Page 92 - Studio International - November December 1975

this was in spite of attempts to interest local schools, in the fourth unit when 36 squares have been generated.
which largely ignored approaches by the gallery. The The thin rods of which the reliefs are composed build out
desire not to be physically near, or for that matter almost inconspicuously into space as each crossing adds
physically like, the sharp Bond Street galleries was one more layer to the structure. That the units emanate
another reason for choosing Notting Hill ; however, not stability and possess a certain wiry strength is as much a
being sited near a well-worn gallery perambulation must function of their design as their construction.
have militated against itinerant gallery-goers dropping in
on the off-chance when they were visiting other galleries.
The gallery closed because income did not offset
expenditure. No purchases were made by the Arts
Council or the British Council. But small grants made by
the Arts Council towards the costs of mounting two or
three exhibitions seemed to acknowledge a distinction
between commercial dealers' galleries and effectively
non-commercial experimental galleries, such as Lucy
Milton's, which are run with the prime purpose of giving
visitors a chance to see worthwhile art of today regardless
of its profitability. Such galleries are still necessary since
they operate outside both the circuit of public galleries
governed by committee and those private galleries run as
businesses ; perhaps there is a case for channelling public
money to them via the machinery of trusts, thus
maintaining independence of direction but giving a
firmer financial foundation.
As well as a lack of financial support, there was also a
lack of consistent critical support for the gallery.
Apparently critics rarely tried to discover the artists'
intentions in working in a particular way, and relied on
perfunctory inspections to draw often irrelevant
conclusions. But it was not just the critical audience who
often failed to understand the objectives of the artists.
The general public, frequently unaided by the surface
appeal of colour, texture, etc., found the work difficult and Norman Dilworth Single Line 1A-2 1975
were often thrown back to question the validity even of
abstract art (sixty odd years of abstract art is obviously not
enough).
What Lucy Milton and her associate Jennifer Warren A variation on the fourth unit, incorporating more
accomplished, with the active help of many artists, was squares, Single line 1A5, is made from much thicker
the provision of a necessary centre for new systematic and wooden battens and is painted white. The result is a
constructive art, the closure of which will leave a void in demonstration of the potential range of expression
the London scene. They also gave several artists their inherent in a comparatively simple form. The white finish
first exhibitions, as well as showing the work of artists tends to disguise the bulk of the relief but also opens up
from the continent who had hardly been seen in this the more conspicuously overlapping structure to the
country, such as Dekkers, Hilgemann, Visser, De Vries effects of light. Even in this relief, however, the over-
and others already mentioned, making their work lapping is not as obvious as one would expect, owing to
accessible both to the public and to British artists. In fact the peculiarly subtractive rhythms of opposing horizontal
the gallery provided a congenial meeting point for visiting and vertical bars. Different intensities of light and shadow
continental artists and their British counterparts, who make the waffle of space running over and behind all but
were themselves helped to show and consequently to the closest and furthest battens appear even more
travel abroad. complicated than it is. The procedures operating in this
Lest this seem like an obituary it must be emphasized relief, and in the series of four, are extended naturally to
that only the gallery has gone under. Lucy Milton is as create more actively three-dimensional works in the
irrepressible as ever, and Norman Dilworth's work in the freestanding Single line structures 1B and 2.
last exhibition testified to the continuing vitality of the art But the most dynamic work in the exhibition was a
which she wished to promote. small wafer-thin metal Multiple less than a foot square
Norman Dilworth showed ten works : two were hung at eye level and dominating the space in which it
freestanding structures and eight were reliefs which was positioned. It made a related larger work, Continuous
incorporated the third dimension to a greater or lesser line 5B, look almost clumsy by comparison. Multiple is a
extent. The immediate impressions one receives from his grid composed of fifteen projecting lines each way, the
work are a pervasive linearity, and a marked clarity of ends of adjacent lines being linked to form projecting
expression. squares along the periphery of a core of uniform squares ;
Five of the works are composed by the vertical and the lines of the grid all lie fused in the same plane and do
horizontal crossings of a single line ; four more, including not physically overlap. The calculation of the relationship
the freestanding structures, by the peregrinations of a of the areas of the black bars to the white voids is such
continuous line; and one is a flat square in which the line that the elements of the grid are still discrete at a fair
of the perimeter is drawn into the solid by the cutting of distance. This balancing of areas also creates a virtual
four slots directed from each side towards the centre (and perpetual motion along the pulsating continuous line,
first exhibited in 'British Painting '74' at the Hayward which synchronizes with another optical effect, still
Gallery). dependent upon the precise design of the grid, the
The clarity of the works is due to the clarity of the simultaneous contrast of the colour complementaries
original conception and its forthright embodiment in the black and white ; the piece projects a white halo which
materials used, but also to Dilworth's feeling for scale and sharply accentuates the form of the black grid.
proportion, and to the stark presentation, generally black Norman Dilworth takes simple elements, combines
painted works against white walls. them in simple ways, and through a considered choice of
Among the reliefs are a series of four, Single line 1A, the means with which to manifest the results of these
which commence with a single line oscillating from left to operations, creates works whose constructing principle
right and up and down in such a way that it describes a can be deduced even when the results appear complex,
cruciform shape which encloses a square at its centre. In and which radiate a sense of order through an energetic
each of the three succeeding units the single line spirals and incisive presence.
once around the central configuration, creating more
squares on each occasion until the sequence is exhausted
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