Page 55 - Studio International - April 1974

two sides. In Tim's Trail this is less The space occupied by the sculpture to the associations we make from it. un-pressing complement one another.
noticeable partly because we look has always merged easily into the This was impossible earlier. A girder The imbrued rust marks often move in
down on it. Two rhythms are used as a surrounding space and is a has characteristics formed by its the same direction as the shape's edge.
fundamental theme within the characteristic of all Caro's sculptures. shape. To change this shape is to Another quality is in the organic
sculptures. A 'loose' packing and spreading change its characteristics and therefore growth in time of each work. It is the
Durham Purse was composed from sensation outwards towards the our associations. subtlety in combining parts that allows
five parts. The steel is darkened from edges is not so overtly a part of the Late works however are changed this unfolding to happen. Contours are
its natural tone with varnish. A most recent sculptures, which tend formally through the use of position not straight and formed by one unit
mid-way point has successive dips instead to trap an internal space. They and proportion. Leverage and the as many earlier pieces were (girder
that visually connect the layers of use a surround, as shown in the fulcrum are as important now as ever. stated). They are part of a complex.
steel that clad its outside. Veduggio pieces, or in the cladded So is tilting a mass and springing a Complementary edges flow together
In the two Durham pieces a and tent-like structures of the English line. Tension created through concordantly to form these. An
relatively smaller top piece (long works they seem to push the space opposition and harmony using analogy is easily seen in painting
where under-marks affect our
perception of over-painted ones. The
one modulates the other. Here the
revealing of the work's case-history
is similar in painting to the ideal
suggested earlier. The difference is
however that the sculptures bring
the different events made in time back
into the present, but do not (as does
painting) allow us to order them in a
time sequence.
These sculptures need to be looked
at. They develop in our time both
forwards and backwards. A theme
noticed reappears at further moments
around the sculpture. Variations
are made on stopping, starting and
re-combining. They are all slower
in their suggestion of speed than
most earlier works but develop
resonances through the overlap of
medium and slower movements
within the totality of each sculpture.
The resonance has developed and
become part of the work through the
and triangular shaped) extends the conscious effort and ability of the
sculpture upwards and out. At the artist. It is not fortuitous.
same time its sloping top line returns The same kind of movement is
the eye back into the works. It breaks shown within the one work using
in each case the regularity of the methods of triangulation, crossover
larger bottom plate. techniques and scissor movements.
Tim's Trail is a three part sculpture These result in the need for complex
that sways its way horizontally across perceptual undertakings by the
twenty-four or so feet of ground. viewer.
Each section has two relatively Many works have nodal points not
vertical plates, one freely suspended formed by the physical attachment of
above the other. Each section takes a
neighbouring parts, but by the
different direction in space although position of the viewer in relation to
no abrupt changes take place. At the
separate points in space. An overlap
interconnecting points small
lines them up. Converging and
attachments draw attention to their
separating effects are experienced.
movement, yet do not destroy the
In some ways this could be seen as a
momentum generated by the whole.
reaction against the restraint imposed
Tim's Trail rises 25 inches or so
by the use of earlier relatively
from the ground. Edges are bent back
inflexible material and shapes.
in parts to form lips. These create inwards. Some recent sculptures Vermont Piece 1973
Touching and how to touch
detail and short movements compared look as though they are the part left
motivates a style that has been
to the longer ones generally used. from material that extended originally complementaries are the mechanics
refined but revitalized throughout the
Intertwined linear and planar rhythms on either side. found. In fact the push and pull
past fourteen years. Revitalizing
traverse one another at different Although a greater flexibility has sensation experienced in the sixties
his style has been a conscious
speeds. been attained in the artist's working pieces was a kind of stretching and decision (apparently so). Each series
This is an interesting development of process a similarity occurs with that contracting of the material. The
of works has been worked at from
the linear ground sculptures of the used in the sixties works. That is, parts recent sculptures use the factor of within. The mistake made by imitators
mid-sixties. A maturity is shown by liked were selected for use. These elasticity as an agent to determine is to consider the decisions made in
the way the artist has handled the were added together until a their total size. Some table sculptures one sculpture to be the essence of
difficulties arising from chance and satisfactory arrangement was found. look as though they have taken their Anthony Caro's style and the same for
order. A further development of idea Some parts might be reduced or shape before the molten metal has
all works. He is an inventor, and, as
is in substituting free will and increased in length, bent, tilted or set. An analogy with lava and the with all inventions, some work and
necessity for the latter. relatively redefined in their menacing nature of its threat to
some don't. He avoids making the
The works over the last few years configuration. human life is interesting.
same mistake twice. His style is
have moved towards thinness. Most There the similarity ends, since the In the sixties work, a line might send
onwards, never pedantic. It is this
have used thin steel plate, or related introduction of un-typical steel shapes. our eyes off into deep space,
elusive quality of not stopping in any
edges together to suggest a plane. The un-pressed, crumbly steel ends suggesting extension both of itself and
one place too long that captures and
Earlier works, (made during the are not found in a rigid format as the the total sculpture, but the late works
hypnotizes the imitators. He is free to
sixties) often used line as an T or H section girders were. Since will often use the entire crumbled
create in the present without ties and
emphasis in itself. Month of May they arrive un-shaped they make room edge of a plane to suggest the same
in this way he has found freedom.
for example. The plane has become for re-design. A curve, for example thing. In many cases the tiered effect
relatively more important since then. can now be altered without change made from cutting, weathering and Barry Martin