Page 35 - Studio International - October 1970

in common a special sensitivity to the behaviour, His pieces remain close to an imaginable 'real' and rely on natural systems of leaning, spreading,
systems and relationships of their environments, situation, but are devoid of superfluous detail or folding, piling, etc. Guy Dill's works have a more
and although Los Angeles is rich in such reference to continuations. athletic behaviour and presence. They depend
information there is nothing to indicate a Video-tape has become an attractive though upon antigravity compensations and
reliance upon the particular place. Similar sometimes elusive medium. It is used extensively counterbalances, with materials suspended and
concerns are found elsewhere. by Wegman, Baldessari and Wolfgang restrained by ropes and bands fixed to floor, wall
John Baldessari's art is loyal to no media; he Stoerchle, as well as by Bruce Nauman. Tape or ceiling.
uses photographs, words, video-tapes, cookies, has the advantage of simultaneous viewing of the With all the perceivable new activity in Los
etc. The work has an unusual quality of being scene being taped, as well as greater flexibility Angeles, the identification of a particular art
self-generative and self-referential. This than film. Wegman now works exclusively with with the place will rest with the artists who
continuum becomes highly integrated with video-tape and photography. Both media are emerged there during the sixties. These may be
information systems, which Baldessari deals employed in similar manner, to create ironic the last artists that would seem to warrant the
with in a half-serious but pointed way. unexpected relationships and witty vignettes. organization of an exhibition with that
Both Ruppersberg and Leavitt use already Wolfgang Stoerchle sets up more formal geographical theme, but it will certainly not be
existent, purchasable items of our familiar situations in his tapes both in format and content. the last of L.A.'s association with good art. The
environment to be placed, organized, combined The tapes generally involve a physical activity change may not be so good for the Los Angeles
and arranged. Ruppersberg retains in his work a that progresses to a conclusion that marks the myth, but it will undoubtedly be better for the
direct and somehow ordinary, flexible finish of the tape. He also works in cast plaster individual artists. The glamour of the Hollywood
relationship to his environment in an attempt beams or slabs that are dropped one upon film and L.A. art worlds has all but hit the dust;
not to jar the actuality of situations as they another creating shattered piles of plaster. films and art are being made on location,
naturally occur. Many of his works make use of Not associated with Los Angeles has been the wherever that might happen to be. q
packaged and everyday items in addition to use of raw materials in sculpture. There are
photographs. The arrangements and several artists whose work is related only in the
combinations succeed in seeming superbly fact that they use wood, glass, string, and paper. The Hayward exhibition, (3o Sep.-7 Nov.) conceived
logical without actually revealing the point of John White works in response to a particular by the Arts Council in 1964, was due to appear in 1968.
the logic. His pieces have included a functioning space or room. He makes use of the wall as well These were the peak years of interest in the particular
direction that the art in Los Angeles was taking.
cafe and recently a hotel. as the floor to define planes, directions, However, it was not until some three years ago that it
William Leavitt makes reference to the real movement and space with masking tape, flexible was finally decided that Maurice Tuchman, of the Los
world in a more detached manner than does dowling, straw, newspaper and sand. Jack Angeles County Museum of Art, was to organize the
exhibition. At the time of writing (one month prior to
Ruppersberg. He uses his selected items in Goldstein and Guy Dill use large components of the scheduled opening), the selection of artists had yet
perfected relation to one another to arrive at a the materials with a more formal intent. to be finalized, and had been altered three times in
more surreal and controlled interpretive vision. Goldstein's pieces are generally self-supporting the previous two weeks.

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