Page 16 - Studio International - May 1972

The problem of surroundings,' and that ... this is not sculpture's Ralph Brown's drawings of lovers have a
Central function' is a value-judgement that fits sensuousness imparted to them by the artist's
British sculpture his own work. Here the form is its content, the use of the medium; different hardnesses of
work does not exist 'beyond' its physiCal penCil marks follow the form and give direction
dimensions. (In Socratism, it is the form of the by the gesture used; their scale is efficient in
discussion that is debated, rather than the evoking the privaCy of the act portrayed. But
[These notes 'after the event' on the recent content suggested by the form.) Wedding was an abortion of Rodin. Its white
exhibition 'British Sculptors '72', held at the Is this, however, the lot of all sCulptures and enclosing amorphous shape seemed pointless.
Royal Academy from 8 January to 5 March sCulptors ? Why should a sculpture not alter Where Rodin used a scale for suggesting human
were originally written for inclusion in our people's minds ? Why not make them look at the intimacy and mystery, Brown had no feeling.
April issue. They had to be held over, however, environment in a different way ? Even the polyester seemed a pun for marble. A
because of produCtion difficulties.] The reason that most of the sculptures in the eulogy gone wrong ? Three Slanting Curtains
RA show did not do so was not, however, suggested the ease with which solid material can
beCause of a sense of priority instilled by the be made pliable and presented in non-form
sculptor, but because they were refleCtions —poor sCulpture. Its Berkeley-type spectacular set
What is it that defines an object that we Can at that—of the environment that 'I' have just connotations were blissful. But what was the
deCidedly call a sculpture, and how many of the left, to get into Burlington House. An even point ?
works on show at the RA fitted within this bigger issue was that since the attempted Geoffrey Clarke 'Call it Hadrian's Wall' —or call
demarcated zone ? William TuCker's note that competition with industrially-made products it anything but good. A long love developed in
... the publiC opportunity extends, gives stopped at gloss, what hope in human faith in
breadth and aim to the private vision', raised the values other than materialistic should (and childhood for beaches, buCkets, sand, waves,
totally meaningless.
essential point of what is private vision, and how could) be expressed ?
much of the 'made' publiC vision is there in it ? One difficulty is that there are too many Robert Clatworthy's Standing Figures was a four-
(But his article gave no clue to this.) sculptures and not enough 'real' consumers of part sombre sculpture plaCed somewhere
Many of the works inCorporate as 'private sculpture. between a churCh hall waiting for a sermon and
vision' the artifiCially-made publiC notion of the How many sculptures are made today by the public house at the end of the block where
superfine, mechanistiC age today, glorifying comparison with the nineteenth century ? The humanity breaks out. Remembering his earlier
it (with contemptible, glossy materials); or in need for public sculpture then, however we bronze bulls, filled with aCtivity and power
cliChé-ridden terms, made mockery of regard it, was at least real. Sculpture fitted a expressed by adept modelling, these appeared
technological striving, creating non-structured public funCtion (or a powerful publiC relations empty and vacuous.
(in all senses of the word), non-conceptual pieces requirement, as did the sestertius bearing the
Hubert Dalwood Trabeated, synthetic sCulpture
that seem to result from personal despair. emperor's head). The sculptor, serving society,
with all the trappings and luxuries we can afford.
Sculpture could show us in tangible form an was a craftsman. His alienation now carries the
That is, the possibility of looking back
image (perhaps icon-like) by which we could inevitable inopportunities of a consumer society.
historically to pick a style, a method of
assert our faith. A large part of any faith must If a sculptor sets himself up as God, or his
ConstruCtion, and mixing them in ways that we
rest in a belief capable of being communicated actions are answerable only to himself, on what
Can determine without harassment, often with no
either directly or indirectly. Sculpture as level is his statement made ? To whom does he
significant intentions other than frivolous. Mass
material objeCt can have both the immediacy of communicate ? What is the value of that
the Contingent form (which we are Conditioned communication ? and immediate communications systems
to respond to), and the inevitability of pure form Most of the sCulptures at the RA, through transmit information, otherwise unavailable, out
that Sartre's Roquentin in La Nausée recognizes their content, posed philosophical questions that of context; result—alienation and identity
problems. Museums, etc. give force to this.
in music. Could as well be stated on paper. The forms Dalwood's sculpture conCerns itself more with
Sculpture seems to highlight this problem. they took did not reflect any urgent, three-
Nietzsche thought the death of God was a Central dimensional drive. the assemblage of artifactual components Created
in the past and through past political, social or
event: 'Yet having esCaped from the tyranny of religious necessities rather than with the beliefs
God such an adventurous Man-God is landed, Robert Adams Vertex I Painted red, and
sooner or later, in another and worse tyranny— reminisCent of an Ellsworth Kelly; too small to that motivated them. Allusion to the heroic late
Baroque classical sCulpture of Camillo Rusconi,
the determination of a blind mechanistic release its potential power. It could have been as which has a soft, even handling, and to sculpture
universe. For if we are but casual biological tall as the room. as a symbol of power (e.g. under Imperial
bubbles in a process of equally casual Cosmic Kenneth Armitage Entering the Royal Academy, Roman), cannot be fortuitous. The rectangular
forces, then our conciousness as well as our a giant clenched fist, piston-like, pushed out at `trussed beams' and 'boxing glove' shapes
volition, with all its acts, is determined down to you. Citizen Kane would have been proud of seemed to deny their existenCe as particular
its minutest details not by us, but by those forces, this symbol. But its material detracted from its material and form. The pastel-coloured paint
or the immutable laws of Nature—Call them sCale. Why should an image so powerful and softened the form, its presence sensed beneath
what you will.' His voyager, travelling without phallic need a support ? It Could have been made
goal or meaning through a meChanistic universe from another material, and Certainly didn't need the surface. This anomaly of sCulptural
consideration had uncontrolled Contradiction in
could not be more different from SocratiC man. the third dimension. form and content—the penultimate stage on the
Bryan Robertson in his catalogue introduction to road to absolute absurdity.
`British Sculptors '72' Compared Tucker's work Antanas Brazdys The top of the sCulpture for
to Socratic monologue, presumably on the Osaka seen against the stucco Ceiling was a rich Kenneth Draper His work suggested suprematist
dialectic basis of question-and-answer, and it is sensation, but taken together the shape paintings re-made three-dimensionally, with an
true that one private way through present relationships were arbitrary and relegated to the unapproachable air, their form somehow
confusion and disbelief is the staunch ascetism of totem. The direct associative factor with bio- ungraspable and incomplete at most stages of
Tucker, whiCh makes abstinence a strength. But morphiC forms was made subservient to the each piece. I felt that this was partly created by
his suggestion that it is 'optimistic to hope that glossy sensuousness of the material; 'finish' was the reliance on the wall, which funCtioned not
the envisaged Confrontation with sCulpture can primary. The matt finish of Vertical Circle, only as a support but tried also to be a visual
alter peoples minds or their attitudes to their Horizontal Line, however, was purposeful. component. The works never intended to let it
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