Page 55 - Studio International - July 1966

seen in several of the more impressive works, including Among the more extravagant play with colour and what
Tony Smith's powerful steel piece of one vertical and one artist calls 'spatial improbability' are Michael
two horizontal forms; Sol Lewitt's white wooden cube, Todd's suspension of two white forms interrupted by
an aesthete's jungle gym; and Walter de Maria's slender three blue balls at its elbow and Tim Scott's enchanting
cage of polished steel bars. All of the artists using similari- play with illusion in his Pink wheels which employs a
ties rather than differences for aesthetic effect count on plexiglass plane to double the play of wheels.
the musical measures which such a mode introduces and Perhaps the best instance of an original approach to
seem to me to be right in line with the constructivist colour is Ellsworth Kelly's frontal blue plane, cut out
tradition where symmetry was explored extensively. of aluminium and standing like a startling invention of a
pure colour form in space.
Among the heterogeneous exhibits, there are, of course,
several offerings that indicate at least faintly the primary
purpose of a primary structure show, the most salient
being Donald Judd's fabricated volumes discussed last
month in this column. The whole argument about fabri-
cation, which I always think somewhat foolish, is acti-
vated by Judd's peculiarly cold conception. For his
statement, Judd simply doesn't need the touch of his
hand, and I see no reason to make this either a negative
or a positive value.
In several other exhibitions of sculpture the problem of
technical finish is posed from several directions. Lewitt
shows his modular white wood structures at DWAN, driv-
ing his point home at all costs. The touch of his hand in
this case is a detriment rather than an aid, for in the
Elsworth Kelly identical perfection of each element lies the whole mean-
Blue disk 1963
Painted aluminium ing of the work, and the work suffers from unequal
70x 72 in. craftsmanship.
Lent by Sidney Janis Gallery In Louise Nevelson's show at the PACE GALLERY, on
Primary structures exhibition
at the Jewish Museum the other hand, the absence of her touch must be

Louise Nevelson
Atmosphere and environment 1
1966
Baked enamel on aluminium
78 x 144 x 48 in.
Pace Gallery