Page 88 - Studio International - September October 1975

interpreting someone's dreams, piece was originally conceived There is a very strong analogy Greenwich, Space Open Studios
making a connection between and executed for an exhibition with this piece and that of Arm is a natural development of a
this thing sliding across a sandy called Place and Process presented and Wire, showing that recent tradition of open
colour and a half-moon shape at the Edmonton Art Gallery, Oppenheim is more interested in individual studios in London.
drawn above it. For the marks to Canada, during September and a negative process than a positive This ideal has been developed in
work you need to assume an October 1969. At the time one. In a conversation published other parts of the world like
oracular origin - the artist didn't Oppenheim described the piece by Avalanche in 1970, Scandinavia, Holland and
know what he was doing when he by stating that 'forcing out space Oppenheim confirmed this by Eastern Europe, with artists'
did it, the painting acted through between a series of steps is like stating that 'when I cut a wedge unions and collective workshops
him. If it looked too knowing it eradicating time intervals between from the side of a mountain ... 1 being at least an alternative to
would fall flat. notes. The result is a single sound was more concerned with the representation. The exhibition
The jerky hesitant quality of the unbroken by silence'. negative process of excavating itself is a pilot scheme, a
paintings is notable, and shows up The words `forcing out space' that shape from the mountainside significant beginning which may
the drawings as formal exercises describe Oppenheim's intentions than with making an earth work well replace traditional methods
with much less at stake. But I'm with this piece very clearly. It as such.' of display. Such a comprehensive
not sure how much really is at reveals his lack of interest at this During the period of the survey has never been held in
stake in the paintings. It's partly time with objects which protrude exhibition, three of Oppenheim's England before, and it represents
that their uncertainty can look so from the ground, and asserts a slide pieces were shown at the a breakthrough for all those
deliberate and thought-over, and conscious desire to try to get other Self Gallery in Covent artists who are themselves
partly that the marks are used below ground level. The idea of Garden. These were Ground Gel, increasingly frustrated by the
just as marks, looking like compression as a concept gave 2,000 ft Shadow Projection and gallery system.
symbols but not symbolizing Oppenheim a means of moving Polarities, all three of them slide The artists taking part have
anything. Manoeuvering away from the previous projections synchronized to sound sought and accepted grants or
redundant signs round a canvas conventions of object-making. and executed in 1972. The most loans from a number of sources;
might just be an aesthetic Pieces like 220 Yards Dash interesting was 2,000 ft Shadow for the exhibition itself this means
activity, in which a completed became the residue of the process Projection, formed in Batavia, some £1500 to be used preparing
painting is a betrayal of the of compression. This attitude can New York, which the artist made the buildings. Some Space artists
principle. Perhaps they shouldn't be seen to follow into other works in memory of his father. The who are actively engaged in
be seen as posed arrangements, suoh as Arm and Wire of 1969. slides show a 2,000 ft beam from political dialogue claim that in
but as something interrupted and Here Oppenheim repeatedly a carbon arc searchlight which accepting support they contribute
caught off-guard. rolled the underside of his right shines along an open field. The to the maintenance of the
My appreciation of them was arm over some wires which cylinder of light from the carbon ideological structure of society
somewhat forced, a matter of naturally produced an indented arc cuts through space, interrupted today, that 'in working within the
standing back with half-closed mark on his forearm. This was by the body of the artist. As the frame of society they will in turn
eyes and editing out the documented by means of a 16mm figure stands and crouches in be framed:* But the achievement
irrelevant bits - like the film. different positions in front of the of Space Open Studios in that they
underpaint blisters. They are so The idea of a gallery showing _beam, he is also blowing long are at last open, that individual
much about mark-making that earlier work by an established sustaining notes on a trumpet. artists - whatever their ideological
other aspects seem artist is a very useful one, in the The very strong visual effect of standpoint - benefit from the open
conventionalized - the knocked- sense that it provides the the slides together with the sound Directory of Artists and from the
down colour, the scale. The opportunity to see the work in a of the trumpet make a powerful equal distribution of funds. Space
paintings may be right in their different context. A context where impression. At one moment as the Open Studios is its own manifesto.
own terms, but those terms could so-called issues about what figure crouches down, two shafts Jeff Intone
be questionably esoteric. group a particular artist belongs of light are separated by a long for the Steering Committee of
James Faure Walker to, and what 'ism' his activity fits dark shadow, creating the image Space Open Studios
into, seems completely irrelevant. of a tuning-fork of light
Looking at Oppenheim's work stretching for what appears to be * Hans Haacke, Art into Society,
ICA 1974
now, the categories 'Body Art'
Dennis Oppenheim and 'Land Art' appear to have at least 1,000 feet. A consistent
feature in these slides is how the
P. M. J. Self little importance. The fact that the strong beam of light creates Space Open Studios — Addresses
18 June — 26 July other piece in the show is called negative images as it is interrupted and opening times.
Branded Mountain simply by dark shadows caused both by I. Ravenscroft Studios, 49
During the last ten years, terms Columbia Road, E2. Sept 22 to
such as `Land Art' and `Body Art' indicates the same conceptual the figure and the undulations in Sept 24, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
have become integrated into the concerns as does the piece Arm the surface of the field. The
and Wire, rather than representing negative images, in this instance 2. 18 Phipp St., EC2. Sept 22 to
descriptive vocabulary of art
criticism jargon as a means of a shift in location and intention. caused by light, still provide Sept 24, II a.m. to 8 p.m.
categorizing and describing Branded Mountain comprises a obvious connections with the 3. Old St. Patricks School, Buxton
certain artists' work. Dennis large colour photograph of what earlier works carried out with St., El. Sept 22 to Sept 24,
Oppenheim is one artist whose is obviously the landscape of different means and at other a.m. to 8 p.m.
activities have contributed to American 'cattle country'. On the locations. It can easily be seen
giving these terms some actual floor in front of the photogaph how Oppenheim's idea of 'forcing 4. 124/130 Tabernacle St., EC2.
Sept 25 to Oct 5, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
substance. During June/July at are the skins of several cattle all out space' to create a 'single sound
the P. M. J. Self Gallery, two bearing the same brand-marking unbroken by silence' is carried 5. I Cahill St., EC I. Sept 25 to
important works by Oppenheim burnt into the skin. Together with through into the 2,000 ft shadow Sept 28, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
were exhibited for the first time the skins are several branding irons projection piece.
in London. They were the 200 standing vertically on the floor. Barry Barker 6. 10 Martello St., E8. Sept 26 to
Oct 12, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Yards Dash - Condensed and a Looking at the photograph again
piece entitled Branded Mountain. there is the same brand mark as 7. Charlton House, The
Both these works were conceived that on the skins, but on a much Quadrangle, Greenwich.
and carried out during a period larger scale cut into the foreground Space Open Studios Sept 27 to Oct 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
when notions concerning time, of the landscape. The work 1975
process, the inclusion of natural presents not simply a 8. Somers Town Depot, Ossulton
St., NWI. Oct Ito Oct 12,
phenomena and the use of natural documentation or illustration of Space Open Studios is a first 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
geographical features took `Land Art' but develops the exhibition lasting three weeks
precedent over any ideas of formal concept of compression: in this from 22 September to 12 October, 9. Deptford Studios, 8/12 Deptford
object-making. case 'branding' through analogy, when twelve London sites High St., SE8. Oct 3 to Oct 12,
4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
220 Yards Dash - Condensed into a further area of cultural managed by S.P.A.C.E. Ltd.
consists of a series of plaster casts significance. The artist has used providing working areas for two 10. 71 Stepney Green, Oct 4to
taken from foot prints left behind conventions like the accepted hundred artists are open to the Oct 12, 2 p.m. to 7. p.m.
in soft mud after the artist had ran practice of branding cattle as a public. Organized through a
a shortened version of the 220 means of identification, and has committee of representatives by II. New Crane and Metropolitan
Wharves, Wapping Wall, El.
yards dash. The casts were continued that process into those artists who have chosen to Oct 6 to Oct 12, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
stacked neatly, four deep on the branding the land which the cattle participate and sponsored by
floor along the bottom of one of have occupied. Branding is not an among others the Arts Council of 12. Essex Road Baths, Green Man,
the gallery walls, accompanied additive process but a subtractive Great Britain, the Greater St., NI. Oct 7 to Oct 12,
above by a series of photographic one, burning away hair and London Council, the Greater 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
stills of the artist running across leaving a mark as a sign of London Arts Association and the
an area of muddy waste-land. This ownership. boroughs of Hackney and
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