Page 17 - Studio International - March 1968

phenomenon 'British Art'. There are, would benefit from the hothouse environ­ techniques may be at the heart of the
to be sure, half-a-dozen artists in this ment. A number have tried it and a handful whole affair. Several of our most interesting
country who have made what will emerge are thriving on it. Contrariwise, there are artists have been very consciously involved
as a real contribution to the international artists in New York who would probably with either the analysis or exploitation
mainstream-and a contribution that be better off in London-whose talent is of presentation techniques. I would instance
could not have originated anywhere perhaps distorted by their present Hamilton again, Paolozzi, and Peter
outside London·. This contribution is not environment. Phillips. Patrick Caulfield is a good example­
'British Art', however-not in the sense Whatever the shortcomings of the present of an artist who has a built-in presentation
that the term is being employed in militant gallery situation-and of collectors, public technique, though he does not perhaps
circles. 'British Art' means-if I may bodies, critics and academic establish­ manipulate this consciously. He doesn't
presume to offer a definition of a concept ments-the final responsibility must lie need to.
so amorphous-anything produced in the with the artist himself. I fail to see why the It is easier to talk of presentation
U.K. which is received with total disinterest public-even the small public needed to · techniques in the case of flgurative art,
in New York (or else not received at all). sustain a healthy art scene-should be but even where non-figuration is concerned
I should add that the paranoid inferiority expected to work itself into a fever of certain artists have been able to give their
complexes of two or three successful excitement over second-hand ideas work a presence so that the art-object
artists has been drawn upon to lend indifferently re-phrased in acres of acrylic comes to meet the viewer half-way. Too
spurious substance to the whole notion. paint or fibreglass. To get away with often the viewer is just offered some bland
In any case, the use of the term 'British playing the prima donna (a bizarre ambition configuration of stains hanging on a wall
Art' as anything but a factual description at the best of times) you must give your and is expected to guess what the artist
is absurdly chauvinistic. There has been, audience value for what�ver they're putting is getting at (if you should presume to
I repeat, a British contribution to the down. Cliches, if you like-but let's have ask the artist what he is getting at, the best
international art scene during the past cliches with panache. you can reasonably hope for is a petulant
decade and this can profitably be discussed I'm not suggesting thahi'rt should be half-explanation). On the non-figurative
-but objectively, please. To build a card­ conceived in a spirit of 'give the public level presentation techniques may be
board fortress around it and mumble what it wants'. God forbid. But give it subtle-as with Dick Smith and Mark
'You may not think it's much but to us it's something it feels it should want-some­ Lancaster-but they must, none-the-less,
home'-this kind of thing is ridiculous. thing which excites it, or terrifies it, or exist. You must be aware that you are
It has often been suggested that we have makes it think (in London there's probably looking at something worth looking at.
to build up an image of 'British Art' to more chance of the latter, if anybody's The full implication of the work may unfold
compete with the aggressive image­ thinking of trying). Given this kind of art. very slowly, but there should be some
building of the Americans. The Americans the merchandisi.n,g machinery will manifest immediate reward. It isn't just what you
can afford to be chauvinistic; they are itself spontaneously. present but how you present it. That's what
setting the pace and have some justifica­ Naive? Try it out and see. If you're art's all about.
tion in expecting other people to make the sceptical, look at what happened a few I think it's undeniable that whatever
scene on their terms. As an art capital years ago when artists began to interest impetus British art (out of inverted commas)
London does not compare with New York; themselves in the possibilities of screen­ has had over the past few years has been
for very straight-forward, practical reasons. printing. Silk-screen techniques demanded largely due to the Pop thing which was
To attempt to compete is suicidal and­ a very direct kind of imagery which had concerned-however crudely-with
what is more-unnecessary. A good deal an immediate public appeal. The presentation and was thus able to reach a
of the best art to have emerged in London screen print, at its best, was not just a public. The non-figurative bias which
recently gains by the very fact that the substitute for a painting, and with only a followed has-with the exception of one or
artist is not subject to the pressures that couple of hundred pounds a buyer could two individual artists-lacked the sheer
he would be under in New York. A concrete lay the foundations of a decent collection. physical impact to be found in the work of
example is Richard Hamilton; I consider The net result was a new kind of publisher/ American artists like Frank Stella and
it extremely doubtful that he would have dealer-Editions A/ecto is probably the Robert Morris. Simplicity, allied to logic or
been able to develop his detached, prime example-who was able to work some recognizable system, can be a
analytical approach to popular culture in within a new and more realistic economic powerful presentation technique. Simplicity
New York. It would be a waste of time to structure. by itself is apt to look like an apology for
make a direct comparison between spiritual and intellectual impotence.
Hamilton and, say, Rauschenberg. What I One of the curious sidelights of.the In short, I feel that the loss of momentum
will say is that you can hang a Hamilton critic's calling (if that's the right word for in London today is due npt at all to lack
next to a Rauschenberg without it-some artists would prefer to talk of of potential, and only incidentally to an
embarrassment because both are highly the critic's duty) is that he discovers many inadequate and obsolete merchandising
talented artists and each has been able painters and sculptors are really rather system. It springs from a failure on the part
to respond to the opportunities offered by intelligent. Of course, in a few cases, of the great majority of locally-based
his own environment. London remains a this may be evident in their work. In most artists to make the best use of their talents.
cultural centre and there is enough cases, however, I am led to wonder just If an artist wants to opt 0ut of the whole
intellectual activity here to S\JStain an what gets lost between the dialectical scene and cultivate his own obsessions­
individual talent who has the requisite nous brilliance of the early hours and the canvas good luck to him. If he wants to communi­
and is prepared to look after himself. Let's itself. Maybe it has been dissipated into cate with the public he must learn how to.
not kid ourselves, though, that anything the angst which surrounds neurotic It's no good artists expecting the public
comparable to the New York hothouse worrying over the status of 'British Art' to come to them-there's no point, even,
exists in this city. All we have here is a and maintaining a standard of living. Or in letting potential buyers in on the
few garden frames (under which-we maybe it's all still there-in which case activities of the artists' union. Buyers have
mustn't be too modest-we have managed there's something sadly amiss with the other things on their mind and will soon
to grow a couple of prize cucumbers). presentation techniques employed. abandon the whole business as incestuous
There are, doubtless, British artists who I fancy this business of presentation and boring. □
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