Page 56 - Studio International - February 1968

Takis's unlimiteds are unlimited, so, presumably it must be economically artists whose thought and expression naturally imply
impossible, at least at present, to issue these in un- industrialization.
limited editions. It has become increasingly apparent for some time
What of the validity of mass-produced art as an art- that many artists are working with materials and
form ? techniques which, for want of proper training, they
The editors are careful to point out that what they are are not able to handle competently. Why should this
Cyril Barrett offering are not replicas or simplified versions of side of the production of the work not be left to those
existing originals, such as reproductions of paintings who know about such things? The artist cannot be a
or prints, or plaster copies of the Venus de Milo. An jack-of-all-trades. In earlier times-and in other arts
'unlimited' has no original, or rather, each 'unlimited' (architecture, the cinema)-he was not expected to be.
A mass-produced art! To some people the very idea is is an original. There may be a prototype but it has not It would be wrong to think that because works are
absurd, repulsive. Art, they would say, is one thing, privileged status. mass-produced they are easier to make than other
mass-production another. It is of the very essence of The obvious objection to mass-produced art is that works of art. Once the process has been set in motion,
art in that each work should be unique, unrepeatable. the hand of the artist is not present. He merely pro- production is, of course, easy; in fact, the artist has
Bronze casts, prints, copies, etc., are the repetitions vides an idea which is realized by other hands than nothing to do at all. But this simply means that all the
of original works, of course. But that is different. In the his. Hence the personal element in artistic expres- work has to go into planning the production. As Takis
first place, they are limited, if not artificially by being sion is lacking. A mass-produced work is of the same says:
produced in limited numbers, certainly by the nature status as a well-designed ornament or toy: it belongs I had to re-think the space, the volume of my sculptures,
of the process-the plates, blocks, moulds wear out. to industrial design rather than to art. To see that this slowly turning the originals into prototypes, simplifying
Besides, there are usually subtle variations in each is so-thus runs the objection-one has only to com- them until the volume and space change-and in their
copy. But mass-produced art is uniform and im- pare a painting or sketch with a print, a print with a economy and beauty they become objects fit to be
personal. reproduction. At each stage something of the produced.
Well, the debate has now been moved from the artist's idea is lost, for the artist conveys his idea But is the end-product comparable to a hand-made
theoretical to the practical level by the publication, through his handling of the medium. No one would work? Takis himself has to admit that the original has
if that is the correct word, of two sets of unlimited choose a reproduction if he could have a print (by the to be simplified. Does this simplification not reduce it
editions of Takis's works, one by Editions Claude same artist) or a print if he could have an original to the status of a sophisticated ornament or mechani-
Givaudan in Paris, the other by Jeremy Fry's Unlimit- sketch or painting. cal toy? Not necessarily, and in Takis's case, I would
ed, Bath. So far five pieces are on the market: three While this is true of painting or drawing, which say, not at all. A mechanical toy (which is nothing
series of Signals (Unlimited) and Electro Signal I and involve manual techniques, is it true universally? Is it more than that) is amusing to look at; it is clever. We
Musical (Givaudan). not, perhaps, a romantic prejudice that the hand of the admire the skill required to make a doll walk and talk,
In its handout, Unlimited says: artist is the sole vehicle of artistic expression ? Even a mechanical nightingale sing. An ornament may
There is nothing complicated in the idea of unlimiteds. paintings by great masters were not always executed indeed be beautiful but its function (if again it is
We simply want to mass-produce, and make the in their entirety by the master's hand, and they seem nothing more than an ornament) is merely to deco-
technique of mass-production available, where the none the worse for that. The artist's idea is not totally rate, enrich, relieve the drabness of and set off its
work of an artist is by implication mass-produceable. In blocked by the intervention of an alien hand. And surroundings. It does not invite contemplation or stir
the work of many artists today unique manual tech- what of a relief by, say, Victor Pasmore? Would the the imagination.
nique is no longer necessary.... Only the present effect be different if a carpenter, rather than Pasmore A work of art, on the other hand, is not admired
economic system of the art world prevents these artists himself, put the work together, to the artist's specifi- simply for the cleverness and skill that went into its
producing their work cheaply in unlimited numbers. cations? Does an architect have to chisel each block making or for the pleasure it gives to the eye. It stirs
What is being claimed here is that (1) mass-produced of stone and place it in position in order to realize his the imagination and invites contemplation. This is
art, or rather art involving the techniques of mass- idea? just what these works of Takis do.
production, is a valid form of art; (2) mass-produced The makers of unlimiteds do not claim that all works The cheapest of all his works offers very little to
art can and should be available to all; (3) only econo- can be mass-produced but only that some can. They please the eye. It consists of a needle suspended
mic motives can prevent this from happening, that is, do not propose to mass-produce art so much as to above a magnet. Yet embodied in this simple object
there are no technical or aesthetic reasons for make an art of mass-production. is a wealth of meaning: the needle mysteriously defy-
limiting the editions of mass-produced art. We don't want to design reduced or simplified versions ing gravity by the invisible power of the magnet, the
I am not sure whether this last point is meant to be of the artist's work to make it possible to produce it two holding a strange dialogue with each other, the
polemical or not. I don't think so. Of the twenty three industrially. Any work whose content depends on the needle delicately poised and quivering, the magnet
works available in Editions Claude Givaudan only two artist's hand should be left as it is. We are interested in solid and seemingly inert.