Page 31 - Studio International - May 1972

extremely rigorous system, and according to and then follow the logic of the score, and and the concrete—what we, as artists are holding
how you develop that system—the options—you the work is the result of decisions made say, the balance between.
end up with something that has a very great at a drawing stage ... but there are also the JOHN ERNEST : Couldn't one argue the point
number of variables. These for me must second sort, the artist who likes handling the that artists always start off out of interest in
eventually be operational at a perceptual level. elements all the way through and so the score, objects—what sort of content can they obtain,
DAVE SAUNDERS : And also, the arrangements of the programme of the work, can change as a what sort of meaning can one extract from
constraints as a creative process—the initial result of all kinds of decisions that are made them or put into them—things like systems—or
arrangements of constraints from which you whilst the work is going on. In that case one is any kind of approach they may use for
work is just as much a step into the unknown, as concerned with physical things —but eventually marshalling their philosophy is really
the action painter's step into 'the arena'. the work could be assembled by someone else, secondary to this initial motivation. We are
MALCOLM HUGHES: I would have said that the made up by someone else. people who love to look at things or handle
initial choice of the initial system, each person JIM MOYES : I feel I am concerned with things, examine them, and we start off from
having his own system, is an intuitive choice—is uniqueness—it does make a difference in terms that point of view, and ultimately, I would
an act of identity that takes place, in terms of of how I do it. suggest, that most of the systems that one
which system one develops and from there on COLIN JONES: We are all concerned with would employ are comparatively trivial as
how rigorously one can work with it—to enable uniqueness, all the decisions we make are systems, and their complexity or their interest
one to arrive at a state which is visually unique—I don't know if we are very self- really has to do with their awkward relationships
diverse. conscious about it, but the object we produce is which they have with the object—which is
JEFFREY STEELE : And how flexible it is ... the unique in a certain sense because it is the sum in fact the thing which gave rise to them.
inherent flexibility is new, working with of decisions that were made in a unique way. GEOFFREY SMEDLEY: I think myself that there is
rigorous starting points the balance between JOHN ERNEST : Any artist makes something that an importance in the fact that one has recognized
freedom and discipline—the two things is special, no matter how impersonal-looking the importance of trivial systems in composing
acting in relation to each other give one a it is. It represents his own personal way of things. That one has the courage to use
feeling of infinitely more freedom of operation dealing with his own system; his own set of something which is analytically quite naive
than what is ostensibly a 'free way'. restrictions and restraints, and he produces and present it as the backbone of a work of
something that is unique only in the sense that art ... and quite clearly to a physicist or
JOHN ERNEST : Probably a number of us evolve only he could have devised the whole thing— geneticist any arrangements we are going to be
our ideas—our ideas are shaped to some extent it is highly personal in that sense, but a unique able to make are going to be quite trivial. But
by the experience of making the object, even object is something quite different—that's a triviality itself is a thing very often overlooked—
if one is making something which is thing that's oneness—its singleness is an integral it's a way of dismissing information—whereas
reproducible in the sense that the final result part of the thing—almost as if some of its very simple structures, or structures of a
is impersonal—but we may need the kind of quality resides in the fact that you can separate slightly more complicated kind that are built
heightened feeling that making the object this thing from the rest of the universe. You up from very simple methods—seem to me to
provides. can contain it in your mind only for itself. often produce very interesting results.
COLIN JONES : Are there not two fairly distinct MALCOLM HUGHES: There is some need for
processes of working with systems and structures GEOFFREY SMEDLEY: I think this points up the clarity here ... if we take John's point, if we
—those artists who write a score for the work, problem—the relation between the analytic measure it as a system it probably is trivial-

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