Page 54 - Studio International - April 1972

of place in a funfair. creative field. seconds. The possibility of power cuts reduces
Finally, Fragments, the most discreet and Beuys's anarchistic individualism permits the chances of the piece living up to its title,
tactful of Craig-Martin's contributions. It was him to play down the significance of the capitalist but it would, I suppose, qualify as one of
designed specially for its present site. A sheet power structure and the class system. That is, Arnatt's Acts of Omission. Two jokey sequences
of blockboard hangs from the ceiling well above he feels at ease working for gradual change of photographs embody, and perhaps test,
head-level. Its proportions are smaller than, but within existing institutions—even one as art-statements by the artist.
in the same ratio as, the floor space beneath it, privileged as the Tate—although he also takes But the key exhibit is the proposition 'Keith
half of which is defined by an alcove. A small to the streets. However, he foresees a new, Arnatt is an Artist', written in large letters on
mirror hangs above it—also in the same ratio— decentralized social system where rulers cannot an empty wall and the text in which he examines
which picks up the reflection of a rectangle of take refuge behind the mystique of bureaucratic its philosophical implications. It is at this point
neon lighting on the upperside of the board. complexity. His directly political programme that we approach that area in contemporary
Wherever the spectator stands, he can only apparently consists of national referenda on aesthetics where an intellectual response is the
observe a fragment of the neon tube at any basic laws in order to establish the principles only relevant one. Sensibility is abandoned
given time. However, he can trace its shape by of Freedom, Democracy and Socialism. In this (this, of course, is not a value-judgement: it is
walking around it. If he does so, he will have connection, Beuys showed little anxiety for the merely to say that as far as concept art is
described a rectangle of similar proportions to fate of minorities (`The majority is always on concerned the dissociation between thought and
the others. Alternatively, if a number of the left' and, presumably, always right). In the feeling has been superseded and is no longer an
carefully placed spectators looked up at the field of art education he wants to establish free issue).
mirror from various positions, they would be schools for the germination of genuine Arnatt picks up the Duchampian notion, as
able to recreate the complete image perceptually. creativity. succinctly stated by Judd, `If someone says it's
Craig-Martin wants to de-mystify aesthetics Doubtless, this summary of a discussion art, then it's art', and relates it to J. R. Searle's
by insisting on the functionalism of ready-made which lasted more than four hours, does not do distinction between perlocutionary and
objects. His art-works rely on illusion, but the justice to Beuys's copious weltanschauung. illocutionary acts. In the former case, it is held
way this is accomplished is never concealed. But it is enough to indicate that a distinguished that a listener believes what he is told—e.g.
There is no trickery. This antithesis between intelligence has been crucially modified by a `I am French'—because he realizes the speaker
perceiving a process or an effect, and Utopian nostalgia for the future and a intends to produce that belief in him. However,
understanding how it was actually achieved, corresponding capacity for general aspirations Searle argues that intention by itself is not
underlies much of his work over the past six which are not grounded in the dynamic enough. The author of a book of philosophy is
years. particularities of change. not credible simply because he wants you to
In fact, it does not greatly matter what What is more, the simplistic and polemical agree with him.
the process or effect is; all that counts is the content of this debate reduced its credibility as So Arnatt then moves on to another
awareness of a structure (any structure) in an 'art-event'. Taking in what Beuys was distinction, drawn this time by John Austin,
which perception is played off wittily against saying was sufficiently demanding to divert between performative and constative kinds of
performance, what seems against what is. attention from the aesthetic intention which utterance. To say 'Hullo' is not a statement of
However, wit, or the free play of the intellect, underpinned the group experience in which fact (constative), it is an action (performative).
becomes wearisome after a time. Despite the we are all taking part. It is possible that the statement 'Keith Arnatt
audience involvement, Feet, Faces and It was a relief to put down the telescope and is an artist' is performative and so self-fulfilling.
Fragments lose their capacity to surprise after a turn to the microscope. Many millenial John Stezaker's show at NIGEL
second or third visit. Like an epigram or a announcements have been made predicting the GREENWOOD'S is in the same tradition. He draws
photograph, they offer a once-for-all insight. death of easel painting. And many artists have his terms of reference from Joseph Kosuth's
Neither Hatcher nor Craig-Martin overtly been offered the ambiguous accolade of being famous article, 'Art After Philosophy' (Studio
deal with the political and social consequences the 'last of the easel painters'. Bob Law has International, October 1969). His work is a
of opening art to a wider public. However, the himself been cast in this role. His contribution refinement—and an increasingly tentative
gap is more than filled by Joseph Beuys, who to last year's 'Art Spectrum London' was one—of statements such as: 'A work of art is a
held/staged a seminar /event about his politico- simply a white canvas carrying the outline of an tautology in that it is a presentation of the
aesthetic philosophy at the Tate Gallery on irregular rectangle with a date in one corner like artist's intention, that is, he is saying that the
26 February. an artist's signature. At the Tate, he is showing a particular work of art is art, which means, is a
It was considerably more instructive than series of drawings in which the empty definition of art.' Stezaker's adn' is a catalogue
the dim little videotapes and films which he left rectangle is filled in with graphite hatching. of the kinds of proposition that have been, or
behind for the rest of the show. He began with Each drawing has a different texture, reflecting can be, made about the nature of art. He
a correction of Marx. Man, he argued, may be —but not expressing—different moods and concludes (in the Kosuth tradition) that art is
enslaved in many ways, but at the individual tempi. They are unframed and pinned directly such that a work of art defines its sole
level (and the categories are his, not mine) of to the wall. Because they have been folded (for membership in art. He concludes that A
Thought, Feeling and Will, he is free. As in the transport or storage ?) they are crossed by a (Art) 'adn'—the artefact he has just completed
medieval doctrine of Humours, that man is simple grid. These images are the irreducible with the equation.
happy who combines these elements in a minimum of what can be said to constitute a In art-member ? Stezaker offers a formula
harmonious equilibrium. He gave instances of drawing. Also on display is r to 1,000,000 for releasing art from materials, from its physical
what happens when one is exploited at the Drawing—Art for All, another case of constituents. He also suggests (and this is where
expense of the others; 'rockers' exemplify an draughtsmanship at its most basic, but this he perhaps improves on Arnatt) that art can be
excess of Will, 'hippies' of Feeling, and time allowing for spectator involvement. seen not simply in terms of intention, but also of
intellectuals or theoreticians of Thought. In its way Law's minimalism is an a questioning of that intention. He writes : 'Is the
Creativity transforms consciousness and by appropriate introduction to Keith Arnatt's art-condition of art-member ? established by
its agency, he claimed, the flesh is transcended show in the neighbouring rooms. His artworks the form of its questioning its membership in
by the spirit. Science is currently obsessed with include 2448000-0000000—an' exhibition' of art ?' Characteristically, that too is put in the
the repetitive technology of production. In the the duration of the exhibition by the following form of a question, as are all the other sentences
future, when they are liberated, art and science means: a digital count-down system which will in the text. q
will overlap and be subsumed in a total, count down the duration of the exhibition in ANTHONY EVERITT

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