Page 46 - Studio International - January 1968

the negative feature of the plastic position—takes on demonstration of the difference between contem- creative process become. Kaspar Thomas Lenk
a greater importance than the work itself. porary English and German sculpture. (b. 1933) composes his sculptures from identical
This displacement of attention from the sculptural Hans Nagel (b. 1926) is also committed to the discs. For him the process is merely a demonstra-
composition to the negative space it conditions is `finite space' concept, although in different terms. tion of the implications of a certain element. His
in principle carried through in the work of Otto His use of iron tubes leads him as it were to an unwillingness to encroach on the sculptural medium
Herbert Hajek (b. 1927). Hajek states: 'The space is introverted variant of the space problem— it is not is so sublimated that it hardly offends. Lenk's
shaped by means of bronze, wood, concrete and the 'environment' (as a consequence of sculptural dialectical intention is to orientate plane-surfaced,
all the materials I use, whereby the tactile features positions) that is to be found but 'volume' (the inherently non-sculptural elements in terms of a
of the material function to produce an unconscious, physical appearance). Nagel draws visual energies particular creative possibility which is presented as
non-present space, which is for me a practical from this situation by bending the tubes into one upright and three-dimensional. Nevertheless the
sculptural implement. In order to present this focal plane or along a symmetrical axis, so that the difference between Lenk and a sculptor such as
space as a res extensa, Hajek creates 'colour paths', enclosed volumes are upset, compressed and forced Hauser is not one of principle; it lies only in the
outside the sculpture itself. These cover not only against an external centre of gravity, as if about to degree of abstraction. What Hauser conceives as
the sculpture but also the floor, walls and even break out from their iron cladding. The paradoxical `material', 'enthusiastic process', 'monadic object',
ceiling of the surrounding room. He thus shares principle of German sculpture— that it is possible appears in Lenk's work as 'element', 'formal
with Prantl, Sommer and Spindel an ambivalent to validate a contained subject-matter only by demonstration' and 'hermetic structure'. Funda-
relationship to the given dimensions—the forma- negating it—also finds confirmation here, though mentally, both sculptors give articulation to a
tion of 'space' can only be experienced in so far as Nagel's creative process stands out against that of monolithic given factor by initiating a counter-
it is disturbed. The parallels seem even closer the other sculptors through the greater abstraction process, in contrast to the younger English sculp-
between the different artists' concepts of the sculp- of its terms. The dimension of 'volume' is not tors who aim, in non-monolithic works, to define
tural factors: where Prantl has a 'monolith' as his attained directly, but only via the medium of completely new spatial positions.
point of departure, Hauser a 'monad' and Sommer `tube'. Hans Nagel is not concerned with the German sculptors do not of course concentrate in
a 'uniform given factor', Hajek bases his concept intrinsic reality of material; he is interested in this way on closed, contained objects because their
on a closed 'finite space' : 'it is of no interest to me particular elements only for the creative possi- form makes a special appeal: the underlying reason
that science today is concerned with infinite bilities they represent. is that only through the monolithic do they feel it
space...' The reference made to open space in However, the more abstract a sculptor conceives possible to attain objectivity. Utz Kampmann (b.
sculptures such as Philip King's provides another his dimensions to be, the more active does the 1935) for example creates monolithic objects, al-