Page 18 - Studio International - September 1972

attention. Being relatively permanent it lacks have now result in a signification of some organizational group, be it an educational
the act of appearing and consequently what experiences which at some time might be institution like an art college or some amorphous
turning towards it there is is determined, not by obtained. We need a series of correctly paced cultural nexus in society can continue contact
the exhibition, but by the attitude of the people exhibitions which permit an attentive with its components (i.e. students) and at the
who make their way there. Refurbishing galleries contemplation of the work and then the same time tolerate from the components
and moving collections around is not enough. sculptor might have a chance to recreate the responses which require, not only support but
The periodic shows in commercial galleries experiences for which and from which it was fundamental changes in the organization's
are not necessarily what is of significance and made. Without such conditions the sculpture behaviour.
interest in sculpture but of what is likely to be can only be experienced fully by the sculptor Sustained creative educational policy is rare
saleable. The investment secures attention and in the conditions of his own studio. in art schools. The tendency is to permit a few
attention secures more investment. ventures but to fail to assemble the critical
The kind of attention which a high level of BK: We are both concerned at a 'literary' expertise which would enable objective status to
investment secures often provides the means attitude but it may not be purely a contemporary be achieved by the products. Without such acts
of obtaining for the artist a showing in a public problem. Perhaps it is an advance that the case the organizations, the art school, can only treat
gallery. Sometimes a gallery is taken over for a for a non-literary attitude can be stated, the products as 'foreign' either subversive or
`theme' show. In both cases the attention is self previously it could only be pointed to when it irrelevant. The same pattern applies to
confirming. became apparent through the work of an artist. patronage.
The answer might be to make a number of If it is a contemporary problem then an
first rate showing spaces permanently available. additional contributory factor may be the BK: There again you have the requirements for
These would be at the disposal of a committee higher general educational requirements for good criticisms. It seemed important to me to
largely made up of sculptors but invitations to art students. These educational measurements, make the link between real sculpture and
serve on the committee should be extended to of dubious value anyway since they appear to sculptors and the area of patronage which the
people in the field of philosophy and aesthetics refer in a significant way to only a narrow range Academy constitutes.
of the calibre of Professor Wollheim, and to of intelligence, exclude from art schools a I didn't know what would be the outcome
suitable art historians. The formation of the number of people who would have come in the but hoped it would be the beginning of a series
committee and how long it would serve would past. of exhibitions and that the critics would weigh
have to be a matter of careful consideration. It in and offer constructive advice. The whole
should not mysteriously appear as so many of PA : You may be right in what you say but I enterprise now seems so obvious that I wonder
the bodies responsible for controlling public would not like to go back to the position where why it has not been done before, and had the
showing space have done in the past. The being an artist was thought to be synonymous critics cared about sculpture they ought to have
committee in being, the space available could with being inarticulate or withdrawn. worked for it and initiated it. What I wanted
be used for the sale of sculpture and sculptors Nevertheless it is surprising that the attempts was a constructive and considered look at the
and a sequence of exhibitions arranged which, to raise standards in art schools and a higher work and effort put in to say how such
over a period of time, would build up an general level of interest in sculpture should not exhibitions can be continued and improved.
informative context in which each individual produce more intelligent appreciation and more We look to critics to interpret, evaluate and
show would fit. real sculpture. Maybe it's to do with the way in inform. The gap which exists between the
which planned improvement necessitates an general public and the artist can only be closed
BK: I think that it is a good idea. We certainly attempt to articulate and refer at will to the by those who have chosen to be interpreters in
need some way of bringing sculpture forward qualities which are being promoted. The the press, radio and television.
for attention, at the moment the only thing tendency is for the reference means to replace The Stuyvesant City Sculpture Exhibition
which does it in a regular way is the art the quality or condition to which it refers. Like is a case in point, there has been no coverage
magazine. This position results in what I call you I am perturbed at the confidence which is by the national press of what must be the most
`art magazine power !' If you want to know engendered by the busy activities and the ambitious'attack on the problem of public
what is going on in sculpture you have to read business in the art world, while at the same time sculpture ever to take place in England. Almost
the magazines. It would be satisfactory if the the qualities on which sculpture depends all the artists involved seem appalled by the
continuously available art magazines were becomes more deeply buried under a mass of sheer lack of even the slightest understanding
paralleled by an equally powerful continuously verbiage. of their work shown outside a gallery context.
available actual experience of sculpture of the Here and there courageous local government
kind you advocate, but this is not the case. The BK : I am coming round to the view that has seen the point, but one has the impression
result is that instead of sculpture being students can be taught more by example than that the English public is in sore need of some
experienced as a physical presence with weight, dissertations. Students from the Sculpture enlightenment as to the meaning of the exercise.
density and tangibility and instead of one's own School at the Royal College often come to my Of course there are several writers who
bodily experiences being called into play while studio. This seems the right way about to me, understand this well—I'm particularly
looking at the sculpture, one is fed a partial they see me at work and a number of complex impressed with the way that the Evening
description of it verbally and by photographs. things are conveyed about sculpture in this Standard carries very comprehensive reviews
Without realizing it people have become context. I would like to see a Post Diploma set by Richard Cork. Both John Russell and Nigel
satisfied by this and take it to be the total up whereby students are located at a place like Gosling also write clearly and understandably
experience and if they are students their own St. Katherine Dock, where they would work to a broad public.
creative activity tends to be underpinned by in a mixed population of professional artists. I But many give me the impression of a lot of
this way of thinking. like the independent quality of a system like this. vultures waiting to fly down and pick around
in something they hope is dead enough to do
PA : I agree with what you say. Sculpture and PA: Independence becomes more necessary than them no harm.
for that matter painting is made as if it were an ever now. The sculptor showing work needs As a sculptor I need space to show in and
illustration of an idea which could be patronage. The student requires support. sound perceptive criticism of the work I show
articulated alternatively and prior to its Sometimes apparent benificence conceals and we can all do without the carping pseudo-
embodiment in the materials of painting and controls. There appear no models at present descriptive criticism of the article I referred to
sculpture. Visits to exhibitions of the kind we generally acceptable which show how an at the beginning. q
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