Page 32 - Studio International - January 1970

Scale

and change

Kenneth Martin

Seeing the Maison Carré at Nimes or the inevitably grows in the process. For supposing variety of position can reveal or accentuate
Frauenkirche at Nurnberg for the first time I that the content is numerical (i.e. can be characteristics.
feel as if I could pick them up and put them stated numerically as a mathematical se- The small work can be held in the hand, the
in my pocket. quence or structure) then material, scale, size three-dimensional can be explored by the
Scale, that of the parts to the whole, of the and technical development will add content hand as well as the eye. I have made works
whole to the environment and to oneself, to content. So that the work is never a mere with moveable parts for the hand to change. I
speaks to one. It is not necessary always to numerical rendering. am interested in this, not as an aspect of
be formidable. On the simplest basis mathematics is con- participation, nor anti-art, but as part of a
I am not really a sculptor. If I say I construct cerned with similarities and differences, op- search for expressive differences within a
I am by that only stating here a method of positions and progressions, with the mechanics limited field.
thought and work, and not that I am a of bringing these things about, and with If accessibility can create interest so can the
Constructivist, Constructionalist, Structura- change. These are also fundamentals of art inaccessible. The nature of the arousal of
list, or Structurist, which also define adherence and one is being an artist in exploring them. I interest and the appreciation is different. I
to particular schools and philosophies. What- am not interested in the making of geometri- found out a little more about this when ex-
ever I do, in 2, 3 or 4 dimensions, is construc- cal forms as an end-product, in spite of their ceedingly rough handling at an exhibition
ted. powerfulness when of a suitable size, material necessitated the placing of my works in trans-
Starting from a simple unit I build with it to and placing, but in the mechanics of change parent boxes. Something I had never wished
see what will happen. The building is logical and progression. So that the work has the non- to do with them produced another aspect.
and inventive. The method used is some way finite vested in its character. The eye probes and the personality of the
of joining. So that if the unit is the same Construction is the progression of the work, beholder can go with it, seeking to compre-
throughout, its character and its orientations, the word describes the character of the effort hend what is seen. This can be more active,
through the sequence of the limited variety of put into it from before the beginning until the more absorbing and less passive than the par-
joints which act upon it, will give the total end. I write 'before the beginning' since it ticipation in a happening.
expressiveness. If from one unit others are comes naturally from what has gone before. The mechanics involved in these works, which
developed within the edifice, one has a family The programme of works is constructed, are to be moved by the hand from one still
of forms with affinity and opposition, two though maybe not as a complete pre-pro- position to the next, are primitive. The artist
characteristics which are exploited in the gramme. In the development of a work one can find pleasure from their discovery. They
joins. can perceive that some change of acts or are a form of articulation, another member of
One is working on an art of the real, not on a sequence could lead to a different path. the family of joints, and can result in their own
composition of metaphors. But as there are Intuition plays its part here as well as imagi- kind of powerfulness. They are of a character
associations within the work, so there are those nation. A computer could give one all the which, with the turning of the hand, can give
with the outside, that is within the totality of variations and then by limitations reduce satisfaction. They can then be left alone to be
the sensory, formal experience of the maker their number to the desired one or group. I seen in stillness in a changed position.
and the beholder. The result can be an archi- have to discover the data. I have not discussed here the properties of
tectural experience in epitome. There can be The work is part of a time-edifice of making independently moving structures, though my
paths, passages, tunnels and rooms, as well and has the character of change. It can be interest-in them-is-dearly -a. part of the whole
as correspondences with physical acts (moving further changed by its setting. Alteration of direction. I have concentrated on what is
forwards and backwards, twisting and turning appearance will be caused by how and where relevant to the works reproduced. q
etc.). it is placed. The work may benefit or suffer
Form is being given to a content which from this, but the point made here is that