Page 45 - Studio International - March 1969

strange, otherworldly visual effect. Each not particularly revolutionary. There is a the artist. Where it is lacking the result seems
piece consists of a number of stainless-steel piece by Gabo in the Tate Gallery, dated not 'art' but a contrivance—willed by the
rods (of a different shape and scale for each 1920, which consists of a single vibrating mind, with no concurrence of the nerves and
piece, and each rod bent in its own slightly wire. Strobe lighting (usually of a lower instinct. Faced by such objects, we find our-
different way), set in cement, vibrating at a frequency) has been used by Boyd Mefferd selves commenting on the technical skill that
constant and unvarying rate of twenty or and is also familiar in psychedelic night- has gone into them. Faced by a Tsai, one
thirty vibrations per second. But the flashing clubs; and the principle of feeding back the recovers a primitive and naive wonder at its
of the strobe makes the eye see the rods as spectator's behaviour to modify the behaviour inanimate evocation of the organic.
oscillating asymmetrically—slower or faster of the machine has been used by Richard Other artists before Tsai have used psycho-
according to the frequency of the flashes, Hogle and several others. physiological optical effects—what used to be
ranging from relaxed undulation to excited The point is that Tsai knows his sophisticated called 'optical illusions' until it was
palpitating. techniques so well that the ingenuity has been appreciated that in this context the distinc-
In some of the pieces, the rods are capped put behind him and become a taken-for- tion between the illusory and the real can
with steel plates. Each of these plates then granted skill or medium—like handwriting be arbitrary. Of course, the most traditional
appears to be two plates merging into each for others. As can be seen from the bio- visual art takes advantage of the known con-
other's space, making a visual reality out of a graphical note which follows this article, a straints of the human optical system and the
physical impossibility. great deal of specialized experience and psychology of the brain. But one sometimes
Some of the pieces incorporate a simple feed- research has gone into these creations; yet feels that an Op artist is using his special
back device. One consists of antenna-like rods they look effortless and spontaneous, as if the knowledge to trick us by baffling the percep-
radiating from a small central solid, recalling artist's co-ordination of his technical re- tion, exploiting the laziness or credulity of the
some spider or squid. The rods have metal sources were indissoluble from the co- human eye. Perhaps this is because one is still
tips on the ends, some of which are sensed so ordination of his own instincts and intelli- thinking in terms of optical illusions. Tsai does
as to pick up static electricity when a spectator gence. This power to co-ordinate and organize not make one suspect a conjuring-trick; but
approaches. This causes a switch to slow down is, of course, one traditionally associated with one reason for the awe his sculptures inspire
the frequency of the strobe-flashes, which in
turn causes the antennae to tremble excitedly.
Two other sculptures may be manually con-
trolled by a knob on the strobe. The viewer is
able to modify the tempo or mood of the
composition. One of them resembles a bed of
some growing plant permeated by a natural
element whose consistency the viewer is
empowered to adjust.
The effect of organic life, as we shall see, is
fundamental to Tsai's work. However, there
is no question of his directly aping natural
forms. When one attempts to describe in
words the visual effect of his work, there is a
temptation to use lyrical analogies with
gardens or aquariums or Chinese dancing.
(Tsai, who is very conscious of his Chinese
background, has said that he chooses
frequency relationships which will create a
slow, delicate oriental motion: 'Other artists,
working in a Western tradition, often strive
for dramatic crescendos when they create a
moving sculpture.') In this article I have
avoided such analogies, in the hope that a
plainer and accurate description will do more
justice to the depth and unfamiliarity of
Tsai's use of his medium.
The most impressive piece of all in the
exhibition consisted of a straight line of eight
sets of ten-foot-high rods, with seven rods in
each set. Each set looks like a column or
chute of molten glass, oscillating with its
own distinctive motion. Microphones are
positioned to pick up sound. Clap your hands,
or raise your voice above a whisper—and the
whole structure shimmers as if frozen for a
few moments to a solider substance; then 1
shudders back to normal, till discomposed Untitled
Photo: Product Engineering
again by your exclamations of awe.
2
The mystery of these works is hard to Untitled
describe. (Still photographs of course give a Photo: Eugene Edward Weise
very inadequate idea.) It is worth noting that 3
Trichromic III
most of his techniques, taken separately, are Coll: Museum of Modern Art, New York