Page 28 - Studio International - May 1966

Victorian settee on which sits his white-plaster wife. This A hamburger that several people could sit on and an
is one of the most recent works by George Segal, and it is icecream cone the length of a bed are as alarmingly un-
typical of a whole series of lifesize figures, or part figures, real as Raysse's overlifesize neon hand. Oldenburg's scale
and groups by him, ranging from a bus-driver at his is to some extent influenced by shop signs in streets. But
(genuine) wheel to two naked lovers in bed. The common- indoors the scale becomes surreal. So too does his painted
place becomes mysterious with Segal, so much so that burlap or muslin dipped in plaster which is almost
one American critic has seriously suggested that the bus- illusionistically convincing, but not quite. The texture
driver is a symbol of Charon. The intention behind and colouring of Oldenburg's sculptures are much more
Segal's figures is, of course, very different from that of the disconcerting than the long-accepted materials of stone,
Surrealists, but the final disconcerting image is stylistically bronze, wood or terracotta. But for materials at their
relatable. most extreme one should cite Robert Watts for his flocked
Segal's bus-driver was exhibited in one of the important bananas, bronzed eggs, lead confections and chrome-
landmark shows in the development of Pop, the famous plated cabbages; again only a short step —if a step at all—
New Realists exhibition at the SIDNEY JANIS GALLERY in from Surrealism that could produce a fur cup and saucer.
New York, in 1962. Many, but not all, major Pop artists Dada collages, particularly those of Schwitters, are often
were represented, presenting one of the earliest overall cited as prototypes for recent similar works and assemb-
pictures of the separate artists and styles that are lumped lages by both Pop and non-Pop artists. But there is in
together under the one heading of Pop. The show was fact a crucial difference that has already been mentioned :
specially notable for its inclusion of two controversial the individual identity of each collage element in a
pieces of sculpture which clearly illustrate this Surrealist Schwitters was unimportant to the artist; he intended his
trait: Claes Oldenburg's Stove and Jim Dine's Lawn- ingredients to be metamorphosed into a pictorial, abstract
mower. The latter work consists of a real lawnmower entity. The actual reading of the separate images is rarely
standing on a wooden base, with its handle attached to a necessary as visual puns are scarce. But this minor ele-
canvas roughly painted in the top half with broad strokes ment in Schwitters is, however, the major element of
to simulate grass. This is probably Dine's most daring Surrealist collages, where the subject-matter and identity
image, as he normally gives more prominence to the of each scrap is important, just as they are in, say,
painterly aspect of his work, even when he attaches to his Rauschenberg. Even if this artist claims that his juxta-
pictures whole dresses, a tuxedo, or a row of shoes, as he positions are not intentionally meaningful, they very often
has done in some of his most recent work. are, and can therefore only be explained on a subcon-
Oldenburg's Stove is a real old gas one, on which are scious level (making them even more Surrealist). Raus-
placed painted, plaster-modelled meat, sausages, bread chenberg's Trophy I (for Merce Cunningham) contains within
and other food. But like all Oldenburg's works, the food the same composition an image of a dancer, a newspaper
is obviously man-made, and could not be mistaken for photograph of a rider thrown from his horse, and a
anything other. Not only is a confrontation with an prominently-placed metal notice 'Caution Watch Your
Oldenburg sculpture startling from the unexpected isola- Step'. In an interview Rauschenberg has denied any in-
tion of food, but also from its scale and surface texture. tended visual pun, but it is nevertheless evident. There
is a definite intellectual basis to Rauschenberg's work
which demands comparable intellectual participation by
George Segal the spectator. Even when he exhibited his North African
Lovers on a bench 1962
Plaster constructions of 1953 in galleries in Rome and Florence,
51* x 511 in. they were called `scatole contemplative' (`thought boxes') .
Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Equally 'contemplative' must be the incorporation in one
Paris
work of photographs of night-club nudes and an `ignudo'
from the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Old Masters are
often vulgarized by their association with the 'pop'
nudes, and visual connexions are surrealistically incon-
gruous: both these interpretations are only possible as a
result of a detailed observation of the different parts of
the compositions.
Such unexpected juxtapositions, crucial to Surrealist
imagery, abound in Pop art, not only in collages but also
in more sculptural assemblages and in paintings. A real
saw cuts away the frame surrounding a Dine painting;
a real chair is attached to the lower part of a Rauschen-
berg canvas and is partially painted with the same colour;
a child under a hairdrier appears next to a jet bomber in
a recent enormous canvas by James Rosenquist; a frog,
from whose mouth hangs a light bulb, is mounted on top
of a washing machine by Edward Kienholz; and in
Paolozzi's film The History of Nothing (which in many
ways is very Surrealist, and relatable to such films as
Walter Ruttmann's Berlin, Symphonie d'une grande ville of