey-white schema and their sharp
forms. Carswell's energy, channelled effectively, is none-
the-less evident in all his work and saves it from the
deadly predictability I discussed earlier. Certain of his
paintings recalled the early Malevich in their intricate
structure and admirable logic, while others fall into more
recent categories, still with a happy combination of
energy and reserve.
A bit late in all matters concerning California, New
York has finally come around to exhibiting some of the
artists who have made their reputations on the West
Coast. Roy de Forest of San Francisco has had numerous
exhibitions on the West Coast, but was seen here for the
first time in a one-man exhibition at the FRUMKIN GAL-
LERY. De Forest's acrylic paintings are tapestried maps of
esoteric events. They have the high coloration of Near
Eastern artifacts and the low-down humour of funky
California art. This piquant combination sometimes
taxes the imagination, but is finally appealing. De
Forest's pictographs are nearly undecipherable, although
cat-o'-nine-tails, toothbrushes, fingernail polish, railroads,
and glamour girls sometimes suggest themselves. De
Forest, like several California painters, plays with folk art
and assumes a clearly factitious innocence.
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