Page 25 - Studio Internationa - March 1971

now. This now moment.' Such statements such as Direct-Pointing (Chin-Chi) via words initiated. For the uninitiated, their symbolism
parallel the Tantric and the Zen concept of or actions which can be either absurd or very can either be transcribed into amorphous
time: that only one single moment is actual, the ordinary; and Tzu-San, simply 'Being' or linguistic analogies, or simply and
Now. 'The past exists in its memory and the spontaneous naturalness, which is very similar understandably, on account of their vibrant
future exists in its anticipation and both of these to the Tantric concept of Sahaja: pure patterns, purist shapes and primary colours, be
are Now, for when the world is inspected spontaneity which can only be apprehended appreciated for their pictorial affinities to
directly and clearly, past and future times are through actual experience.14 western abstract painting. Instead of being 'art
nowhere to be found.' (Watts)12 A comparison of moods is easily prompted objects', they are via-media in the exercise of
The aim of the Yantra is to reintegrate the by such quotes as: 'My work has no more idea meditation on the Void. The 'art-objects' of
Yogin with the essence of Being and Non-Being, than a tree or a rock or a mountain or an ocean.' Minimalists, Formalists, etc., are frequently
with the Void. The minimalist, conceptualist (Andre) declared to be 'via-media' in the exercise of
ethos is orientated towards 'nothingness', `The Blue mountains are of themselves Blue changing perception. Does this exercise have
towards the dematerialization of art, towards mountains, the white clouds are of themselves metaphysical implications ? Any attempt to
what E. Develing has described as 'the visual white clouds.' (Zenrin) relate the two creative forms would have to
absence of something which nevertheless has a `Now the world is neither meaningful nor consider this question.
physical presence'.13 This is manifested not absurd, it simply is.' (Robbe-Grillet) The 'modernist' aesthetic is inclined to
only in certain group names such as 'Nul' or `We must concentrate on the very act of being.' reject earlier twentieth-century neo-Platonist
`Zero' but also in the concepts behind works (R. Morris) theories of art and prefers to define its system
such as Oldenburg's dug trench, Placid City Therefore, although a spiritual affinity with without reference to external absolutes.
Monument, of which it has been written: 'Its Zen Buddhism may be evoked by the concern However, there are certain contradictory
invisibility made it all the more visualizable'13 with 'confrontation', any attempt to relate the phenomena which reveal a strong philosophical
or LeWitt's buried cube at Texas Airport, the latter to the more specific Tantric code would link between the contemporary 'reductive'
existence of which has to be taken completely be more difficult. element and earlier twentieth-century
on faith. The lack of content is the content. Repetition of Mantras annuls the 'reality' of `universalist' movements. A concern for both
Such annihilistic attitudes towards the art the secular world. Repetition of imagery environment and communication, illustrated by
object are summed up by Cage's maxim: 'There employed in the reductive aesthetic of the claim for a 'pro-public' art, is a direct
is no point or the point is nothing.' However contemporary culture, including art, literature, extension of earlier ideals witnessed in such
similar these directions appear, any allusion music and film15, has a similar purpose: that of groups as the Suprematists, the Constructivists,
towards a metaphysical analogy can only be emphasizing the immediate and arresting time. Bauhaus and De Stijl.
superficial simply because the semantic `It is repetition alone that has the power to There are several twentieth-century
precision defining the word 'void' in Tantric isolate the present tense' (Kierkegaard).16 abstract artists whose work exhibits a formal
texts is not at all comparable to the nebulous Such reiteration of time duration forces a quality of a very comparative nature to that of
concept of 'nothingness' iterated by the confrontation between the object and the Tantric imagery. For example, the primordial
Minimalists. spectator in order to define the extent to which ovoids of Brancusi's17 sculpture are very
The conceptualist character and the involvement promotes meaning. As Reinhardt similar to Tantric Brahmandas or world eggs.
minimalist object have been further described optimistically suggested: forcing the Some of Delaunay's 'simultaneous compositions'
as negative, repetitive, boring, detached, spectator to penetrate beyond boredom to pure of discs and spirals resemble certain Kshetras or
timeless. Both focus on a confrontation with the aesthetic enjoyment'; or as Robert Morris said: cosmic field paintings in Tantra. Totally
spectator, either by simply 'being', with the `The visual significance of a work ...is rather a abstract Kshetras illustrating forces of energy or
minimalist object, or by 'non-being' with the function of our own perception of it ... ' But vibrations of sound and light, embody an
environmental, conceptual approach. By neither aesthetic enjoyment nor the perception atmosphere of passive exultation and
forcing such an engagement with the immediate, of a process has anything in common with the contemplative presence evoked by the works of
both attempt to overcome the subject-object aims of Tantric imagery. Rothko, Still, Reinhardt and Newman.18
duality. This may suggest qualities of Zen, Yantras have a very specific function to the However, the four antecedents of contemporary
103