Page 14 - Studio-International-January-1974

writes about aesthetics he moves over to the role `turned' in relation to the vertical rectangle of concerned. 14 Whether we refer it to paint or
of art philosopher or art historian, this does not the page. babbling brooks, reading 'flowed' in an
constitute part of his art. A lot of the most successful painting of our intransitive sense sets the works at a distance
Lawrence Weiner's book Statements is time — it seems to me — has succeeded by from the intervention of the artist, gives them
divided under two sub-headings 'General deferring the determining of content as a a quality of serene detachment, and it seems
Statements' and 'Specific Statements' but each function of the process of production. I appropriate that this book was not produced by
refers unmistakably to individual works. There personally find this the most rewarding way to Lawrence Weiner himself but by Nova Scotia
are twelve of each type. Seven of the General approach the 'thrown' paint of Pollock, the College of Art. Using high-grade paper, a
Statements are related to entries in Seth `painted' canvases of Franz Kline, the 'poured' glazed cover and a small very subtle old
Siegelaub's catalogue, and three of the paint of Morris Louis, the 'stained' paintings of Roman type-face, they made a very good job of
Specific Statements appear in precisely the Helen Frankenthaler and the 'sprayed' it 15
.
same words. Three General Statements relate paintings of Olitski, but these readings only In the same year, Lawrence Weiner did
quite clearly to Specific Statements, and a become definitive with verbal realization as produce himself 10 Works through the Yvon
fourth somewhat ambiguously. The General pure designation, and this is precisely what Lambert Gallery in Paris,16 and this completes
Statements simply represent an earlier stage in Lawrence Weiner supplies in his second book the transition from verbal to adverbial forms.
the formulation of individual works as they Traces.12 The ten works each consist of a pair of adverbs
emerge from the thought processes of the Traces includes all of the standard art of place (in one instance past participles)
artist, a stage at which he is not prepared to processes I put in quotation marks in the which is then reversed, and then (preceded by
submit the work to the conditions of a receiver passage above and others from his own earlier `and') reversed again, and again: Under and
(a note at the front of the book informs us that working methods like Bleached, Turned, over — over and under — and under and over —
`Certain Specific Statements are reproduced by Removed, Sanded and Cratered. There are fifty and over and under. The material art potential of
kind permission of the people who own them'). in all. The first is Reduced, and compared with each work is perhaps most easily realized by
The word 'statement', if it orientates the Statements the entries are reduced indeed, no imagining its sets of paired adverbs qualifying
book towards the art context, also holds the more than the single word in block capitals one of the traces: `(painted) over and over',
words at bay, so to speak, and prevents our about a fifth of the way up the page and a (`stained) through and through' or '(flushed)
interpreting them too easily as a sort of art translation into Italian (the book was produced down and out', but actualization still demands
poetry. Many of the statements represent a in Italy) at a similar distance from the top. that some thing or things be so treated and this
recapitulation of previous themes : the field `Traces' suggests the finality of an historical elicits from the adverb a prepositional function.
cratered by explosions, the rectangular canvas fait accompli, but in the prospect of alternative A lot depends on how we imagine this to come
with the removal and sprayed paint, and the conditions of receivership they are projected about. In reading the comments of Bernard
series of stakes with string between whose into a future perfect condition beyond the Bergeaud who did a review for Arts Magazine
destruction by students at Wyndham College reach of present nostalgias. The beauty of when 10 Works appeared in Paris, we see the
about this time is said to have caused the artist Traces is that the words do not just stand there book (despite his initial doubts) projecting itself
to realize that the piece did not have to be built. preening themselves and asking to be as exhibition, or perhaps performance, into the
The book itself evokes the same admired. In the imminent prospect of material space of the gallery.
presentiments. The statements are printed one realization, they mean 'art' in the most directly `On this highly abstracted level of thinking
to a page with the verso left blank. They use a practical sense and often in the sense of our "in" and "out" no longer signify anything
small Helvetica fine type in lower case just most habitual expectations. because they can be considered equivalent; that
like Ad Reinhardt's statements in Artforum — The Random House Dictionary offers as is, in an empty space, under, over, out, down,
and doubtless a hundred others. The printing definition eleven of the word 'flow', `to cause back, forth, about, around, etc., designate no
begins in each instance almost exactly half-way or permit to flow: to flow paint on a wall before more than the space itself. Nevertheless, in
down the page and continues as far as the words brushing' .13 'Flowed' is not included among the reading the book, and being aware of oneself and
take it. Apart from the general sparseness, processes listed by Traces, but the omission is one's surroundings, one is executing a true
there are only two ways in which the made good in a book of 1971, where it forms the mental ballet.'17
presentation is at all unusual, the absence of general theme of a series of individual works Alternatively we may refer the directions to
punctuation marks, though not of capitals, specified more precisely as Flowed Within, the physical structure of the book, and we
and the cutting of each line of type abruptly at its Flowed Out and the like, offered in no less than seem invited to do this by the way pagination
stipulated length regardless of where within six languages besides English. I can see no serves as a substitute for punctuation as the
a word the break may come, and without any logical reason why paint should not be 'flowed four pairs of adverbs in each work space
hyphenation to carry over to the next line. Two gently' onto a wall or canvas, and if the canvas themselves through four leaves with French
things happen and both appear at their most was unprimed, it might well be 'flowed through'. translations on reverse sides. Somehow and
pronounced in the fourth General Statement. Everyone who has ever touched a paint-brush somewhere the term 'word sculpture' has
This begins, 'One regular rectangular object can recall instances of paint that was 'flowed attached itself to Lawrence Weiner's art and
place'. Then the line ends and we have to despite', and yet the addition of the adverb `over', 'back', 'through', 'under' and the rest
look to the next to see that the word is not, in somehow makes this reading less likely. 'Flow' run like more than a literary thread through the
fact, 'place' but 'placed across an international is primarily an intransitive verb. That same sheets of standard French paper.
boundary a'; and we look down again to see the dictionary's first definition reads, `to move along It would be an interesting exercise to go
indefinite article disappear in 'allowed to rest in a stream as water or other liquid: The river through the list of Lawrence Weiner's early
then turned to and tu', and then on the next line flowed slowly to the sea', and this is the sense works and count the references to standard units
`rned upon to intrude the portion of'. It comes that is taken up by the translations. It is as a of measurement and standard materials, and to
as something of a surprise that 'of' survives the metaphor of the fluid forces of nature that we note the frequency of words like 'standard' and
final leap to 'one country into another' These follow the flow of type, three lines to a side `regular'. So too, when it comes to making the
jolts remind us of the separate physical through the pages of the book, and the flow of books, he opts for the most readily convenient
existence of the printed signs and the things they meaning between translations that not only pattern, but this does not prevent their being
signify, but there is more to it. The squaring present very different visual images, but evoke very attractive, nor is the artist indifferent to
off of the lines makes of the horizontal block of contrasting vocal timbres even when we are not their attractiveness, but as the book is not the
type a 'regular rectangular object' and it too is quite sure of the identity of the language art but a means of presenting the ten works as

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