Page 50 - Studio International - November 1973

Cattle stampeded through the maze to us, is the 'eponymous heroine of an
the food supply. 'Concern is given to opera ...' (which he wrote) '... from
the flow of moving bodies through material left over in the making of a
an imposed structure and to the humument' (in which she also appears
transference of material from external as Mrs Schilizzi). He continues, 'I
areas (food deposits) to the have an idea of what she is like. I have
digestive tracts of animals'. seen her or her 'type' or someone that
could be her or some blurred
These pseudo-scientific pieces seem evocation of her presence passing by,
to be a favourite with Oppenheim. To quite often on postcards'. The
me they are arbitrary. He is not paintings, sadly, are little more than
contributing seriously to an illustrations to this kind of poetry. A
understanding of animal husbandry, far more intriguing story is the source
so why pretend by using the laboratory of the Conjectured Picture series. One
maze ? He chose the alfalfa field ancient postcard of the interior of the
because it matched the hides of the Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, tells
animals. It would be difficult to match Phillips little about the works in the
that idea for sheer banality. collection, though some paintings are
still identifiable as landscape or
Lawrence Weiner could be said to portrait. The attempt is to reconstruct
have a dry sense of play ; if so Dennis that section of the Mappin collection
Oppenheim has a childish sense of depicted, using only the information
fun. given on the card. The nine
Sarah Kent conjectured pictures at the
Marlborough are nine blurs: an
amusing idea. It's also amusing to
Tom Phillips at the Marlborough find yourself making lunar
Gallery, London, 14 September — 20 landscapes appear in a badly
October plastered ceiling.
Tom Phillips is an educated man with
a facility for using paint, who looks Many great paintings are surrounded
hard into that simple and charming with anecdotes, tales of wondrous
thing, the picture postcard, and procedures and extraordinary men ;
discovers for himself a whole Las Meninas is a rich one (Picasso
new world of lifted styles, culture added a lot of the Velasquez tale in
games, and endless possibilities for 1957). Other paintings are born out
prettiness. of histories : Poussin liked to paint a
Dennis Oppenheim Maze 1968 this will not be necessary, as the quote
Photographic montage 20 x 15 in. above shows. The Quest for Irma is one recent Tom Phillips The Quest for Irma 1973
series of paintings. Irma, Phillips tells Watercolour, 13½ x 10 in.
attempt leave one further than Sol LeWitt once pointed out that 'If
before ? Where is the accounting ?' and the artist carries through his idea and
concludes 'As it is not redress be it makes it into visible form, then all the
then at least as Art'. steps in the process are important'.
'I would like to see an art where there Oppenheim's work is in three stages :
is no concern with viewing, no the concept, the activity/performance,
concern with recognizing, no concern and the documentation/presentation.
with making posters'. (Dennis Each is dependent on the others for
Oppenheim, 1969). its quality, so he should neglect none
of them.
Dennis Oppenheim's work is mostly
transitory. He was initially known as a In the exhibition were photographs of
land artist, but recently he has Oppenheim sliding down a slag heap
performed his work to live audiences Preliminary Test, teaching his
and recorded it with film, videotape daughter and parrot to name colours
and photography. Colour Application, and exposing
himself to five hours of sunburn with
Since the artist is not in London, a book of military tactics on his chest
his work can only be seen 'second- Second Degree Burn. Pranks like
hand'. The exhibition at the Mayor these are difficult to take seriously.
Gallery consisted of maps, plans, Oppenheim relies heavily here on the
photographs and printed statements mystique of 'the artist'. Without it his
by the artist, documenting his work sunburn is much the same as yours or
from 1968 to 1970. (Why not the last mine.
three years, I wonder ?)
There is a strong thread of ritual and
Most of this documentation has witchcraft in the work. In Predictions,
already been seen in art magazines 1972, he has built a model of a
and there was very little new material dangerous intersection on the Long
in the exhibition. As information they Island Railway. By faking a crash with
were inadequate. Nor were they his toy trains, and simultaneously
interesting as art objects since they focusing his attention on the real
were indifferently put together. This intersection,he expects to induce a
shows lack of insight on the part of crash in reality.
the gallery and lack of concern on the
part of the artist. Oppenheim is The work illustrated here shows
disdainful of this aspect of his work. Maze, 1968. The facsimile of a
'There is no need for me to photograph laboratory maze was constructed with
my work. It's just a matter of using it bales of hay in a field of alfalfa. Corn
for display'. He dreams of a time when was provided as a food source.
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