Page 54 - Studio International - February 1969

2 consecrate no space in particular, and forfeit
George Segal Self-portrait with head and body 1968
plaster, wood, 66 x 32 x 42 in.
3
Isamu Noguchi Akari
4 board, the fact remains that extreme abstrac- process, and prevents him from the kind of for-
Robert Whitman Pond: in non-functioning state
5 silence—these qualities are present to some
Lukin Jack in the box 1967/68
enamel and acrylic on wood 704 x 73 in.
of the artist as transfigurer of reality. And yet,
thereby the awesome effects they might other- there is a reluctance to declare himself. Segal's
wise conjure. Whatever the impulse propelling reluctance, which is deeply ingrained in his
young sculptors to the architect's drawing philosophy of art, holds him to his established
tion thins out the effects. Nobility, purity, mal development which could open his art to
other, less predictable situations.
degree. What is absent is the force of invention An old friend of Segal's, Robert Whitman, has
that the functional requirements might de- been exploring situations of a different sort.
mand. Whitman was one of the initiators of 'happen-
If McCracken's units are disembodied archi- ings' in the 1950s, and since has elaborated his
tecture, George Segal's paradoxical art of ideas in light, sculptures and films, most of
transfiguration might be called disembodied which have been impressive. Now he has had
sculpture. His new exhibition at the JANIS the good fortune to be offered a huge, high-
GALLERY is more than ever involved with those ceilinged room in the JEWISH MUSEUM with
terrible questions of aesthetic import concern- which to indulge his electronic fantasy, which
ing the boundaries between art and non-art. I he has done with optimal results.
don't say the boundaries between life and art He describes his creation, Pond, as 'a nice, quiet
because I believe Segal has never really de- place to walk around in'. Actually, it is any-
parted from the purlieus of artifice and theatre. thing but quiet. Whitman has seen to it that at
Yet, implicit in his very method is doubt, even no time is the viewer in repose. If he stands in
equivocation, concerning art. front of one of the large discs, on which the
Segal, as everyone knows by now, casts figures mirrorized plastic shudders from the sound
of family and friends in sections which he then waves within, he is likely to be distracted by the
assembles, smooths out, and reworks a little. sound of another disc going into its circuited
These lifesize effigies are then placed in a situ- changes, or an awareness of a change of light
ation which Segal usually tries to make as real- emanating from filmed images behind him, or
istic as possible. If they are to be in a subway, the voice of the author droning nouns at cer-
he takes part of a real subway car; if they are tain intervals. Moreover, he is liable to see him-
to be lovers, he uses a real bed; if they are to be self floating before himself in the concave plas-
on a city street, he uses real street furniture. tic lenses Whitman uses so effectively—a rather
These bits of the world, juxtaposed with Segal's disconcerting apparition.
ambiguous figures, are meant to make the Since the huge room is darkened, a central well
question of the limits of art as acute as possible. of darkness is the abode of the spectator, who
In order to stress his point this time, Segal has then wheels and turns, seeking the fusion of
included more obviously autobiographical effects and in many cases trying to find out the
situations. For instance, a corner of his own inner mechanics of the spectacle. (After about
studio in which he is at work rendering a loving ten minutes, the temptation to look behind the
couple on a mattress. Even the walls are im- tympani of the aluminium discs and see just
portant here, since they bear a series of Segal's how the speakers function is overpowering.)
strange pastels—knotty, greyish studies of parts The point is that Whitman has not bombarded
of the human figure as it performs habitual all the senses all the time. By leaving the central
tasks such as pulling on underwear or adjusting continuum of darkness, he establishes a tem-
a sandal. These, together with an excerpt from porary refuge. The humming, rippling, shush-
Genesis, and the plaster-spattered, real studio ing sounds, combined with the rather dim
table, do offer a diarist's glimpse into the work- lights darting here and there, and occasional
ings of Segal's imagination. It is clear, for in- lightning flashes on the mirrors, can be assimi-
stance, that he is unwilling to make a definitive lated slowly and are not overbearing. Whit-
elision amongst the solids he arrays in this man does not expect the viewer to complete his
studio corner. Haphazardness is essential to his work. It is all there, very skilfully compiled and
idea. The figures themselves, fixed as they circuited. While it is true that the viewer is
might be for a life class, are neither represen- immersed and surrounded by the work, it is
tational nor imaginative. Due largely to Segal's also true that he is not in any way responsible
process, which refuses to depart radically from for it. I believe that the basically theatrical
the real dimension, but at the same time alters nature of the experience derives from Whit-
very slightly the given data, the sculpture itself man's sense of control. He is like an organist
is finally disembodied. waxing eloquent in some grand cathedral. To
At times, this literal disembodiment is deeply my mind, it is certainly the best of the so-called
moving. Certainly one of the most affecting mixed media works we have yet seen.
exhibits in this show is Segal's self-portrait with Far from the electronic environment is the
head and body. He stands, pensive, with a work of Isamu Noguchi whose light sculptures
girl's head in his hands. Her partially com- are composed of the simplest of materials —
pleted body is on an old kitchen chair before paper, light and air—and whose interest always
him. The gesture he conveys is melancholy— centres on the unique presence of each form.
the difficult choices an artist must make when His exhibition at the CORDIER & EKSTROM
he wishes to deal with the familiar. Here he is GALLERY is the masterful culmination of many
taking his place in an old, unwavering tradition years of experiment with the simple lantern