Page 46 - Studio International - December 1969

The conventional image of the solitary artist 4
Li Yuan-chia
in his studio is becoming an anachronism, Sculpture + Architecture = Tomorrow, 1968
just as the unique painting or sculpture is 5
Loading for Germany a 'Compack' container,
becoming outmoded. There is still some fame designed to fit into any of the Group's 3 Renault cars
and much money to be won through the
6
`gallery system'; but the patronage that pro- Installation shot of Group One Four Exhibition
duces it remains aristocratic in tone and wilful at the Arnolfini Gallery Bristol, 1969.
in intent, with the artist standing alone as the 7 The 'Eurominiprotopack', a pre-packed graphic
passive supplicant to the personal tastes of postal exhibition showing the range of activities and
gallery owners, critics and customers. In explaining the aims of the Group (right).
The' Compack' box, a complete small exhibition
other words, conditions that would appear in a container (left).
feudal and humiliating to any modest trades
unionist are eagerly sought after by ambitious
artists. Such a state of affairs is hardly in
accord with the democratic aspirations of our
society; surely most artists would like to go
down in history as reflecting the milieu of
their own time.
One possible way of achieving this is through
the use of new materials and techniques and
this can only be done thoroughly by obtaining
the resources of industry, a less capricious
patron and one more likely to be objective in
cusi's column. Both the column and the point motive. Another way is to form a group, material, and the efficiency of their press infor-
are the expression of an aspiration and an where corporate ideas, collective thinking and mation system is of a standard that makes
embodiment of a spiritual attitude. The point communal working offer a solution to many many galleries and public institutions look
is generally a disc, sometimes completely flat technical and financial problems and also decidedly amateur. For some reason these
and flexible, which can be thrown at a large suggest more of an analogy with modern methods are occasionally frowned upon,
magnetized disc (another point?) hanging in times. An extension of this is for a group to though the group is merely systematizing a
space and stick to its surface. Sometimes the combine industrial techniques with the practice that individual artists have long
point is made of wood, magnetized and methods of the business world; this sounds fumbled with; and any modern business
painted, or surmounted with a circular photo- like plain common sense. organization that neglected this practice
graph. Elsewhere the point is a circle painted One collection of artists that quite openly would be considered a failure. Like any
with a faint outline on a wall or a small cir- exploits all these factors is Group One Four. efficient business, Group One Four have
cular protrusion within a uniformly coloured It was first launched in 1964 by Brian Yale regular meetings, cost all their projects, study
surface. Sometimes the point is a circular and Mauro Kunst, two independent artists and rationalize problems of packaging and
mirror, several of which hang on a wall at that time teaching at Hornsey College of transportation, methods and materials, profit
making interrupted reflections of the environ- Art. From casual conversation it became and loss, outlay and income. As a result they
ment. Occasionally, the point which symbo- apparent that they had sympathies in common have produced two kinds of packaged ex-
lizes the beginning and end of creation is not while more vigorous discussions revealed the hibition that can be duplicated in quantity
a disc but a crescent, a triangle, or an irregu- potential for a small, organized group of and are designed to fit into predetermined
lar shape. Like the circular points, these too artists with common ideas and what could be containers which fit into standard vehicles or
are often magnetized and can be moved developed into a common ideology. John conform to Post Office standards. Again, like
around on the surface of the 36-inch diameter Berry, another tutor at Hornsey, joined them commercial organizations, they have develo-
discs painted with different colours on each and, as the ideas and the ideology coalesced ped a specific jargon that is not intended to be
side and suspended from the ceiling. These the group was joined by Roy Grayson, so that obscurantist or esoteric but is simply a verbal
large discs are called 'Mathematics = 0'. a distinct policy with a related aesthetic was shorthand that simplifies a situation of
Depending on how many of the elements are gradually formed. This was hammered out growing complexity. To the familiar con-
on the surface at any one time the title of the by means of intensive debate and unsparing, cepts of 'software' and 'hardware' they have
work changes; thus, if there are 4 points, collective criticism—usually at Kunst's flat. added the `Compack', a 75 cm cube made of
the title would be 'Mathematics-4=0.' There And it is typical of their objectivity that they aluminium that will fit exactly into a Renault
are many variations of mathematics but none finally named the group simply from the num- or Ford van or the freight bay of an aeroplane.
of them are exact replicas of one another. ber on the door —14 — One Four. Into the sections of this box goes a complete
Li's work extends to poetry too, which like What eventually appeared was a body con- exhibition of eight 'masterworks' and sixteen
the points and the Life Station, and the sisting of two painters (Grayson and Yale) and `multiworks' — enough to fill an average-
entire exhibition which goes under the title two sculptors (Berry and Kunst) that has sized gallery—and it can be transported
of 'Moon Show,' is equally simple and enig- become one of the most widely-known groups quickly and cheaply to any destination. So,
matic. It is the poems rather than repro- in this country and one with a distinct with careful forward planning, it is possible
ductions of the works that convey the flavour character of its own. Without deliberately for the group to have any reasonable number
of what he wants to say: planning it, but by the process of what might of exhibitions circulating at one time. The
Who are you be called collective intuition, they have `Compack' is supplemented by another in-
Who are you developed a strategy that uses the techniques novation, the 'Eurominiprotopack', a small
Who are you and principles of the world of commerce, and box (50 x 62.5 X 5cm) that can be sent by
? ? ? this strategy they have deliberately applied to post or rail and contains a complete graphic
You never know the man will turn up the world of art. display.
You never know what he will do next q For example, they print their own elegant Is the work inside equal to the flair and pro-
JASIA REICHARDT letter heading and issue their own publicity fessional expertise that envisaged and design-