Page 73 - Studio International - May 1974
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social implications of some force,   conventional in their execution but   the foreshortened angle with the   showing at the Musée d'Art Moderne
         and Duane Hanson is certainly   no less fiercely intellectual in their   photograph's optically obtained   introduces the work of a major artist
         aware of this. His  Bowery Bums   inspiration. Arakawa's is a case in   shadings and misty infinities— which   (not exhibited, I think, in Britain
         (Ludwig Collection) represents a   point. His Shape No.1 combines   may well be mechanically contrived   since Robert Fraser introduced a
         group of derelict meths drinkers and   the chromatic values of harmony with   but no less effective for all that.   rather small and now largely
         it gains from exposure because the   the verbal and quasi-philosophical   The lens reaches into distances   irrelevant selection in 1962). The
         litter of its illustrative coordinates   magic of a magnificent concrete   beyond the focal point, and moving   work is not revolutionary. No   REVIEW
         absorbs the contaminating     poetry (Arakawa's indebtedness   towards the endless it captures an   innovation is to be detected in this
         accretions of the environment,   to logical positivism is obvious). His   almost romantic glimpse of the   series of canvases but the iconography
         embedding cigarette ends and   panel designates six 'places' after the   unattainable. It is a pity that the rest   and its techniques are contemporary.
         garbage in a receptive field. However,   cartographer's fashion, but even these   of what is on view cannot measure   A virtuoso's eclecticism is the
         Bowery Bums is one of the prize   definitions move from orthodox   up to the sheer imaginative   distinguishing feature of Lindner's
         exhibits in the Ludwig Collection ;   signallings towards indicative   excellence of these objects but,   art. It reconciles a great moment in
         there is no room for its logic at CNAC.   negation, ie towards omission ; and   obviously enough, the orthodox   the pictorial arts of Central Europe   7
         In this counterexposure the private   the legend of Arakawa's design   triumph is not every artist's purpose.   with the modern movement's triumphs
         collector shows a far greater   ('If possible, please forget about any   Mike Heizer, Kosuth, Barry Le Va and   in America. Lindner's capacity to
         understanding of styles and aesthetic   place not marked place') is meant to   Richard Long ignore the demands of   learn from every instance of genuine
         values than the official body which   open up miraculously open reaches of   the directly communicative opus;   advance is stunning. Only in 1950, at
         has a didactic role to perform. It is in   the imagination. Also, there is a note   and their success, or their relative   the age of forty-nine, did he decide
         many ways characteristic that one of   of lyricism in the sly diffidence of his   failure, is, probably, commensurate   to become a professional painter. His
         Philip Pearlstein's magnificently dry   touching 'please'. Sol LeWitt and   with the appeal of the indirect   heritage combined the graphic
         commentaries on the nude is, in fact,   Michael Snow are represented by   comment which the simple record is   virtues of George Grosz and the
         included in the Ludwig Collection                                                          German expressionists with
         and that CNAC has no room for                                                              Kandinsky's understanding of the
         Pearlstein, George Segal or Jack                                                           power of sheer colours. He adapted
         Beal. The Pearlstein composition                                                           and enlarged the vocabulary of
          performs an admirably exegetic                                                            pictorial comment. His statements may
         function. Its academic overtones are                                                       be regarded as narrative ; the
         counterpointed by a visionary                                                              confrontation of the couple, which
          insistence on chromatic and formal                                                        illustrates the relationship between
          allegories. Its human shapes are                                                          two independent human beings, is one
          related to sand and dust by the                                                           of his main themes, but his portrayal
          monotonous palette and to the                                                             of the human being explores a
          natural shapes of dune, rock and                                                          specially American environment and
          tree through a manipulative use of                                                        its protagonists display a horror which
          sophisticated graphic techniques and                                                      has not yet invaded Europe.
          perspective. There is a distanced                                                         Strangely, Lindner has become the
          objectivity in these echoes of the                                                        most profound interpreter of the
          academic style which helps to                                                             violence which we associate with the
          establish a clear declaration of intent.                                                  big cities of the United States. He has
          In this sense academicism means,                                                          translated the nightmare into
          quite simply, a tradition ; neither                                                       character studies. His heroes and
          more nor less.                                                                            heroines personify nocturnal events
           It so happens that among the                                                             (his pigmentation echoes the neon
          movements of the present only                                                             tube's unshaded glare.) The night's
          Constructivism and Realism can look                                                       dangers and temptations define
          back on unbroken traditions. The                                                          Lindner's hallucinatory volumes. His
          former goes back half a century and                                                       creatures burst from a black
          the latter is certainly at least two                                                      nothingness into the explosive light
          thousand years old. For some reason,                                                      of the pigment's sheet-lightning.
          which has no connection with art                                                          Their central volumes are contained
          history, Daniel Abadie wishes us to   Marc Devade Peinture 1973 (Nov 1) 200 200cm. Acrylic on canvas   in the flashlike boss of an abstractive
          overlook the obvious. In this                                                             field — which readjusts Stella's,
          connection it is characteristic that the   compositions which reconcile   capable of carrying ; and, let it be   Noland's and Clyfford Still's shrill
          two undeniable masterpieces of his   constructive ideals with more purely   noted, that it is very very simple. Pure   harmonies in accordance with
          'hyperrealism' are in the Ludwig   conceptual tenets but, within their   conceptualism is the ascetic's pursuit   Lindner's grand rhetoric. The shrieks
          Collection — and nothing of a   setting, their work strikes one as   — because it denies immediacies and   of the backdrop expose his cast. The
          comparable standard is in the CNAC   traditionalist. LeWitt's series of   substitutes the comment's   wonderful series of early drawings
          show. The Pearlstein and the Duane   drawings is especially indebted to   ratiocinative values for the emotive   demonstrates how far he has travelled
          Hanson  Bums are in the Museum of   musical notions. Taking, for instance,   charge of action. It replaces the   in his thinking. His early compositions
          Modern Art. It is also worth pointing   a randomly obtained 'scale' of lines,   theatric grandeur of the gesture with   introduce fattened pictorial presences
          out how carefully composed    he builds a series of quasi-musical   the subservient setting of the stage   —which amuse no less than horrify.
          Hanson's grouping is in the cast   variations by superimposing them on   and stage design. Its evocative power,   They have Botero's elegance and
          composition. His arrangement is   a grid which follows serially conceived   where it is present, comes from the   spirit (and they are earlier than
          truly sculptural in this instance— as it   numerical combinations; nor is this   accuracy of the well-made record   Botero) but, in the illustrator's
          is most surely not in the CNAC   all, for his end result is simply   (and it is very much to the point that   manner, they distance primary
          pieces, which play mere variations on   beautiful. The same goes for his   verbal records are capable of stating   reactions and conceal them under
          the theme of shock, exploiting the   colour grids and shaded bands,   fallacies and imaginative truths as   obtrusively emphatic layers of the
          innocent repulsiveness of growing   pencilled in pastel hues—with their   well). Robert Smithson and Richard   draughtsman's craft. The thematic
          old ungracefully.             differential diagonalization of base   Long do communicate the excitement   content is already revealed. Terror,
            So it goes. But it is equally   lines. However, Michael Snow's   which belongs to the account of   obscenity and the predatory hunger
          revealing that the Ludwig Collection   Montage must be regarded as one of   strange doings and deeds— but the   of all flesh are already redolent in
          comprises a similarly perceptive and   the triumphs of pictorial   weaker brethren of the brotherhood   each aspect of the human body, the
          wide-ranging sample of conceptual   argumentation. This composition   (Robert Filliou, for instance, the ever-  female's especially ; but the refinement
          art. In fact, this half of the show is   shows photographic configurations   dull Robert Morris and George   of these initial designs obscures the
          so carefully assembled that it may   of the square's perspective-distorted   Brecht) transmit the sheer boredom of   horrible magnificence of the power
          succeed in revising some attitudes to   elements—separated by stainless   plodding along tracks explored many   illustrated by Lindner. The nakedness,
          what we regard as conceptual ; and   steel blanks which chequer the   times and long ago.   which is such a conspicuous feature
          it may force us to redefine a style and   pattern of Snow's beautifully precise   Richard Lindner belongs, without   of these pictures, belongs to the
          its attributes. This is achieved by   proposition. The statement   doubt, to the small and diminishing   exposed areas of skin in the
          including art objects more    underlines the fantastic energies of    band of real masters. His retrospective    beginning ; and not to the power
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