Page 49 - Studio International - March 1970

The constructive process suggested its own
TWO STATEMENTS Peter Kalkhof Environmental Colour Dimensions 1969
I have been using new materials for the last extension and the problems were formal Acrylic on canvas
twelve months, and these materials are not problems. The evolution of the object dictated 108 x 102e in., floor panel 174 in., side panel 1204 in.
2
controlled by the conventions of painting or the next step, and the finished work was Jon Bird Tractatus 1970
sculpture. Plastic bags, polythene sheeting, visually complete— the gestalt was quickly Netting, rod, Melanex, mirrors
24 x 6 x 41 ft
chicken wire, bamboo canes, string, etc., are understood. This followed a tradition of craft, 3
materials which are to be found in town and technique, and finish. To overcome this urge David Shepherd Tarpaulin 1969
Wood, bamboo cane, polythene sheeting, rope
countryside and I react towards them in a towards completion I now allow the objects 16 x 16 x 5 ft
very fundamental manner. I could use new to metamorphose through the dictates of 4
Jon Bird Still Lake 1 1969
materials in painting but I would still be abstract ideas like extension or reflection. The Melanex, golf tees
aware of the incongruity of spatial illusion. process becomes a more immediate fusion of 12 x 8 ft x 1 in.
5
With such three-dimensional phenomena the idea and media; the synthesis of this fusion David Shepherd Red Wharfe Bay 1969
space is concrete. There is no need to force a is the object, arrived at as directly as possible. Polythene sheeting, wire, stone, wood, bamboo cane,
caddy's tape
sculptural situation. All I need to do is to Originally I was involved with a direct Size by arrangement
follow the visual indications and allow a
natural order of events to take its own course.
At the present time I am involved with such
natural phenomena as wind, air, sea, rain,
soil erosion, etc., and their distributive and
redistributive qualities.
The human element is an important factor in
my work. Sculpture generally pre-determines
what the viewer should see, and leaves nothing
for him to do but reflect upon the obscurities
of the sculptor's intentions. He cannot
participate because he has little knowledge of
the sculptor's terminology. The sculptor lacks
a common language—free from esoteric
references—with which to communicate his
ideas to the viewer. By particularising im-
plications directed through phenomena which
are experientially available to all, I can
reasonably ask the viewer to participate. I am
using a simple language, dealing with pro-
positions rather than conclusions.
Recently I have felt that my impetus to
create visual objects has been hampered by
the confines of my visual education, an
education concerned mainly with two dimen-
sions. The techniques of painting and the
media involved seemed pre-determined by
their historical context. I moved into three
dimensions because of the immediacy of the
process. I moved away from the creation of
the illusion of space to experiencing real space. physical experience with materials and the some degree effected by anything within its
It is possible that the documentary process— craft necessary to forge those materials to my frame of reference. The potential within this
the recording of the work on slides—may needs. I was not conscious of their limitations. relationship means that the interval of time
initiate a feeling of isolation ! The slides record Only now do I realise that I was working between the production of each work is a
suspended moments in what has become a completely within a sculptural tradition. This transient moment, unrelated to that work.
historical system. The suspended moments on awareness of the restrictions of object-based Only the next piece can continue the flow.
the slides are quite different from the same sculpture has directed my translation from The participation of people with the work
moments as they actually occurred within the specific objects towards particularised situ- creates whatever history or tradition the work
system. The system had the apparent possib- ations. might possess. The evolution of the individual's
ility of allowing every moment to become a I want my sculpture to need human participa- response, his conceptual and imaginative
point of departure. Yet it was inevitably the tion for its full realisation. The object and the growth, is triggered by qualities within the
most natural implications which exhibited spectator exist within a time sequence relative situation over which the artist no longer has
themselves in relation to their source. to both. They also each possess a spatial any control. From then on the participant is
When I first take materials on to a beach or context which merges upon confrontation. on his own, and he must make out in the best
amongst rocks, then those materials tend to The synthesis of space and time creates the way possible ! The risk of failures is the
be alien to their environment. But, after a concrete conditions of experience. Time to the absurdity inherent in the activity. Any
while, the implications directed by the individual is an abstraction constructed from historical reference the work has is conceived
`conversation' between the two elements the flow of empirical events, and entering into at the moment of confrontation, because only
initiate a visual polemic. The nature of a this flow is his dialogue with the object, which through change occurring, which is resultant
construction is then dependent upon this has its own sequence of events. It is at this upon that confrontation, can the work be said
polemic and free to follow the stronger impli- point within a fluid situation that the work to have a past, a present, or the possibility of a
cations—both visual and material. q starts to become realised. The extent of this future. q
realisation is theoretically limitless, and is in JON BIRD