Page 60 - Studio International - April 1970

London PIERRE ALECHINSKY RECENTLY AT LONDON Pierre Alechinsky
ART; ROY ASCOTT ON 'THE PSIBERNETIC ARCH' Rêve éveillê, 1969
Acrylic on canvas
commentary (ROY ASCOTT PAINTINGS AT ANGELA FLOWERS, 30 x 39 in.
APRIL 22-MAY 19) ; GWYTHER IRWIN 2
Roy Ascott
AT GIMPEL FILS, APRIL 7-MAY 2 ; DAVID
N-Tropic 1970
LEVERETT AT REDFERN, APRIL 7-MAY 1 ; Wax crayon and plastic emulsion on blockboard
60 x 60 in.
ROLAND BRENER RECENTLY AT NIGEL
GREENWOOD'S, GLEBE PLACE; DAVID EVISON
RECENTLY AT KASMIN

Two years ago, (when Pierre Alechinsky's
head was clean shaven and almost as sharply
limned as the skull beneath), he wrote in
connection with one of his works: 'Conflagra-
tion red. Still, at first sight it is only akin to
the opaline reflection of an octogenarian
Tiffany lamp.' Today, Alechinsky is preceded
by an impressive beard of conflagration red,
an effect managed with neither forethought
nor artifice but one which complicates,
diversifies, in part hides and generally re-
defines his alert features. In short, circum-
stance has imitated will. The beard is Ale-
chinskian.
For there are these two sides to his thinking,
drawing, his brushstrokes, his words, his
intentions; on the one hand, the immediate
celebration of colour, sensual harmonics,
instinctive balance and the sonority of a work
of art immune to critical context, and, on the
other hand, an intellectual, often metaphysical
search for meaning, or hidden meanings un-
intended. To this second end Alechinsky is
eager to join images and words, his own
images and words, or his own images and
words of others. The possibilities of magic are
never far from his consciousness. If the image
is precise, its reverberations are elusive and
mysterious. I have to accept the rules. Words take me to a exactly what he wishes.'
At Bougival, outside Paris, where he paints, deep pessimism. But I can't hide the fact Among his current projects, Alechinsky has
writes and pilots his own etching plant, Ale- that to paint is a delight, quite the opposite. done two anti-editions with Arman, called
chinsky pursues a rhythm of work which has But as soon as I touch words, pessimism Les Infeuillables, the word being parallel to
become amazingly prodigious. He has turned quickly takes over. Painting is therapeutic. Les Incunables. In each case, the entire edition
out 350 editions in the past twenty years and Painting is my drug, and I manufacture my of prints, handsomely boxed in the grand
is represented in the public collections of drug myself. manner, is encased in one of Arman's plastic
fourteen countries, though this exhibition at `The daily condition is always more disaster blocks. The presence of the prints below the
LONDON GRAPHIC ARTS 1S his first in Britain. than aster. But to paint is to forget. For first 'page' is revealed but only the first sheet
`I can't stop in my path. The current con- example, I am altogether an aetheist. But is visible- for the 'book' cannot be opened.
tinues. Where determinations come from or Matisse remarked that, "I only believe while `It's to deny the idea of "the edition', Ale-
to what they ascribe is not always evident at I am painting." chinsky explained. It may also, in fact,
first. The title of the London works, Astres et `Joyce Mansour wrote the poems to accom- champion the cause of desire in the face of
Désastres, comes from a poem of Guillaume pany these poems in the London series, in satiety.
Apollinaire's. I look for the same sonority. French and in English, but they are not Alechinsky is also working with Michel Butor,
That is, if I say "aster", I think "disaster". strictly translations. Most are adaptations. again blending words and images, sometimes
There is a phrase of Jacques Prévert's, for She likes the English text better. Their pur- drawing on Butor's actual typescript. The
example, in Quai des Brumes: "When I see a pose? No, it's not that I am responsible for her Olivetti Company, which has already pro-
swimmer, I think of a drowning man." I like interpretations. It's exactly to put the images duced a luxurious appointment book that
that. But here is the passage from Apollinaire : into a context unknown to me. bears Alechinsky's drawings on seventeenth-
"Je ne chante pas ce monde, ni les astres/Je `As to current sensibility or anti-sensibility? century manuscript sheets, asked to do
chante toute les possibilités de moi-même hors I am for rich art, against impoverished art. another using the Butor pages. At the last
de/ce monde et des astres." So the implication Children don't make impoverished art be- minute it was realized to everyone's chagrin
is surely there already. Surely he intended cause they are rich. As for Pop or Neo-Dada, that Butor's typing had been done on a Rem-
that reverberation of sound. I'm all for it. For me the strongest, most ington. But the drawings were irresistible.
`I write a great deal now. It's difficult for me. admirable man going today is Claes Olden- Olivetti is going ahead with the project. q
When I paint I make the rules. When I write burg. But he knows how to draw, he does PAUL WALDO SCHWARTZ