Page 22 - Studio International - September 1970

matter, that which was the most direct and world in which to entertain us and talk. Next week, Correspondence
Delia and I went to the Newman; flat at about
immediate—namely the man-made systems
12.30. After about two hours, during which we
and structures that direct and measure his
sipped bourbon-on-the-rocks in vast quantities and
living time on earth. Kawara, a sort of artist's picked at a fascinating variety of sea-food tit-
artist, has deliberately lived in relative bits (I certainly came to the conclusion that this,
obscurity until quite recently. The gallery in New York, must be what 'lunch' meant),
Barny suddenly announced that they would now
devoted to his work in the exhibition is the
take us to a favourite sea-food restaurant in his
first large installation of his work in the
native Brooklyn (I think he said he was the only
western hemisphere, and his first major public member of that first generation of New York
exposure in eleven years. moderns who had been born and 'reared' in New
In the area I refer to as 'conceptual aspects' York). But Brooklyn was about ten miles distant
from the flat—so he'd get a taxi; but it was going
many of the artists use the camera as an
to have to be a cab-driver who was compliant with
opinion-less copying device. The use of
Barny's whims about every detail of the route we
photography allows a 'conceptual' kind of were to take, because he intended to take us the
presentation—such as a photographic docu- longest and most unorthodox way round, every
mentation of subject matter which is 'frozen' three minutes telling the driver to go right or left,
so that we shouldn't miss a single wharf or alley
into use by a system, and subsequently only
or little garden that he wanted to show us on the
exists as photographs; the subexperiential
way. And all the while he chatted to the cab-driver
presentation of outdoor works, that exist no about their boyhood days and where they both used
longer—or never did exist; and for various to swim (in the East River or Hudson, it seemed).
informational kinds of structure. One of the And so we got images of an earlier, far less stream-
lined Manhattan, where life was less high-powered
first to use the camera in such a way, Douglas
than it is today. It was a marvellous ride—and
Huebler, has said, 'I use the camera as a
Barny sat with the driver in front, talking over his
"dumb" copying device that only serves to shoulder to us.
document whatever phenomena appear before It was a long and merry lunch; and never before or
it through the conditions set by a system' ▟ since have I emerged from lunch at a restaurant Barbara Rose
in the twilight of early evening, with the head
DONALD C. KARSHAN
waiter bowing. 'good night' at the door as we left! [ Tune 1970 issue] Only an art critic could fuss with
It's impossible to remember all the subjects that and worry over the English language enough to
cropped up in that conversation; but I do remem- come up with the phrase 'literally actual' instead of
ber that Barny said very emphatically that he re- saying something easy and straightforward like
gretted the prevailing cult of the inarticulate `real'.
painter. Every painter should write—or have a go Alan R. Atwood
at writing—at some point in his career: 'You should Atlanta
never regret your writing, Pat.' And he told me Georgia, USA
how, on one occasion, he'd rather chided a younger
painter with never having written even the briefest
statement about his own work; to which the Art and Mathematics
younger artist had replied: 'I don't have to write; Frieder Nake uses his mathematics to express ideas
I've got a guy doin' that for me!' This was a on aesthetics in an extremely formal manner,
division of labour which Newman found slightly enabling precise and full communication with those
absurd; rightly I think, in view of the natural who have a similar background and who wish to
articulateness of the majority of painters. The make the effort. His paper" presented to Computer
Barnett Newman affected dumbness of some of the younger artists Graphic 70 at Brunel bears this out.
In the June edition of Studio Internationale, his work
he slightly despised, I think.
No-one who was a friend of Barnett Newman will was described by Jonathan Benthall as being 'tragic
ever forget those terrific bursts of laughter (`terrific' in its misdirectedness'. This might be true if Nake
BARNETT NEWMAN, THE AMERICAN ARTIST,
was an explosive word in his talk) that erupted all is to be regarded as an art-critic, or if his aim was
DIED ON JULY 4. THE FEBRUARY 1970 ISSUE
the time one was with him. It amused him, I to replace art criticism by one of the crude
OF STUDIO INTERNATIONAL WAS LARGELY remember, to tell me, during that lunch, that he aesthetic measures now available. Benthall writes
DEVOTED TO HIS WORK. PATRICK HERON was delighted to discover one day that Jackson about the school of aesthetics with which Nake may
CONTRIBUTES THIS REMINISCENCE- Pollock's birthday was only two days before his be identified :—`This school ... is unlikely to be taken
own. When I said that my own fell on that day up by people who believe that the task of criticism
between he nearly upset the table.... On my two is essentially a registering of particular experiences
It was in April, 1960, that I first met Barnett and subsequent visits to New York he again came to as faithfully as possible.' However, if this be a good
Annalee Newman, in New York. They were stand- my exhibitions; but our most dramatic meeting definition of criticism then it seems clear to me that
ing in front of a Rauschenberg, at a Rauschen- was in 1965 when I suddenly saw him sitting on an Nake does not regard his task as one of criticism. As
berg show at Castellir's, and seemed to be the only orange box, Annalee standing at his side, in front to what his task might be, well I can only give a
people in the room. Barny was standing sideways- of a painting of his in the main hall at the Bienal at personal view and state the ways in which I find
on to a painting from which the tuning knobs of a São Paulo, one day before the official opening. I his work useful.
hidden radio set protruded, twiddling the knobs had just taken a final look at my own works, in Firstly, it is not too difficult to select a few areas of
and listening, and smiling. Somehow we all the deserted exhibition hall, when suddenly here mathematics that might prove valuable for visual
immediately introduced ourselves to one another was Barny in his shirtsleeves and braces, silently research. It is however very much more difficult to
... and an invitation to lunch seemed to have been trying to decide whether his huge painting should penetrate a heavy book of rigorous pure maths.
issued by Barny within a minute of meeting. With be raised or lowered, half an inch. Two powerful Lighter books do exist and are full of applications of
his already elderly appearance; his looped watch- types with jacks under the frame waited patiently. pure mathematics to engineering, sociology, or
chain on his waistcoat front; his glasses on a That night on the phone Barny and I arranged to operational research and so on. Rarely do we find
string round his neck; and his dark, conventional meet the following week in Rio de Janeiro. And even a crude application to visual research, so that
city suit one at once had the awareness of pro- again the positive scream of laughter as we agreed even for a scientist, finding the kind of mathematics
found and fascinating paradox in his basic per- that neither of us had ever expected to end a phone that might be used in a visual research project is a
sonality: his work (which I had first seen at the call with 'See you in Rio!' We did meet again in difficult task. It takes a great effort to adapt
Tate fifteen months before) was very austere; yet Rio; but I shall now always regret that he never mathematics to a new application. Frieder Nake is
here apparently was a talkative man of extreme came to Cornwall, about which he had expressed therefore one of the people rewriting mathematics
warmth—very amusing and very friendly: and great curiosity. in an accessible form.
giving the impression that he had all the time in the PATRICK HERON ▟ Secondly, what are the uses of 'aesthetic measure' ?