Page 50 - Studio International - May 1968

Barry Flanagan's sculpture

'Claiming attention for objects by statement.'

Charles Harrison

Several of the sculptures shown recently in Barry Flanagan's exhibi- is and is not possible that develop as the negative consequences of
tion at the Rowan Gallery appear disturbingly organic. We tend to tradition in art. This urge to be free of preconception is an important
use that label to refer to work derived from natural forms which have part of Flanagan's character as a sculptor. Of course, in order to be
the capacity to move and by moving to manifest life: 'organic' free to succeed in a situation where precedent is to be avoided, he has
sculpture tends to relate to forms outside itself; be they flora, fauna or also had to be prepared occasionally to fail, and a quixotic empiri-
viscera. But the life of Flanagan's sculptures is dictated by internal cism about his own development has sometimes led Flanagan into
considerations; that is, by the behaviour of the inorganic substances areas where his three-dimensional capacity cannot save him. Two
used in their construction. In the case of two related sculptures, Heap recent 'autobiographical' silkscreen prints demonstrated to my mind
is differentiated from Rack largely by the degree to which the be- that his gift is essentially for sculpture.
haviour of hessian bags filled with sand is different from the As an ironic check on his natural empiricism, Flanagan frequently
behaviour of hessian bags filled with polystyrene chips: they have a `structures' his activity by establishing a hypothetical series and test-
different weight, lie differently, create different surfaces and are ing the vocabulary of art within it. For example, he makes drawings
enlivened by different tensions. Yet we don't perceive the sand, or the as an activity distinct from making sculpture, and has produced a
polystyrene: we perceive the results of their behaviour as manifested `Thesis on line' to try to test the medium as a medium. When is a
in the form taken by the hessian bags. There's a neat analogy in drawing a Drawing? When the line is not defining a section, limiting
human contact: we don't experience people; we learn by intuition, a shape, pointing a direction, describing a plan or vitalizing a sketch,
from the way they behave, what it must be like to be them. what function is left to it that may be taken as peculiar to the activity
The expressive properties of a cloth surface have provided Flanagan of drawing? The Pataphysicians are one group with whom Flanagan
with a medium for investigating the behaviour of three-dimensional has been able to identify. Their 'science of imaginary solutions' pro-
form which is as free as may be from the preconceptions about what vides a refreshing antidote to our normal educational and informa-

Left Stack 1967-8
hessian, polystyrene chips and foam rubber
4 ft 6 in. x 5 ft 6 in. x 2 ft 6 in.
Facing page, top 40; Nov 24 '66
ballpoint on paper
8 x 11¾ in.
Private collection
Facing page, bottom Heap 1967
hessian, sand
1 ft 6 in. x 2 ft 6 in. (radius)

The sculptures illustrated in this article were
shown in Barry Flanagan's one-man
exhibition at the Rowan Gallery in April