Page 63 - Studio International - September 1973

sensibility. Cobb's latest work in the Many of the indecisive and
show was about the recesses in a unformulated aspects of his earlier
wooden structure left by the tapes seem to have been eradicated,
imprint of a figure. He apparently as well as some of the austerity of
has an autocratic working method earlier tapes which had the effect of
based on elaborate measuring rules 'alienating' his technique and his
and set squares which are then assumed subject. Austerity for
subverted and modified according Lange can be an interference,
to whim, and to overall design. since it stresses the formal
aspects of the work at the expense
Several of the sculptors from the of his subject matter. Fortunately,
Chelsea School of Art erected his latest tape has resolved this
technically complex assemblages difficulty and made the 'medium'
for their show at the Whitechapel more transparent and 'compatible'
Gallery. In view of the spacious with the observations he is engaged
surroundings it was fortunate that in making.
the sculptors were so entertainment- ROSETTA BROOKS
conscious. Foremost was Ian
Robertson with his teetering piles of The Non-Objective World
roughly fashioned wheels, columns 1914-1955 at Annely Juda Fine Art,
and used umbrellas, all hamstrung London, 5July to 22 September
together. Likewise, John Aiken's Annely Juda is currently showing an
floor-to-ceiling waterfall of exhibition of high quality. She has
corrugated card, rope and sand used the title 'The Non-Objective
exploited the high gallery ceiling. Darcy Lange Still from video-film World', borrowed from Malevich,
However grandiose and acrobatic more than once in the past for
these pieces may have been, the exhibitions of Russian constructivist
drawings of Aiken and Robertson, realistic sculptures with which he day of a sheep farmer in the and suprematist paintings from the
shown at Chelsea School, was previously involved. His video- highlands of Scotland. The video 1920s as well as contemporary
demonstrated their flexible way of tapes are contrary to the sorts of tape shows the farmer starting out western European works stemming
thinking. A student from the Central, concerns which have recently been in the morning and walking across mostly from roots in de Stijl and Art
Jenny Greenhill, also seemed housed by this medium. the hills with his dogs, gradually Concret.
aware of architectural environment, gathering in the sheep. The
and it is not surprising her linear Two different varieties of activity soundtrack is simply the natural There is so little room in the gallery
landscape piece has been chosen are currently observable in the video sounds of his dogs and his that some works must be leaned
for a spot outside the Globe Theatre, medium. Firstly there is the occasional whistled or verbal several deep against the walls. Yet so
London. structuralist approach of artists like instructions to them. The movements much has been achieved here that a
Dan Graham and Jan Dibbets which of the dogs and the changing distinct kind of gallery and a
Opposed to these examples of includes the tricks, and sometimes formation of sheep is represented in distinguished gallery at that has
relatively tasteful abstract thinking the clichés, of self-reference. This minute detail by meticulously emerged. Concentrating upon a
were a number of students who at its worst is usually recommended precise camera technique. particular area of twentieth-century
disgorged a blacker humour in in terms of 'exploring the medium'. art has helped to open up the subject.
figurative work. Malcolm Poynter, At its best, the approach operates Lange is concerned with the features Perhaps more than any other part of
who has shown before in London, cognitively; upon how we come to and peculiarities of his subject the history of twentieth-century art
arranged his room at the Royal know things and upon how we matter which are imposed by the the Russian artists of the 1920s
College into a single tableau of represent things. On the other hand work function they fulfil — and this needed precisely this, as their work is
horrors with smaller groupings of there is the non-formal approach of seems to be a regularity in all his almost totally inaccessible in the
kindred freaky objects. Some of the artists such as Bruce Nauman, Vito video tapes. Habitual work (and West, despite its increasingly
work was clearly an adaptation of a Acconci etc. in which events or sometimes recreation) activities are recognized historical importance.
theatrical idea, such as the bonneted occurrences are simply recorded closely scrutinized for the way in However, even if the Soviet
animals reminiscent of Beatrix without explicit consultation with which they become entrenched into authorities were ever to agree to the
Potter. Other pieces, in particular the peculiarities of the recording a pattern or order. His camera publication and export of works of
the polished, mannered, wooden medium. Videotape facilitates the technique emphasizes these this period, the fact that many of the
horses, seemed wholly his own latter approach, giving a 'directness' structures in a deliberately most important pieces were in relief
invention. to its subject matter because of the 'objective' way, and his work seems or free-standing as construction was a
newness of the medium, or at least to function in drawing attention to central concern of their work, means
Equally eccentric were the mad because of the freedom from already those commonplace actions, that they always were amongst the
women on motorcycles which Peter entrenched formalistic interpretations customary or purposeful, which most difficult works to transport and
Lazare from the Byam Shaw School and traditions. This is utilized to otherwise escape normal scrutiny. the easiest to damage either by
painted into monochromatic settings evoke psychological and emotional However, in so doing, he does not intention or negligence. Consequently
inhabited by zigzag patterns. As is disorientations in the spectator in allude to these features of normal, whilst Annely Juda shows impressive
often the case in group exhibitions much of this category of human behaviour and activity in Russian works the actually
this artist stood out mainly expressionistic work. order to stress their oddness. The constructed pieces cannot be
because of his peculiar insularity commonplace is treated as represented, although some of the
which the majority of his colleagues Darcy Lange's work fits into neither commonplace. In other words there pieces in the exhibition clearly
lacked. At the Royal College category. He neither stresses the is no implied criticism or evaluative reveal the preoccupation with
exhibition of third-year students formal properties of his medium, nor framework. Lange's subject matter is construction.
held earlier in the spring there was does he capitalize upon the treated in itself and without
more conventionality. Several directness of its imagery. He is sentiment. I was reminded of Robbe- The Architectonic Composition by
students analysing the way diffused unconcerned with either the formal, Grillet's technique in his short Lynbov' Popova is a good example of
light falls on still life repeated the expressive or the emotive aspects stories. The same non-evaluative emphasizing the 'picture-building'
themselves in an academic manner of his subject matter. Instead, he is a objectivity is asserted, attended by process at the expense of illusion. Not
which their master, Morandi, realist. And so his videotapes the same affirmation of a tangible only do the dynamic, thrusting planes
avoided during a whole lifespan. impose little upon his subject but reality with which Lange seems to themselves depict an interlocking
CATHERINE LAMPERT merely represent, with an air of hope to reconcile his audience. It is structure but the material of the
objectivity, the activities of people in this sense that his works could be painting in rough impasto underlies
Darcy Lange at the Jack Wendler in their normal working life. This has said to be revelatory. A cool sense of the physical construction of the
Gallery, London,—July been a constant preoccupation in the clarity of a pre-established order painting. The material is clearly in
Darcy Lange is an artist who, over his video work, the tape shown at is conveyed; and can best be seen, front of the canvas, and any implied
the past year or so, has adopted the the Jack Wendler Gallery being no I think, in the most recent tape he illusion of depth behind the imaginary
medium of video in preference to the exception. It depicts the working has made. picture plane is negated.
109