Page 33 - Studio International - March 1966

Brian Wall : sculptor of simplicity

by Charles S.Spencer

Born London 1931. 'Simplicity' is a word Wall often uses, a clue to his made metal parts, rectilinear shapes in abstract forms
Studied part-time Luton sculptural objective. In this, as well as in his personality, which appear to have little in common with nature or
School of Art. he has little in common with the complexity of purpose urban surroundings.
Assistant to Barbara
Hepworth at St. Ives which motivated the Constructivist movement and Wall is the junior of this trio; Adams is 49, Caro 42,
1956-60. artists like Mondrian who have been his greatest whilst Wall is 35. As Norbert Lynton pointed out in Art
First one-man exhibition, influence. Max Bill once said of Vantongerloo that his International (Vol. IX 9-10 1965), a few years ago Caro
London School of
Architecture 1957: has aim was 'not to produce works of art but to present his 'seemed to be a less radical artist ... than an older man
since exhibited at the Drian ideas'. This could not be said of Wall. In one sense, and such as Robert Adams, and than men several years
and Grabowski Galleries and
now with the Grosvenor not a derogative one, he has no ideas, no formal younger than himself such as Brian Wall'. Wall, in fact,
Gallery, where he will hold a intellectual, clinical concepts which he needs to work has been making his simple steel sculpture since 1958,
one-man show in April 1966. out. His sculpture is not a laboratory experiment when Caro was producing Richier-like nudes. This
Many group exhibitions
towards a formula, a definition which will dogmatically statement of fact involves no sense of evaluation since
including British Sculpture
in the Sixties, Tate prove a golden rule. Wall, in fact, is a paradox; he has each artist must take his own road at his own speed.
Gallery, 1965. all the native intuitive romanticism of the English artist, The relevance of this information is to indicate pro-
Represented in the yet from the outset he allied himself to a severe found differences of influence and development.
Whitworth Art Gallery, the
Art Gallery of New South discipline, in a style which has generally proved Wall is a virtually self-taught artist. He was born in a
Wales, and the collections unsympathetic to the English temperament. tough part of Paddington and after leaving school at
of the Contemporary Art The names of Robert Adams and Anthony Caro are the age of 14 worked as a glass-blower. At 18 he
Society, the Arts Council of
Great Britain, and the bound to arise in any consideration of Wall's work. went into the R.A.F. 'Even at that time, in a completely
British Council. Of course they do not represent a group, or even a trio of muddled way, I knew I wanted to be an artist...
Teaches at Central School artists sharing formal ideas or informal sympathies. The I didn't know how or at what. It was something to do
of Arts and Crafts, London.
simple, and misleading, fact is that they all work in styles with the act of trying to be oneself, a means of breaking
related to the Constructivist experiment, in the sense with my background, I suppose'. His art education at
that they build up from extraneous materials, not down that time was the Tate and the National Gallery —
from stone, wood, clay or plaster. They each use ready- 'I don't think I knew that private galleries existed'.

Left
Two Discs 1965
Steel painted blue
Height 9 ft Length 8 ft Width 4 ft
Right
Two Discs 1965
Steel painted dark green
Height 9 ft Length 8 ft Width 4 ft

This early naivety and lack of sophistication were not
passing traits; the simplicity and freshness of outlook
remains in him and his work.
Stationed in Luton, he took a part-time course at the
local art school, attending life-classes and working as a
painter. 'I think I produced something like 3000 paint-
ings of the nude, pale imitations of Bonnard and Renoir—
all since burned'. This working-class boy who saw in art
an escape, a means of asserting his individuality,
visualized artists as strange, glamorous, even magical,
creatures. In 1952 he went to Paris to witness the
species in its natural habitat. He stayed for 6 months,
drinking in the atmosphere and enjoying adolescent
talk. What impressed him most was a room full of Van
Goghs at a Louvre exhibition. 'It seemed to represent
what I wanted to do' ; by which I imagine he means
breaking through environmental and personal limita-
tions to himself. There was still no thought of sculpture.