Page 51 - Studio International - January 1973

Hourlouping it on Wall Street
New York's largest
In the old days Dubuffet used to say that in our
time 'earning, amassing and handling money
has become the only sense in life but it shouldn't
be that way!' Now, he has bestowed upon the
heart of Wall Street, New York's largest
sculpture, a twenty-five ton prodigy of time and
effort the size of a three-storey building.
He has done so with the deepest respect for the
neighbourhood which he calls 'the very centre
of the world, at the precise point of its
heartbeat.' In the plaza of the Chase
Manhattan Bank (the largest private plaza in
New York) he finds 'an extraordinary
celebration of reason, logic and calculation'
which he cannot praise highly enough, and
which he is even moved to call 'poetic.' Well, he
used to talk a lot about his love of 'aberrations.'
The team
Perhaps Dubuffet is the last Renaissance man ?
To hear his workers talk you would think so.
The Four Trees, which so many find so witty a
solution to the urban monument problem,
required a full labour force, both in his atelier in
France where some nineteen pieces were
readied for shipment to New York, and on the
Plaza where an enthusiastic crew carried out the
master's 'artistic will,' as they call it. Assembling
the pieces was not easy. Each element weighed
Dore Ashton
at least a ton. (The official description of the
technique: fibreglass resin skin sandwiched
over a core of cellular aluminium and mounted
on a steel framework anchored to the Plaza
structure.) At the head of the team, Main
Robert, a tall enthusiastic technician who used
to work in industry. Like Bernard Greninguey,
alpinist, Dominique Bouchez, shopkeeper,
Dominique Borgne, butcher, and Guy Grebert,
mason, M. Robert finds working in Dubuffet's
atelier a great relief. 'We have many professions
here,' he explains, 'including my friend who
worked in aeronautics, whose experience
building helicopters is useful, and my friend
who climbed Mont Blanc. Here, show Madame
your gear.' M. the alpinist comes forward to
demonstrate an elegant harness he has invented
for climbing and working on the trees. 'We
amuse ourselves, you see.' M. Robert further
explained, after prodding, that those who leave
industry for the patron's workshop always
amuse themselves because 'in industry we did
not participate.' Here 'we finish what we began.'
As he recited this piece of transported
Marxism, I felt emboldened to inquire
whether they had unionized their shop.
Embarrassed grins. No, it isn't necessary.
M. Dubuffet is a good boss. M. Robert explained
that he needed them, because 'you must
relieve the artist of technical problems.'
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