"LONDON: KIBOSH ON THE OPTIC" by Anthony Cox in "Art and Artists" November, 1966 - 1

"LONDON: KIBOSH ON THE OPTIC" by Anthony Cox

in "Art and Artists" November, 1966

 

-- Page 62 - 63

 

 

LONDON

KIBOSH ON THE OPTIC?

 

AS A NEW YORKER, and over-stepped in the

ripe vegetarian of which the art world

there is composed, there seemed an

attraction in the recent host-house events

taking place on the London art scene.

No doubt there is a current in the air;

what has been described to me by one

young artist as an effort to 'put the

Ki bosh on the optic.' But it hasn't been

measured yet, and, as one knows,

measurement is the elusive but necessary

first step in making discoveries.

I trust that the London scene, as

looked at through the world of gal-

leries is only off to a show start and that

lurking about somewhere there must be at

least a couple of dark horses who are

now exercising their mental muscles in

secret. If there is so, will the gallery world

discover them? If not, will it simply be

left with the unusual bill of fare? And, if it

is, what is wrong with that?

Nothing really. At least one will have

a greater dissemination of ideas that come

from another source, whether it's your

own past or someone else's. Why the need

for a damper? On the other hand, there

could be a situation developing, like a

good compost heap, which might become

fertile ground for new plants.

Could this be the year that McLuhan

will be put to use? If the artist's position,

according to McLuhan, is to prepare us

for the future then one must be ready to

be confronted with the unknown. This

doesn't mean the only good art is un-

known, but it doesn't mean that the future

couldn't take place in London as well as

anywhere else either. McLuhan does,

after all, have certain roots in this country.

Just as there is a danger in only looking

for that which is unheard of, so there is a

danger in only looking for minute refine-

ments that indicate the slight differences

from one style to another, or even from

one painter to another in the same style.

In this refinement-sense, one paradox

that I have seen in London is the attitude

expressed towards two artists who appear

in the Group H show at the Drian

Galleries: John Latham, whose work has

been referred to as 'codswallop', and who

hasn't had a major showing here since

1962 and Jeff Nuthall who hasn't been

shown before. apparently their works are

considered offensive, but why the stir?

Latham hangs quite serenely in New York's

Museum of Modern Art with several

of the gods is considered a very refined

example of British art there. Nuthall

(England's answer to Bruce Conner), had

a big box stuffed with bloody bedding

that was a polished steal at £1,500. The

show was exciting for at least there was

some energy expressed in it, as in David

Warren's grotesque emulation of Bacon.

With the recent foray into the world of

the mind, most of Scottie Wilson's early

works and some of his recent, express

that quiet but bizzare state that takes

place in an illusion. He is at the Brook

Street Gallery.

Antony Donaldson's imprisoned fig-

ures at the Rowan Gallery reflect a gently

mysterious kind of Op-Pop; they leave

the viewer to decide where they are on

the canvas, as if the rest of the scene is

enveloped in a fog. in Sundry Alliance

this is brought out in the 'op' effect, lost

in the 'pop' (symbolic triple version); is it

the night before, or the morning after?

the least successful works here are those

where the structure takes over.

If there is a mystique to be found in Op

aer where would it be? In Jeffery Steele's

Sub Rosa one can see something in the

painting that looks like an underlying

structure - what might be described as a

kind of muse; it can be examined, it

remains the same, it acts like a bridge,

rather than a baseball bat. Segments of

a greater whole here are building up to

something, as if you blew up the shadow

of the birthmark on a certain venus. He

may be seen at McRoberts and Tunnard,

opening on the 8th of the month.

Gallery dealers take a lot of abuse.

Here is a job with all the strain of Wall

Street and none of the kicks. To find out

what made a great, as well as articulate

- described as a litterateur - dealer tick,

one might read Diary of an Art Dealer by

René Gimpel. Some of the works anec-

doted in this volume will be exhibited in

'Homage to René Gimpel' at the Gimpel

Fils Gallery. Not Rembrandt's Aristotle

however ('a painter must never indulge

in the theatrical' advised Gimpel père),

that's in the Metropolitan Museum, New

York, but there will be Degas, Fragonard,

Cassatt, Renoir, as well as Soutine and a

controversial self-portrait by Poussin,

along with lots of original and rarely

published manuscripts.

Critic and stage designer, as well as a

remarkable colourist with an incisive

sense of vision, Robin Ironside was self-

taught and a continual threat to his time

with his radical ideas, such as: 'formal

relations have absolutely no value in a

picture, and colour is about as important

as your carpet or wallpaper.' A memorial

to a man who was convinced that formal

training was a drawback to the imagina-

tion, the show is opening to November

30 at the New Art Centre.

Sculptures by Max Bill, shown for the

first time in this country, are on view at

the Hanover Gallery. Most of them are

smooth exercises in stone and metal, in

odd contrast to his painting which is more

stimulating in use of colour.

The Leicester Galleries, a grand old

standby, is showing prints of 19th and

20th century masters, including: three

generations of Pissaro (Caille, Lucien

and Orovida - who is still living); early

etchings by Augustus John, one of which

is a self-portrait; two rare prints by

C. R. W. Nevinson, one of the official

First World War artists, and a self-portrait

by Paul Nash. Many others are included

among some 300-odd prints in the show.

The work of Calliyannis, the Greek Ex-

pressionist painter now living in Paris, is

also being exhibited at the same time.

In the group show at the Grabowski

Gallery are Abrahams, Chilton and

Sandle. The graphic assemblages by

Sandle are an interesting metamorphosis

from machines to machine-clouds that

seem to cry.

The Hamilton Galleries has, among

other things, a very interesting people-hole

in the wall, a good eye cleaner when one

is taking in several transitions a day,

which should not be missed. Further

explanation would ruin the point, but I

strongly advise a visit there to get the

experience first-hand.

 

ANTHONY COX

 

 

 

Calliyannis The Massacre of Chios (after

Delacroix) Oil on canvas 63 1/4" x 51 1/4"

The Leicester Galleries

 

Augustus John Self-portrait in an oval

Etching

The Leicester Galleries

 

 

-- Page 63

 

Jeffrey Steele Sub Rosa 1966 Oil on canvas 48" x 36" McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

Art and Artists

Volume One, Number Eight

November 1966

Edited by Mario Amaya

London: Hansom Books, 1966

 

 

 

 

Private collection of Mikihiko Hori

 

 

 

Done