Page 63 - Studio International - April 1970

Gwyther Irwin's exhibition of wood reliefs—at
GIMPEL Fits April 7/May 2—marks a clearly
defined period in his development. His pre-
vious all-white reliefs were, for the most part,
intuitively composed; they allowed a great
latitude for experiment, for improvization.
His most recent work continues his concern
with structure and movement: a concern
which has crystallized in works of great
interest and imposing force. For what must
have become increasingly evident to Irwin
was the disparity that existed in his earlier
work between the activity of the structure and
the relative passivity of the white. Accord-
ingly, he introduced black and has sought to
explore the range of possibilities between the
two extremes.
1 Viewed the Morning has a black ground
and is rectangular in shape. Its movement is
articulated by four arcs gradually declining
from the upper left corner to the lower right.
Vertically and outwardly projected—up to
three inches—are interjacent tapered rect-
angles or segments. These segments, orientated
by the declension, increase in length, diminish
in breadth and contain grey tones of fluctuat-
ing value and density. Yet the general tonal
movement is from light to dark. At equal
intervals two black vertical columns, which
form part of the base, break the laterally
declining movement. They also serve as axial
interludes which simultaneously dislocate the ingly imposing and physically bracing. The exhibition also includes a large canvas
projected segments, decontextualize the struc- Other works are less bracing; they reveal (13 x 5 x 6 ft) entitled With Alarm. From
tural spatiality, and disconcert our unformu- another feature of the artist which allows him left to right one observes vertical bands of
lated expectations of the tonal interaction. to achieve more contemplative images : light grey gradually moving to white and
For, on further observation, we imaginatively namely, his fastidiousness. alternating with the cotton-duck at one inch
attempt to rejoin the dislocated segments. Foggy Day in London Town is such a work. intervals. Yet, viewed from each end, a subtle
We can, as it were, 'compensate' for the It is a very low relief. It is composed of pro- tonal exchange occurs : the grey gradually
structural discontinuity; but the tonal re- filed slats rather than segments. Its movement becomes white; the white is drawn into grey.
joining proves intractable: permutations of is less geometrically orientated. One sees it, This interchange causes subtle optical shim-
blue are revealed in one part of the segment; rather, as a gentle but crisp convection of four merings and tense retractions and protractions
brown in its other. The intercutting of the horizontal movements: the first from a tight of scale. The austerity of Irwin's work derives
segment—seemingly the convector and aug- confluence of beige deflecting into wider slats not from an indifference to colour, but, rather,
mentation of the monochromatic movement— of cool creams and pure white; the second as is the measure of his respect for it. Febrility is
is the occasion for an illusive equivocation of a movement of greys becoming imbued with what he resists.
tonal value, for intruding the unsuspected blue and deepening in density, forming CHRISTOPHER FOX
into the ostensible. tightly into a surface bridge, then lowering;
In The British Museum has lost it's Charm, the third, lower in depth, inflects in the
the declining archs are both sharper and more centre from low-key tones to white and, Of the problems left over by field painting the
sweeping; more tensile, splaying out the seg- unexpectantly, rises at the extreme into most pressing is: how to recomplicate the
ments with much less regularity. This dis- highly compressed shimmering silver-greys to picture-surface in ways which do not recall
regularity poses even more interesting rela- others of earthy density; the fourth, in con- previous methods of composition. One solu-
tions between tonal fluctuations and structure. trast, resumes a sense of regularity, transmits tion is to base the composition on the shape of
Moreover, there is a greater sense of visual mid-tone greys which become colder and less the canvas itself, to repeat the rectangle with
paradox: for, at intervals, it contrives to make dense, completing the sequence with pure minor modifications, and so create something
the tonal interaction between adjoining seg- white. The employment of various densities of which, although at first glance complex, is
ments continuous, then disrupts it at a further emulsion over the interlaced slats creates a really banal and can be comprehended in one
point of extension. We are also made increas- motion which hardens and attenuates. When go. Another solution, a variation of the first, is
ingly aware that black ground assumes, or viewed as a whole, the horizontal movements to change the shape of the canvas, to make the
better, asserts a surface presence: it thus recede and interpermeate : the work is felt as edges themselves complex. Thus a difficult
renders the whole surface diagramatic. How- a distilled atmosphere, containing an undu- series of formal problems is, so to speak,
ever, on moving around the work, we observe lating resonance. It is, to my mind, a very fine programmed into the canvas and must be
the structure opening, becoming unclustered : work; but some of the others share a common
then, from another angle, it forms a faceted blemish : congestion. However, in those I have
S
constellation. To be sure, these works are chosen to consider, implicit principles of Gwyther Irwin
sensed as forming part of a continuum— as a organization and improvization succeed in I Viewed the Morning 1960
Emulsion on wood
`bracketed' organic activity, uncompromis- attaining mutual immanence. 48 x 72 in.