Page 44 - Studio International - December 1971

Paris Biennale participants. This section makes painfully attempting a dialogue with the public. This area
manifest all the problems involved in presenting embraces all kinds of activity from earthworks
Virginia Whiles-Serreau work of a textual nature. The questioning of to body-art via kinetic and electronic pieces. It
the relationship between theory and practice, includes gigantic stretches of painted canvas
content and form, is perhaps the most interesting (Yoshida), camouflage netting suspended in the
phenomenon raised here. Due to the large park's trees (Valentiner), a yellow washing line
number of participants, there is much repetition hung with pieces of gaudily coloured cloth,
of theme and similarity of concept which which vibrates against the autumnal hues of
inevitably brings boredom and confusion. This leaves and is evocative of Buddhist prayer flags
is not helped by the poor level of presentation; (Cozic). There is also a reconstruction of a
so that confrontation with rows of printed texts street corner to actual scale (Pimentel), a
involves a wearying endurance test for the curiously disquieting cement wall joining two
spectator. I think chairs might help somewhat trees together, coloration of the park lake by
towards relieving this problem. However, it is Vriburn and marxist tracts by the group
interesting to realize the extraordinarily wide `Supports/Surfaces'.
international network of conceptual artists and The 'Option 4' section contains a depressingly
there are some outstanding examples. In mediocre selection of painting, prints and
particular the 'Art-Language' group, Kosuth, sculpture by artists from fifty countries. There
Venet and Cutforth. On reflection, much of the are one or two fine drawings, particularly by
strength of these pieces is a consequence of Carlos de Moraes of Brazil, some lively etchings
their formal clarity almost as much as of their by Moo Chew Wong and some remarkable silk
intriguing textual content. This criticism can lithos by Takeshi Hara. Stange shows four
equally be made of the 'Envois' section, the powerfully intense figurative line drawings.
very nature of which inevitably leads to a There are no examples of any large-scale colour
certain uniformity of ideas, often simply dull or field painting.
pretentious. Atlin's picture post-cards of In the 'Travaux d'Equipe' section, the main
wellington boots situated in various escapades British entrant, Graham Stevens, presents his
stand out strongly, as do the surrealist `Atmosfield'. This impressive structure is the
The seventh Paris Biennale is composed around information sheets of Anthony Scott's `Swiz most recent in his series of pneumatic inflatable
three areas of art activity which the organizers Bureau', simply because these two share the structures on which he has been working, with
have chosen to name 'Conceptual Art', gift of original humour. his team of associates, over the last six years. It
`Hyperrealism' and 'Interventions'. A fourth Consequently, it may be by way of contrast stands incongruously in the Park amidst a display
section 'Options' includes all extraneous that the section clumsily named 'Hyperrealism', of 'Mon Oncle' type ideal homes. A vast,
`traditional plastic cut' forms; there is another appears so rich. (I wonder if the connotations of undulating, white whale-like form made up of
section 'Travaux d'Equipe' as well as further the colloquialism 'Hype' are known to the three parts, it is essentially organic and fuses the
areas concerned with film, theatre, music and organizers ?) This area is particularly well atmospheric elements of air and water. There
architecture. represented by Germany, the States, Spain and is a tube 200 yards long and 4 yards wide
As can be imagined, the show is vast and Sweden. Stylistically, it derives from a fusion constructed out of a tough fibrous and opaque
consequently overwhelming. There is clear of influences which includes Hopper, Wyeth and material which is used experimentally here for
evidence of a heroic effort made by the Colville, the German 'Neue sachlichkeit', the the first time. This tube makes giant bolster-
organizers towards forming a coherent review French Nouvel Realisme', as well as certain like configurations; doubling over itself, it is
of current 'important' preoccupations in the surrealist and pop art imagery. Many of the both stacked and suspended in air. It envelopes
art scene, but somehow the chosen definitions works present objective sociological an air-tensioned membrane which links the
are so loosely interpreted that their actual usage commentaries. They evoke detached and tube to a domed dual-pressure inflatable
is extremely contestable. Situated in and around sometimes ambiguous views of everyday containing a water-bed and an air-bed. The
a vast hangar in the Parc Floral out at Vincennes, consumer-society existence. The dominating difference between these two beds analogises the
the exhibition's first impression is one of a impression is one of a cold, hard eloquence, difference between the two elements, the water-
bohemian shambles (reminiscent of Alexandra often expressed through extremely sensitive bed having a slow sensual physical contact and
Palace), divided up into smaller areas with drawing, particularly by the Germans : the air-bed provoking a dynamic stimulus. The
bands of different colour painted on the stone Bergmann, Gafgen and Von Monkiewitsch and experience moving through the tube is at once
floor to signal the various sections. also by the Spanish Lopez Garcia and Isabel eery and exhilarating, as if in an endless iceberg
The area concerned with Conceptual Art is Quintanilla. There are some disturbingly or on a mysterious tunnel voyage en route for
described in the catalogue as being the first sensual photographic images sprayed onto Santa Claus. The domed structure, including a
thorough exhibition of such work in Europe canvas by the Swiss Remy Van Moos and Urs new system of projection called `Kymatron', can
(although the catalogue does refer to the 'When Luthi. serve as an exciting environment for all kinds of
Attitudes Become Form' exhibition). This Also in this section are Robert Graham's events. The tube has diverse practical
section expands to include off-shoots or examples miniature girls cavorting inside glass cases and possibilities, such as transport across land, sea
of attitudes which are apparently less strictly John de Andrea's life-size latex negress, or air or as a form of incubator for
adherent to the principles of conceptual art, such Pettersson's powerful drawings, very much in agricultural purposes.
as those in the section called 'Envois' or `Mail the manner of Bacon, Staiger's Hollywood The Biennale is commendably ambitious
art'. The conceptual artists showing include homes, Allen Jones's custom-built ladies, the and expansive in its aims : therefore it is
groups such as 'Art-Language', `Kod' and Los Angeles Fine Arts Squad's huge trompe unfortunate that the final impression is one of
`Oho' from Yugoslavia and individuals such as l'oeil and Nancy Graves's weird skeletal parts in chaos. Inevitably, its magnitude makes for a
Victor Burgin, Ian Burn, Roger Cutforth, Mel glass fibre. lack of discrimination, both by the selectors and
Ramsden from England, Prini and Paolini from The third section 'Interventions' contains an by the spectators, simply because the minority
Italy, Dan Graham and Joseph Kosuth from equally expansive range of work, whose of outstanding work is engulfed by the majority
the States, as well as about twenty other common denominator is stated to be that of of mediocrity. q
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