Page 81 - Studio International - September October 1975

At the Quay Gallery West
Coast humour and the craft
California tradition combined in the exquisite
enamel pieces of the Pencil
Brothers, whose trademark yellow
In May the San Francisco pencil occurs on tiny frames,
light-switch covers and a wall-
Museum of Art sponsored the
First Artists' Soap Box Derby. hung place-setting with an
Racing vehicles designed and asparagus fork and a pencil spoon.
driven by artists included a giant Elfin Elisofon's little fetish
pencil, a tumbleweed and a blue sculptures, also at Quay,
basketball shoe complete with resemble bird nests. Made of dead
sock. One entry was a bread car leaves, twigs, baskets and rags,
which disintegrated shortly after some pieces include actual birds,
take-off providing meals on wrapped up like tiny mummies.
wheels for the crowd. This light- On Independence Day, July
hearted, festive approach to art is 4th, the Ant Farm group staged
one of the reasons why Media Burn, an event in which a
California is such a shock to car was driven through a wall of
earnest visitors from the East Media Burn, an event: On burning television sets in the
Coast and Europe, where art is a July 4th 1975 Ant Farm drove a parking lot of San Francisco's
serious business, or at least a phantom dream car through a exhibition hall, the Cow Palace.
business. wall of burning TV sets Ant Farm is best known for
Photo: Diane Hall Cadillac Ranch, a row of ten
Instant communication and jet
travel between the coasts have Cadillacs buried in the desert
created a false impression of controversial new museum while Carver stands in dignified near Amarillo, Texas. Media Burn
American cultural homogeneity. buildings for Oakland and the imitation of his name sake, a also involved a Cadillac, this time
California is 3,000 miles from University of California credit to his race. In another transmogrified by 1,500 Ant Farm
New York. It has a different attracted international attention 'historical' painting Colescott man-hours into a 'phantom dream
climate, a different history and a and quickly became focal points gives Arnolfini a black bride. The car'.
different ethnic mix. The for local artists and patrons. The white man's legendary lust for Before the unveiling of the
architecture is different and so is San Francisco Museum of Art's black women is the subject of two dream car, the Master of
the art. The natives do speak small but excellent collection of paintings. In Café au lait, au lit a Ceremonies announced the
English, but when West Coast art modern art is about to be enriched Colonel Sanders character ogles arrival of 'The President of the
critics publish remarks like by the Clyfford Still donation. his negro maid and in Rejected United States, John F. Kennedy.'
'Lichtenstein deals us a heavy This summer's SFMA Idea for a Droste's Chocolate A black Lincoln Continental
one' you know you are far from exhibitions included national Advertisement a Dutch skater convertible bearing American
the intellectual territory of figures like Judy Chicago and Sol exposes himself to his black flags and sober-suited 'secret
Artforum. LeWitt, as well as a Cuban-born partner. service men' drove up and a
West Coast artists have long California artist, Carlos Carol Eckman's cardboard Kennedy look-alike stepped out.
complained that their work was Gutierrez-Solana. Gutierrez- constructions shared the floor In a passable Boston accent
either ignored or misunderstood Solana's work is a form of with a large timber work by Rudi 'President Kennedy' spoke
by the major American art three-dimensional painting. His Serra at the Hansen-Fuller about the role of television in
magazines, which are largely New wall-hung works are stretchers. Gallery. Using plain brown paper what has gone wrong with
York-based. California is another wound with an open lattice of boxes and bits of rough wood, America. 'Television can only
state and another state of mind. ribbons, tapes and strings. The Eckman created works both produce autocratic political forms
Its warm climate and affluent life- lattice grids, which are tough and fragile. Some pieces and alienation. I ask you, my
style seem almost sinfully splashed with paint, cast shadows connect to nearby walls with fellow Americans, haven't you
hedonistic to visitors from on the wall behind for a complex wood props or charcoal line ever wanted to put your foot
harsher environments and I sculptural effect. One floor-to- 'shadows.' Serra's massive through your television screen ?'
suspect that puritanism also plays ceiling piece is made up of paint- wooden floor-piece also included Murmurs of 'tasteless' were heard
a part in reactions to California spattered wood slats threaded on a line 'shadow,' this time chalk in the audience and an angry black
art. a string, which winds and unwinds marks on the rug describing parts man shouted 'What is all this
Part of the rivalry between slowly. of a circle. Serra's fierce black political garbage, I thoughtyou all
East and West coasts is economic. A strong indication of increased sketches of the same piece hung came here to put a car through a
Financial success is often local interest in art is the nearby. Mysterious leather-like tv !"President Kennedy' stepped
determined by New York critical appearance of a new magazine ceramic objects by Marilyn back into the limousine as to the
standards which seem irrelevant devoted entirely to West Coast Levine appeared here and there in tune of the Star Spangled Banner
to California artists. Local art Art, Currant. Although Currant's the gallery as if abandoned by the M.C. announced 'Ladies and
glossy format is similar to that of earlier visitors — a worn-out Gentlemen, the Artists'. Two Ant
patronage is also affected by the child's shoe, a lady's handbag, a
Farm members in racing helmets
New York domination of the art Artforum, the resemblance is suitcase and broken bits of riding and suits appeared and the
market. As one San Francisco misleading. In a defensive
dealer put it: 'The few Californians introduction to the magazine, tackle on a wooden rack. Each Phantom Dream Car was
• who do buy art prefer to do their Currant's editor stated that its crack and crease, each buckle is so unveiled — metallic silver with a
buying in New York for snobbish purpose is `to capture the tone of realistic they must be touched to huge dorsal fin and an I 8-foot
reasons — even if they can get the the West Coast .. and the sense be believed. hood. The two 'media matadors'
same things here.' of humor. This tone sets West Another talented ceramic artist were strapped into the cockpit
Christo's proposed 24-mile- Coast art apart from the intense was on view at the Phoenix and opaque black shields
long Running Fence in Sonoma seriousness, the so-called Gallery. Gail Cates's miniature replaced the windscreen. The
County north of San Francisco "heaviness" and "toughness" white landscapes with gently drivers would steer using only
has aroused the ire of local that the East Coast considers so undulating porcelain hills were a video monitor mounted on the
artists, who resent his publicity, crucial. Without humor, the sparsely populated with tiny white dashboard of the dream car.
and local conservationists, who "weight" of art exists in a cacti or animals. Each landscape While puzzled San Francisco
claim the project may open up vacuum.' is sprinkled with fine sand and firemen stood by, the television
agricultural land for developers. The West Coast humour protected by a low plexiglass box. sets were set alight and the dream
Sonoma residents fear that Fence touted by Currant was much in One of the simplest, Succulents, car headed for the waiting wall.
will be another Woodstock evidence at a series of shows was like a precious three- The crash was disappointingly
without the music. Christo's high- presenting new talent in Bay dimensional Morandi. Also at unspectacular and the dream car
technology, big- business Area museums and galleries. At Phoenix, Benjamin Blackwell's emerged unscathed. But as the
approach to art is anathema to the John Berggruen Gallery bizarre series of paintings, TV tubes imploded from the
California artists, who see the Robert Colescott's outrageous Secrets of the Art Museums, heat with sharp retorts, reporters
hit the ground and one battlefield
project as a sort of New York ethnic cartoon paintings were recalled the work of William veteran groaned 'Man, this is
hit-and-run mission on their irresistibly popular. In George Wiley. A pile of beans or a worse than Vietnam.'
territory. Washington Carver Crossing the mouse hole is visible in the corner Lucinda Hawkins
Recent years have seen a Delaware Colescott fills a small of a room hung with parody
welcome increase in interest and boat with cliché characters from paintings. A ballroom dance foot
support for the arts in the San American negro history, chart outlines the course of a
Francisco Bay Area. The drinkin', fishin' and banjo-pickin' museum cleaner's broom.
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