Page 55 - Studio International - February 1969

principle. His first self-illuminating sculptures serious gallery and generouslyoffers wall space with graphite, stressing gloss in some areas,
were made in 1944, and, as he explains in his to guests as well as to gallery regulars. matte effects in others, so that the whole grid-
catalogue, he was spurred to further experi- In a nicely balanced exhibition, Bykert pre- like foundation slips into marvellous ambi-
ment when the mayor of Gifu in Japan asked sented a one-man show of drawings by Brice guity. Some of his drawings are very light, and
him to concern himself with the folding lan- Marden in one room, and works by three guests they too are worked over with tremendous care
terns for candles made there. 'I thought and two regulars in another. Marden's draw- in order that the finest nuances of light are not
lanterns could be luminous sculptures and set ings were exceptionally good. I have rarely lost. Marden's artistry is impeccable. His
about to integrate the use of electricity and seen such intensely concentrated, highly choices are always assured, as in his choice of
methods of support in their structure, to elimi- finished drawings by a younger artist. Many of papers to support his imagery. Here, the sim-
nate the traditional wooden rims (Wa) and to them are exercises in nuance which require plicity of his serial schemes counts for little
utilize mulberry bark paper which best diffuses intensive scanning. Setting up a series of rect- since there is so much going on in such sub-
the light to the surface....' angles, for instance, Marden works them over limated and just ways.
DORE ASHTON
Noguchi claims these lanterns are valid sculp-
tures, and I couldn't agree with him more.
Where his marbles beckon the light from with-
out, his Akari, as he calls these light sculptures,
suffuse the light from within. The structures he
chooses, often based on topological curiosities
of shifting surfaces, inevitably make the most
of the dynamic quality of light. In addition, he
has a way of texturing his paper which facets
and makes more interesting the broad general
planes he deals with. The range of shape is
extraordinary. He can take simple box shapes
and structure them forcefully into a tower of
light. He makes gigantic spheres that put to
shame the cheap commercial lampshades
copied from his early Akari. He also draws on
organic imagery, insectoid shapes, and shapes
which almost certainly derive from his experi-
ments in other media. Noguchi is a master
shaper and whether it is something as fragile
as paper and light, or something as eternal as
stone that he is shaping, the sureness ofhis hand
is always apparent.
From his beginnings as a pioneer in the shaped
canvas, Sven Lukin has been the baroque
member of the confraternity. He has never
repressed his delight in the sinuous curve, the
shape that loops out joyously. He has always
displayed a healthy disdain for the wan and
flat colours others have used in shaped can-
vases. There is a jaunty, devil-may-care tem-
perament displayed in almost anything he
undertakes, and it is very much in evidence in
his exhibition at the PACE GALLERY.
Lukin is no longer building plywood, three-
dimensional appendages to his paintings, but
relying rather on trompe-l'oeil drawing within
the eccentric shapes of his paintings on mason-
ite. Bright violets, yellows, oranges and lively
greys are lavishly applied. Lukin prefers, as
always, forms that have the inherent energy to
expand. Such a form is the spiral, of which he
makes great capital. Or an irregular scissor
shape. Or even a square from which issue
expansive, irregular forms. The insouciance
with which he lets his giant loops and bows
spring out is admirable.
Straight painting exhibitions are becoming in-
creasingly rare. Even rarer are galleries pre-
senting the work of serious young painters that
have not in some way cut their swath in the
greater world of glamour. The BYKERT GAL-
LERY, which has only been operating a couple
of years, and which seems to have taken up
where the Green Gallery left off, is such a