Page 62 - Studio International - October1968

Isaac Witkin crisp presentation of this permutated pattern below Isaac Witkin Baalbec 1968
at Waddington Gallery dominates the grave-yard metaphor which arises alumi num 96 x 108 in.
5-26 September from one shape; and the gentle angles and human-
sized scale give the whole work a natural intimacy
There is a singular joy and lack of embarrassment and quiet sadness more important to its mood than
about Isaac Witkin's sculpture at the WADDINGTON its possible associations. Baalbec is more monu-
GALLERY. Its large and easy scale, sensuous direct- mentally rational in mood, composed of similarly
ness, and fertility of formal ideas make most shaped cubic volumes of different sizes which are
recently exhibited 'young British sculpture' of the all humanly comprehensible and controllable. But it
St Martin's scene look tight, self-conscious, and is not a pile of cubic volumes a la David Smith : the
academic. His present artistic freedom is in marked three lower verticals are slimmer and smaller than
contrast to the communal problem-solving of his the horizontally aligned volumes which seem to
British counterparts. defy gravity above; the weightlessness of the forms
So is his emphasis on the essentially sculptural is accentuated by the light-reflecting hard dark-
experience of real space, scale, light on mass, sense brown surface; the spaces between the volumes is
of place, and kinesthesia. One is invited to walk formed like the volumes themselves, and the result
around or through the works in a directed manner; is a formal composition in which space and 'mass'
one's own space is cupped, swirled, articulated, by play equal parts. This composition moves, both
the works' concavity, directional axial movement, diagonally up and down and in a swirl of axes
or placement of separate parts; and one is often un-confined to any implied frame, constantly con-
conscious of a monolithic total form for each piece fronting one directly with an assymetric tension
implied in its self-presentation through front, back resolved but not balanced. Assymetric tension also
or side views. This makes Witkin's work almost plays a major role in Shogun, the most tough,
classical in its acceptance of a sculptural tradition disturbing, and gutsy piece in the show. With cool
extending past contemporary glossy magazines to calm Witkin has thrust a concave curved plane
old masters like Brancusi and Bernini; as such it cupping space into one side of the hieratic frontality
forms a closer parallel to the work of Barnett New- of huge folded planes. These two parts are not
man, Anthony Benjamin, and Tony Smith than to `attached', they do not flow into each other grace-
the currently popular niggling over bridging fully, nor is their juncture hidden; they are
`painting' and 'sculpture' categories through somehow interrelated by a bent plane which is the
multi-coloured three-dimensional designs. only convex element in the piece. The vast ex-
Witkin's three works amply fill the gallery space. panses of planes opening into space, an expansive-
Each is life-sized or larger; each has a surface of ness enhanced by the light and warm terracotta
light-and space-sensitized single colour which colour of the copper-flecked surface, contributes to
directs attention from its steel material to its the awesome quality of this impossible piece. Its
sculptural form; each uses basic planes and volumes sublimity, contrasted with the rational grandeur of
in a non-referential manner. But each work is Baalbec and the natural intimacy of Dirge, presents
quite different from the others. a very impressive demonstration of Witkin's
Perhaps the most internally self-satisfying work is mastery of the language of scale, light, space,
the very intuitive Dirge: a place-establishing piece weight, and composiotin. And one leaves the gal-
of three separate parts. Each part is a slab-like lery with a re-affirmed feeling that, in the hands of
plane floating above its bent base; each plane floats an artist as good as Witkin, sculpture as a tradi-
in a different gravitationally-pulled slant; each tional medium of communication for basic human
plane has a different combination of curved, feelings is still extremely vibrant.
pointed, of flat terminations. The simple logic and Barbara M. Reise

Charles Spencer talks to younger artists; but a total dual commitment is rare. Even excellent theatre designers who cannot draw a line.
Nicholas Georgiadis artists like Berard and Tchelitchew, distinguished in both Thus you can see that the aims of these two activi-
exhibiting oils at the New Art Centre fields, emerge as one performer, not two distinct ones as ties -stage designing and painting-are so different
16 October-9 November you do. that they have to be kept separate.
and gouaches and watercolours N.G. In order to discuss this I have to step out of
at Annely Juda myself and see myself as a kind of freak. To me the I suppose one reason for critical ambivalence towards
22 October-23 November only problem is time-the theatre devours an enor- your work is the traditional English suspicion of diverse
mous amount of time, which is why I only design talents in one person, a preference for cosy simplification.
Born in Athens in 1925, Georgiadis trained as an very occasionally. Perhaps.
architect in Athens and New York before studying
at the Slade School from 1953 to 1955. He now You must be aware of a certain reluctance to accept you On the other hand, I hope in a more subtle way, I do find
teaches at the Slade and is a British citizen. His fully as a painter; one critic even suggested you should much in common between your stage work and the
first one-man exhibition was at the REDFERN stick to the theatre. paintings. For instance both share strong architectonic
GALLERY in 1959 and he has held subsequent shows I can assure you that there are people in the theatre preferences; in the paintings there is even a suggestion of
at the MOLTON and HAMILTON GALLERIES; also at who suggest I should stick to painting. This sort of a proscenium framework in which the architectural or
the MERLIN GALLERY, Athens, NEW GALLERY, Bel- comment is totally irrelevant, stemming from geometrical shapes are contained.
fast and GALLERIA D'ARTE NAVIGLIO 2, Milan. cliché ideas about theatre design. It reminds me of It is possible that my use of symmetry reads to
Group exhibitions include the 1955 Carnegie Inter- provincial landladies who refuse lodgings to you as something resembling a proscenium. But
national, Documenta III, Kassel, 1964, and the theatricals. if you examine what I am doing you will find that
Venice Biennale, 1966. in both the symmetrical and assymetrical pictures
He has designed for the Metropolitan Opera Do you see the two activities as mutally sustaining, does the aim is to suggest an image continuing beyond
New York, the Old Vic London, Royal Court one feed the other; or do you keep them quite separate.? the limits of the canvas.
Theatre London, Vienna State Opera, La Scala You seem to be under a misconception. I think it is
Milan, Staatsoper Berlin, and for the Royal the word design which is confusing. One talks of Yes, I see that clearly; of course frames contain and can
Opera House Covent Garden, including the theatre design and one is also aware that design is be overrun, that is a kind of drama. You would not, I
ballets 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Nutcracker', of extreme importance in painting. In the theatre imagine, deny the preoccupation with architecture.
and Verdi's 'Aida'. the major component is atmosphere, that indefinable In the theatre I only use architectural shapes if
quality achieved by the most diverse means to they are needed: you cannot afford to have
C.S. Many famous painters have designed for the theatre assist the production in involving the public in the obsessions in the theatre, that is the prerogative of
-Picasso, Matisse, Derain, de Chirico, as well as fate of the protagonists. This is why you can have the author, whether writer, composer or choreo-