Page 44 - Studio International - December 1973

Vision medium. They still retain their vast
dimensions and the relationship
between image and observer remains
Congratulations the same. They have to be seen at a
This year, Westward TV ran their distance for the viewer to comprehend
'Open Art Exhibition' in Dorchester the manipulation of time, colour,
and with the help of the South space and scale. And they continue to
Western Arts Association included a evoke a profusion of associations by
category for film and video. their ability to create a feeling or frame
Laudable ... well yes, but things of mind rather than just being isolated
were not so simple. In a farmhouse in images on the wall.
Morchard Bishop, about ten miles Kinsman Er Morrison, Prints and
out of Exeter, lives Mike Leggett. At Books, have put together a show of
present he is establishing a film and Roy Lichtenstein prints that includes
video department at Exeter Art some of his most recent work as well
School, and assisting the SWAA with as lithos that have rarely been seen in
plans for a South-Western film/video England. They offer a series of six
workshop. Leggett is one of the most lino-cuts called Bulls (1973). The
interesting film/video artists in prints show a bull which becomes
Britain, and was a prizewinner, but he partially cubist in treatment until, in
is a very tough cat when he senses the final print, it's been transformed
exploitation. After throwing up his into the non-shape of a neo-
London TV job to work as an Mondrianesque study.
independent film maker, he has had The gallery has also acquired a
shows in his own right, collaborated print from the series Peace Through
with Ian Breakwell on a number of Chemistry // which Lichtenstein made
projects and organized the video in 1970 in a small edition of 43. He
aspect of the Hayward APG show in uses industrial clichés here that are
1971. He has also done a fair bit of reminiscent of Léger but the treatment
James Rosenquist Zone 1973
theoretical writing about the structure is late cubist and, of course, the usual
of TV broadcasting, so when spoof thereof. It sells for a cool
Westward set about making PR £1500. There are also a number of old
capital out of its art patronage by So, congratulations Westward ... printing techniques. He has made comic strip prints for sale such as
covering the exhibition on TV, Leggett but next time : either treat the work about twenty short films, many of The Melody Haunts My Reverie,
and five of the other contributors, seriously and give it suitable which explore multiple exposure and Sweet Dreams Baby, They still have
disturbed the easy ride the organizers broadcasting time or, if you insist on travelling matte systems of great the same impact : wildly funny
expected. another promotional con, make sure complexity. He is certainly the most paradoxical and urgent. They create an
At the grand opening were you don't give a prize to someone in advanced film-maker exploring this eerie effect of emotional dislocation.
Councillor Leslie Philips the Mayor of Morchard Bishop who knows his area in Britain, but it is strongly Still, the most beautiful prints (if one
Dorchester, Ronald Perry the onions. (The whole documented rumoured that the real reason why he can talk in such terms about prints
Managing Director of Westward — and history of the affair can be obtained was selected for the fellowship is that made by an artist who strives to create
to present the prizes, Sir Hugh from M. Leggett, Knathorn, in the event of petrol rationing he an anti-art) are Lichtenstein's
Willett the Secretary General of the Morchard Bishop, Nr Crediton could be of great value in Lincoln. Brushstroke; a brushstroke
Arts Council GB. The dissenting Devon.) Malcolm Le Grice illustrating the brushstroke. It's a
group, despite the PR man, McLuhan-like double entendre.
distributed a broadsheet, Information Centre for Film and Andrea Adam
Congratulations, in which they Video Resources and Services is Graphics
pointed out that although Westward being set up at 80 Wooster Street,
contributed £1000 of the £1400 New York 10012, under Hollis Roy Lichtenstein and James
prize money (the rest came from the Melton. The Centre intends to Rosenquist are to Pop Art what the Books
SWAA), over 2000 entrants paid 50p publish a newsletter available for a Rolling Stones are to rock'n roll : pop
each to compete. The main subscription of $2.00 per year. It will royalty versus rock aristocracy. A The decorative art of Leon Bakst,
complaints were about the way in centralize information concerning the decade ago they were considered the appreciation by Arséne Alexandre,
which the event and the work were activities of independent film and urban guerillas of their respective art notes on the ballets by Jean Cocteau.
presented to the public. The video artists — new work, screenings, forms but with the passing of time 62pp, 77 plates; 77 illustrations, 48 in
organizers were not interested in the tours, etc. It will also list periodicals they have lost their ability to threaten colour. New York, Dover, 1972 (UK
'content' of the exhibition, only in its and equipment resources. and shock. Instead, they have become distribution Constable) £2.50.
function as promotion of Westward's absorbed and integrated into the An introduction to Bakst, the designer
'benevolence'. The 23½ minutes London Film Co-op programme culture. Both Pop Art and rock music of opulent costumes and stage
broadcasting time subsequently for December have been transcended in people's settings for Diaghilev's Russian
given to the show did not allow any All shows are on Wednesdays at mind and become part of their ballet, in fact a reprint of a book first
serious consideration of the work, 8.00 pm, 13A Prince of Wales consciousness and ways of seeing. published by the Fine Art Society in
and actually misrepresented the Crescent, London NW1. 5 December It's therefore interesting to see the 1913. Cocteau's comments are
contributors, particularly in the Bill Brand. 12 December Birgit and two new sets of prints by rather gossipy and the book,
presentation of film extracts. A silent Willhelm Hein and Malcolm Le Lichtenstein and Rosenquist that are while well illustrated, is rather short
film was shown with a sound track Grice. 19 December New English available in London. The historical on facts.
but without prior consultation with films from Annabel Nicolson, Sally perspective only re-inforces their
the artist ; another was edited against Potter, Mike Dunford. Mike Leggett, validity and beauty. The changing newspaper:
the express wish of the film-maker. Paul Botham. The Rosenquist prints, published by typographic trends in Britain and
(Leggett refused to allow his own Petersburg Press, are a set of ten America 1622-1972 by Alan Hutt.
work to be shown under such Lincolnshire Film Fellowship different images based on paintings 224 pp ; over 200 illustrations,
conditions.) The group take the view Ex-Scientific Business Analyst in the he did during 1961-63. They come in bibliography, glossary. Gordon
that patronage of this kind exploits Corporate Planning and Economics an edition of 75 and range in price Fraser, 1973. £7.50.
the artist, presents the work as TV Department of Esso Europe, Stuart from £250-300. During those years A detailed and factual analysis of the
filling, and condescends to the Pound has become the Lincolnshire he painted the now famous 1-2-3 changes in layout and typographic
audience by denying them real Association's first film-making Outside, The Light That Won't Fail, make-up of newspapers by the late
exposure to work prepared in a Fellow. Through involvement in Brighter Than The Sun, Hey, Let's Alan Hutt, journalist and typographer.
medium directly suitable for TV ; poetry, painting and computer art, he Go For A Ride, Zone, among others. All the newspapers featured in this
work which, by the company's own started making film in 1970. Since The prints of these paintings are much book appear to belong to the yellow
standards of selection, was considered then his dominant concern has been smaller than the larger-than-life oils press, in that they are reproduced in a
to be of a high artistic order. with the invention of special film but they do not suffer in the change of horrid shade of yellow.
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