Page 97 - Studio International - July August 1975

Richard Serra's four pieces of Wages and Prices and Strike partisan groups on gables, like monstrous dragonflies, the
Portland stone are strewn over at Brannan's in exhibitions across according to the political rifle-shots at the grave sides, the
the largest of the outdoor courts. the water which provoked some temperature of that particular explosion waited for, or going
The effort of moving such large controversy. As a result of this area. One of the few which off a street or a mile away, the
chunks was surely not worth the invitation he spent a couple of included a human figure was the volleys in the darkness, the ill-
trouble, since visually they added months visiting Belfast, Armagh moving shot of a woman tempered bickering on TV of
nothing. The National Theatre, and Londonderry, photographing, posting a letter in a street smug politicians or smirking
visible just beyond, is a bigger and collecting information and clouded with bomb-smoke - is clergy. And no party songs
better effort. making a few video-tapes. she displaying supreme came from the endlessly
Perhaps the dilemma posed by The show consisted of nearly confidence or unthinking apathy? spinning tape. Even in strictly
this paradox is seen to be 200 colour-photographs of wall The printed comments range visual terms, the bulging
answered by the power of the paintings, decorated street in time from Edmund People's taxis swarming in
media to promote and enlarge furniture, graffiti, posters, each Spenser's sadly prophetic 'They Belfast's Castle Street, crammed
that which is beyond the real with relevance to political say it is the Fatal Destiny of that with passengers like a Keystone
ability of these favoured artists. allegiances so long current and land that no purposes Comedy, the grey protective
The transmission of images and now with the years of civil unrest whatsoever which are meant for slits in the letter boxes, the
ideas often takes precedence over enjoying a period of efflorescence. her good will prevail', to guarded barriers and turnstiles
the real work, and often the real These were supported by a large Reginald Maudling's remark in the security zones, were not
work not only takes second place number of documents, newspaper as he flew back to England, registered.
but is second rate. cuttings, and public relations `Bring me a double Scotch. So it could be argued that
Other artists' work included in statements by official and What a bloody awful country!' Conrad Atkinson's display is
the show hardly matched up to unofficial organizations. Below Archetypal utterances by made up of three or four
the stricter definition of sculpture the photographs were displayed Padraic Pearce, James Connolly anthologies: (A) a rich and
as physical entity. Neagu's about 150 quotations from and Lord Brookborough are representative selection of the
illustration of a mummified historians or commentators, included, with those of political and sectarian Folk Art
smoker's kit entitled Object verses from party songs, snatches academic historians and of Ulster's urban proletariat;
Tactile, 30 Cells is one in a series of poems, remarks by British contemporary poets, the youngest (B) a miscellany in verse and
of matchbox-type 'art' works. soldiers or local schoolchildren. of whom was murdered only prose illustrating our
It's tied to a world devoid of They were printed on tinted paper, last February. But the fractured society; (C) a scrap-
inspiration, talent or critical one quotation to each sheet, fundamental split is firmly book of portraits or
value. orange, green or white according enunciated in the simple placing paragraphs, posters, documents,
Lloyd Gibson's The Day But to the complexion or tenor of the side by side of the tribal calls, official or unofficial, which could
One, made from hanging canvas words. In the upper gallery video- `Remember 1690', 'Remember have been greatly extended by the
and cord is apparently different, tapes played continuously; and 1916', and in the identical inclusion of printed stickers and
but merited space only by its on the ground floor a display suggestions for assaults upon the newspapers and propagandist
difference to ground-based works. board with writing materials and persons of Her Majesty the journals which have poured out
Its dissimilarity isn't creditable drawing-pins was handy for the Queen and His Holiness the in profusion; and (D) a handful
through advancement, per se, but reception of visitors' comments. Pope. of tapes drawn entirely from
by its unlike characteristics. This Although many of the The photographed objects minority sources.
is not experiment but perversity. photographs and other items exist; the printed words have The invitation to visitors to
However the question of were set out in various groups been written, spoken or sung. contribute their comments
content remains unresolved and such as 'A Bill of Rights', On none of these has Mr and participate in the obvious
cannot be answered through `Bloody Sunday', and the Atkinson made any specific debate has been readily accepted,
considerations based entirely, as `English Movement for the personal remark, nor has he in a society prepared to write on
they seemingly have been, on Withdrawal of the Troops', and attempted to offer any any surface. But these serve only
material mechanics and the the tinted papers have been explanation or draw any to undermine the basic attitudes,
multifarious dead ends arrived at tactfully alternated, no attempt generalization. He has made a although for their examination
in the process. was made to do more than brave effort to achieve they would necessitate the kind of
Perhaps the mistake is to exhibit the material in any objectivity. But the scale and the anthropology or sociology Mr
worship at the edifice erected to manner beyond eye-level limits of any exhibition imply Atkinson's note in the catalogue
sculpture. The idea to 'free' horizontal rows. The visitor was selection of some sort and here, mentions. One of the briefest is,
sculpture is admirable, but not at left largely to digest a great mass from my own biased point-of- perhaps, the most significant:
the expense of the artist's of visual and verbal information view, I detected certain `Peace on Earth, Good will to all
autonomy over expression. and to make the correlations for conscious or unconscious men' with below, in a bolder
Worship in itself denotes the himself. The photographs were predilections. For example, hand, a crude drawing of a bomb
signing away of independent untitled and not in any way `Bloody Sunday', the gunning- and the blunt words, 'Ten
thinking about cause and effect to localized, though some bore down of 13 Catholic men or boys minutes to get out'. The
some higher deity. Perhaps great internal evidence of their by the paratroopers in Derry, is injunction 'Stop being
art has always been that which by provenance. given the spread of one wall, but Protestants and Catholics, start
a tour de force tilts the The same restraint in effect `Bloody Friday' and its dead, being Christians', the question
balance and causes momentum was evident in the straight- victims of Provisional bombs in `Does it show all? We are not
to gather in quite unexpected forward photography, crowded Belfast streets, has here all murderers and bigots', and the
ways. which lacked contrived camera no commemoration. Similarly pertinent declaration, 'The
Barry Martin the English demonstrations
angles or artfully posed figures. Freedom of Ireland is not worth
These provided a thorough calling for withdrawal of the the shedding of one man's blood'
survey of kinds of static public Army has its corner, but we look are some of the more humane
Conrad Atkinson propaganda, statements of ideals in vain for a record of the bombs remarks. The contrast between
Arts Council of N. Ireland Gallery, and loyalties, common in in Birmingham. Again, the the comparatively unspoiled
Belfast, May working-class areas in these video-tapes only consist of countryside which lies at the rim
Ulster towns; for example, one interviews with civil rights of every Ulster town or village
For the last six years the Arts I can place exactly is from a supporters and with a former and the evident violence of the
Council of Northern Ireland and little street close to Derry's internee who has been subject urban scene is a noted point -
the Northern Committee of the Walls, which consists of a King to sensory deprivation at the 'This exhibition is of Belfast
Irish Congress of Trade Unions William on his white horse in a hands of the military authorities. streets, not our beautiful country.'
have collaborated in sponsoring rather baroque manner, a group Of course, the ready descent But even this can be given a
cultural activities in the month of historical personages at the into this ritual of matching- political twist 'No surrender
of May, and some kind of moment of the relief of the city horror-with-horror, event-with- to the Destroyers of our
exhibition has always been after the siege, both flanked by event, is symptomatic of the beautiful country'. Resentment at
included. This year, instead of the armorial devices. Others include, psychology of all infected by our being presented with a limited
more conventional type of show, beside an astonishing variety of tragic air. It would certainly view of the situation evokes
Conrad Atkinson was asked to King Williams, the pillar-box require an encyclopaedia of Caliban's denial: 'An exhibition
visit Ulster and present an or phone-box banded with effects adequately to represent like this lets our city down.
exhibition on some aspect of, or a republican colours, the Ulster the edges and textures of life as it There are more interesting
theme drawn from, the life of the flag painted on the metal is now lived in Northern Ireland: subjects than this.' The nature
province. The artist, who is switch-box, the slogan along the clanging of frequent and the impartiality of the
Northern Fellow in Fine Art at the roof-tiles of a super-market, ambulances, of urgent fire- exhibited material is strongly
Newcastle on Tyne, had already the large-lettered warnings to engines, the roar of army trucks, challenged: 'You have not looked
treated the subjects of Work, informers, or invitations to join the whirr of circling helicopters at your subject from an objective
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