Page 15 - Studio International - October 1966

approach was his item 'Any Play or No prior to the events were about these photograph of the site and one of the finished
Play'—the final piece of a happening/event experiences expressed through use of work. Epikote', which is tougher than
at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, deliberate symbolism. The bed—a complex concrete, is an ideal though expensive
in 1965. While the front curtain was down construction which incorporated a hierarchy medium, and a five-gallon drum, which
Boyle invited the audience from the stalls of objects representing various degrees of costs apprximately £25, is just enough for a
to come on to the stage through the side reality—was furthermore completely utili- picture 7 X 7 ft, depending on the sort of
door. When the curtain went up five minutes tarian and had been used by Boyle himself material which is being presented (bricks,
later, the stage was full of miscellaneous The objects included: realistic painting, dust, leaves, sand, etc). This is the size Boyle
people milling around, handling the various statues, wax casts of diseased faces, two would like to work in but at the moment
stage props and trying on the costumes television sets (one positive, one negative), finds too expensive.
scattered around in vast quantities. Members mirror, window through the adjacent wall, The financial aspect also makes certain
of the audience, finding themselves in the and the bed itself. This and his other sites impracticable, as the equipment has
position of actors, felt that something was assemblages stressed the dichotomy between still to be perfected. Apart from the site on
expected of them but without being sure the aesthetic and the meaningful. The the chosen four-square-mile strip of London,
what it might be. There were no directions. aesthetic quality which one might or might Boyle has also worked on a beach at Camber,
During the twenty minutes that followed not find in his work is irrelevant to the concept Sussex, and has made a number of studies
nothing occurred that would suggest that and intent underlying these activities. from it, which were included in his recent
the event was in any way structured. The The presentations which Boyle started exhibition at INDICA GALLERY in London.
juke box which was brought on to the stage working on in 1965 deal with yet another Several points of great interest emerge from
in order to merge the proceedings with a type of exploration of chance. These consist Mark Boyle's recent works with Epikote'.
party failed to work. The event could have of real street, beach and bomb site surfaces, The viewer is presented with images which
been described as an essay in anticlimax—no permanently fixed with a plastic produced by are intensely lyrical and aesthetic, although
one was happy about it except Mark Boyle, Shell called Epikote', and shown vertically, these qualities are as unintentional as any
who accepted the outcome unreservedly as i.e. hanging on the wall. The only deliberate other effect which they create. The relation-
something that had occurred as it was meant act of transformation in this procedure is ships of leaves, cigarette butts, bricks and
to. If one provokes chance the result is what the placing of a horizontal surface vertically. shells are there by virtue of being isolated
it is. The unexpected becomes the fulfilment The presentations are made as follows: from their general environment. The
of expectation. For Boyle the evening with his house as the centre, Boyle has chosen process employed discards both art con-
would have been more interesting had there a strip of London, approximately one mile ditioning and anti-conditioning—it runs
been no props at all on the stage. This has wide and extending one mile north and one parallel to conscious attitudes of what art
also something to do with his attitude to mile south of Shepherds Bush. This strip is or is not, should or should not manifest.
boredom. To him no manifestation of life, cut out of a map, scale fifteen inches to the If one finds the lack of such attitudes
whether provoked or not, is intrinsically mile, hangs on a wall in his studio. The permissive and lacking in heroic declaration,
boring. Boredom exists in the mind of the selection of a site is made by throwing a dart then a whole sphere of creative activity as
recipient/consumer/spectator and in his at the map. When the site is located as yet unexplored will be cut off from one's
frustrated expectations, heightened by exactly as possible, Boyle throws down a rod experience. Seeing Boyle's presentation in a
paying a sum of money at the door for which represents a predetermined side of the gallery, one accepts them as an art experience
which he wants to be recompensed in some picture, and thus the exact area is estab- —but what in fact happens is that the
way. lished. Plastic rubber is poured on to the spectator is invited to look at something in
The events were the result of Boyle's search surface to which any loose particles and a way to which he is not accustomed— to
for an absolute and total work. Originally he fragments immediately adhere. The rubber respond to and to examine nature in a
attempted to achieve the same end through is removed and later, in the studio, Epikote' critical way.
use of symbols in his assemblages. The is poured on to the underside of the rubber
architypal work of this phase was his bed. mould, which is eventually peeled off, Statements by Mark Boyle and illustrations of his
This construction dealt with stages of life at leaving an exact replica of the site on the work and one of his 'events' appear on pages 196-7.
which a human being ceases to be a self- surface of the plastic.
conscious organism and becomes a part of the Boyle aims at making as perfect a presenta-
general forces of nature—birth, sex and tion of a given area as possible. Ideally there
death. All Boyle's poems and assemblages should be no difference whatever between a

Charles S. Spencer writes for several journals and cartoons for the Evening Standard, and is currently who lectures for the British Film Institute; and W. R.
reports on art in Britain for the New York Times. working on a book on Kandinsky, which will be Lefanu, librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons,
published next year. He recently visited Poland on London.
Gillo Dorfles, the Italian writer and critic, professor of behalf of Studio International.
aesthetics in the University of Milan, contributes to Dr Fritz Neugass is New York art correspondent for
Art International, Quadrum and many other journals. Book reviewers in this issue are William. Watson, Weltkunst and other German journals.
He was formerly editor of Aut Aut and Domus. professor of Chinese art and archaeology in the Uni-
versity of London; Gene Baro; Kevin Gough-Yates,
Frank Whitford is researching into early twentieth
century German painting and graphic art. He draws