Page 44 - Studio International - January 1972

recognition of potential in a given material justifiably be claimed about what 'is' the 'art Spaceplace
`ingredient of the scene' is what renders a 'place' ingredient' in any situation in which these
suitable to enshrine a sculpture. The (presum- relationships pertain. Selections from the notes
ably) opposite position to take would be that in Nowadays few dealers or collectors can afford of Agis, Jones, Marigold
which the 'feel of the place' is seen as being the entirely to respect even common-sense notions
stimulus to a search for the material which about the relative status and inherent uniqueness and Pitt
would most effectively embody that sensation in or reproducibility of the different ingredients in
an appropriate configuration. the artists' output (as 'art', as 'evidence', as
Neither approach in isolation would be likely `documentation', as 'record', as 'working
to offer much purchase upon the singular nature drawing', as rubbish or whatever). Long has
of Long's involvement with landscape - nor been far more stringent in these matters than the `The dynamic interior space as articulated by
indeed upon any art in which such an involve- majority of artists working frequently in the Maurice Agis and Peter Jones grapples explicitly,
ment is of paramount importance (though of landscape, and this might be justified as an perhaps for the first time, with the problem of
course it has previously only made sense in the observation implying relative quality in his work enclosing and opening up architectural space
Western tradition to apply to painting the notion - if nothing else, it's a sign of self-respect. But mainly by making use of colour.'
of a first-order involvement with landscape). even Long's work raises questions of status in Anton Ehrensweig The Hidden Order of Art
What seems to me distinctive in the more the end result which are critical, and which can 1966
successful of Long's activities is the intensity, never, for all Long's comparative fastidiousness, 1964-5 Spaceplace No t, Fulham, London.
consistency and detail of his experience and be divorced from the circumstances - cultural, 1966 Spaceplace No 2 and exhibition at
observation of place. It is the distinction of the social and economic - in which 'value' (of any Oxford. Some support from industrial
man who knows the mark upon every tree along kind) is attributed. companies.
a given path; knows how his world changes with If these questions remain unanswered, or 1967 Spaceplace No 3 and exhibition at
the seasons; has as his norms of distance specific even unacknowledged, the work will remain Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Full
distances travelled in particular known places, isolated or isolationist. The status of the primary sponsorship from Dutch and British
and as norms of scale similarly particularized art object is culturally entrenched by a long industrial companies. International
memories of seeing, relating and traversing. tradition of financial and transubstantiating Sikkens prize for work on colour and
When such a person travels, he carries with transactions which involve recognition of that space.
him habits of observation sharpened over long object's uniqueness - its non-reproducibility. 1968 Start 'Space structure workshop' in
periods through intimate acquaintance with a The 'documentary record' - photograph-plus- Bermondsey, London.
place he is leaving. There is a particularly signature or whatever - of the otherwise 1969 Developing industrial collaborations.
English kind of nostalgia which we associate evanescent or non-material 'work' has no such Making effective public contact using
with such journeys and the resulting travelogues. inherent historicity, no consequent 'special parks and public places for art. Terry
It is a mood which can be identified with aspects privileges', and no real custom of appropriate Scales joins workshop.
of certain traditions, most of them insular and transactions to set precedents for evaluation. 197o 37 public art events. 'Market '70'
most of them literary, at best involving a rare We might come to decide that the proliferation exhibition to demonstrate basic aims
blend of original imagination and acute and of short-term art histories and of fundamentally of Art/Industry/Public - 3o industrial
educated observation. Against Long's work the dubious criteria of worth is too high a price to companies sponsored. Initiated,
gigantisms of Heizer, the pseudo-mythologizing pay to maintain a situation in which artists can organized and realized by a
obsessions of Smithson and the self-documen- ignore many of the most critical aspects of their co-operative of artists.
ting desecrations of Oppenheim seem like the own function. q 1971 Space structure workshop, art in
works of boors and egotists. CHARLES HARRISON public - Deptford, Bermondsey,
The comparative discreteness of Long's work Harrogate, Greenwich, Durham,
Long's usage. The less orthodox alumni of the St
generates a certain reserve in the presentation. Martin's sculpture course seem to cling to this term Plumstead, Woolwich, Sheffield,
`Supportive' information is kept to a minimum. with a mixture of devotion and irony which must Bromley, Whitechapel, Cambridge,
irritate many of their former mentors.
But any transmission from one medium to Stevenage, Swindon, Hyde Park,
'Long has referred to his work as 'A portrait of the
another involves the possibility of 'interference', artist touching the earth'. Rotterdam, New Cross, Camberwell,
and while Long's indoor works pose no real 3 His work had been independent for two years before Waterloo, Erith, Stepney, White City.
this date. He was a highly influential student at St
problems in this respect (for the 'educated' Martin's and became at once an internationally
contemporary viewer), the indoor representation influential artist after his first one-man exhibition, at
of outdoor works necessitates the use of maps Konrad Fischer's gallery in Düsseldorf in September In a document-orientated society there is the
and photographs. The result is an inevitable con- 1968. Carl Andre was among those who saw and danger of documentation substituting for the
admired this exhibition.
fusion in the ontology of the thing viewed,5 4Usually about 8 in. long and of nearly uniform thick- real thing. This article is against our philosophy
which, insofar as one can see no possibility of ness. They are cut from Leigh Woods near Long's and action of presenting our art for direct ex-
clarification within the existing range of conven- home in Bristol. perience. So this presentation is only here for
5Long's Ten Mile Walk in the film Land Art (TV
tional relationships between 'work' and 'viewer', Galerie Gerry Schum) is an exception; it is also one the publicity, which might help us to survive
implies a far wider confusion as to what can of the few works made on film so far with a structure financially through our art.
which one might be prepared to identify as 'proper'
to the 'plastic arts'.

13 Richard Long
Half-tide
Bertraghboy Bay, Ireland 1971

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