Page 47 - Studio International - December 1969

ed the box? In the first place, although each the lowest common denominator of commun- conform to the group belief that art should
piece is nearly always the work of one man ication. be available to everyone. It can also be
alone, there is bound to be some evidence of Roy Grayson has recently left the group in expendable, ephemeral and even given away
the affinity that first brought them together order to pursue his own work, untramelled by free. This happened at a show that was set
and which five years of collective effort would the commitments of group exhibiting. This is up as a supermarket at the Arts Council's
have strengthened. Also, the self-imposed unfortunate for the group because his work gallery in Cambridge during the summer of
limitations of size and number, though was smoothly integrated into the collective 1968, where simple objects were given away as
relatively recent, have produced a uniformity canon. Within this it provided a counterpoint an ideological gesture that also served as a
of scale that has demanded a further sacrifice to Yale's sardonic humanism, for it used a promotion technique.
of identity. Whether these concessions to the detached, abstract, rather jazzy idiom that The three remaining members all live in Lon-
group have debilitated the development of Grayson applied to a geometric, almost optical don and from here they send their pre-packed
personal talent remains an imponderable configuration that operated flatly or in relief. exhibitions travelling all over the world, so
question, though it could be argued that Both painters have exhibited work in two and that someone, somewhere, is always looking at
collective criticism results in more assurance three dimensions just as both sculptors have their work. They also produce larger, more
while compression of scale often adds vitality shown two-dimensional prints. Mauro Kunst, elaborate, one-off exhibitions and at present
to an image. But as a safety valve to any who was born of a German father in the they are showing an ambitious project in Car-
frustrations that such compromises might Argentine, trained as an architect, and his diff. This was sponsored by the WELSH ARTS
create, all the members exhibit independently sculpture shows a controlled, intellectualized COUNCIL for their own gallery and, after a
whenever their commitments to the group sensuousness. It is also evocative of certain series of weekly discussions, the group
allow it. All four, for example, are individually lyrical extensions of constructivism, for it decided on the theme of the Nativity. The
represented in the current 'Play Orbit' exhi- uses sheet metal and plastic in an open, motivation behind this choice was neither
bition at the ICA gallery. organic manner and is not architectural in the satirical nor iconoclastic. It was simply an
As might be expected, the work of all four is massive, solid sense of the word. It is coiled obvious and topical subject with a wealth of
rational, rather precise and completely un- and tensed and has a dynamic potential that associations that would be an ideal starting
sentimental. What it is not is diluted, is like immobile kinetic work. Another point for a new departure. They have pre-
stereotyped or impersonal. Brian Yale appears individual expression within the canon is sented their version of the Nativity in an
obsessed with the image of a standardized found in John Berry's recent objects, which oblique, referential manner through the
human figure, a simplified, cut-out profile are hard and angular with unyielding, means of a series of sixteen vacuum-formed
like the ones used as statistical ciphers in textured surfaces. Some of his smaller perspex hemispheres. These domes, two feet
official diagrams. In this sense it is a symbol multiples for the 'Compak' collections are in diameter, stand on plinths to raise them to
and it could be taken as an allegory on the simpler; cut-out shapes of sheet metal called average viewing height, and isolated under
dilemma of the individual. This feeling is `repeatables'. These are bent and brilliantly the smooth plastic are sixteen variations on a
emphasized when the mannikin becomes like coloured and can stand singly in different topical and ostensibly banal theme. The
an artist's lay-figure; again a simplified positions to present varying aspects of form or radical departure in this latest show is that
puppet, mute and pathetic and only articu- can be slotted together to make a more com- the separate identity of all three members has
lated by another's will. The suggestion of plex, multicoloured configuration. His more been relinquished, all the work is completely
human dignity ground small is heightened by solid work, sometimes hinged and using mass- anonymous and yet each piece bears the un-
the decorative, schematic environment that produced industrial textures such as metal mistakable stamp of Group One Four. q
the creature inhabits, and also by the tech- floor tread, has a more brooding, brutal
nique of painting in a precisely defined way in a quality.
hard, glossy paint that leaves no opportunity All four have produced multiples. A typical
for ambiguous interpretation. Unambiguous, project was the 'Penny—Black' series, mass-
too, is the intentional similarity to urban signs produced letterpress postcards that actually
and symbols—where everything is reduced to cost a penny, have sold by the thousand, and