Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" Sydney, N.S.W. 118 MAY1969 The Glossies IT'S not often that Australian painting escapes the look of the amateur hour, or even the art school. Its craftsmanship is seldom professional enough lt often makes do with ends (intentions), it doesn't have that intense care for means that you need even to be looked at by an international audience. For once there have been several shows in one week that have real professional gloss. LENDON Nigel London !Bony - then Gallery) had the most. It was touching to see him and his paint manufacturer - James Cobb, of Vynol-stand- Ing together, pleased, concerned, collaborative about their work. He makes shaped paintings based on arcs; modular sculptures of identical curved blocks that can be grouped as the owner pleases; and sculptures of superim- posed horizontal thin slabs, these either rest- ing on t'se floor or pro- jecting 1. on) the wall. The last are the most recent, and the best. They are the frankest, most literal statement we've seen in Australia that art is a matter of objects, that the parts of an object relate to each other, that objects relate to whatever they're placed upon. H 1 s articulations, joints and junctions are absolutely clear and un- ambiguous. His surfaces also have "fetish finish," the paint is perfect. Why then decorate each slab with a pretty color? Surely such sculptures must mono- chrome? He won't really be Aus'ralia's first real "Minimal" artist until they are. Maybe that's not what he wants to be, though it would seem so. STOCKDALE John Stockdale alonythoni sends six large canvases from the U.S.A., where he now lives. They are un- stretched, suspended from a rod like a hang- ing scroll. Each has a large stain poured to spread down and fill the bottom edge, The stains are red, black or yellow, and since the paint has caused the adjacent raw canvas to gather and ripple, and since the canvas is creased, they look like a row of bloodstained bed sheets. It's good to be re- minded that any style be used for any p.apose, and to see the calm decorative sublim- ity of Morris Louis and Helen Pfrankenthaler being pushed towards rape and murder. LOUIS JAMES Louis James 'also at Bcnython) Is another master craftsman: mean he paints well, puts the paint on very nicely, makes It succu- lent, scrapes and scum- bles with pleasure. However, his physical, senvicus involvment with his picture -making is an exact embodiment Of his subject matter. Which is the intense physicality of life in Sydney. Foreigners always notice this. Arriving from New York or London they are startled by the quantity of beautiful, healthy flesh, constantly and casually being brought to their atten- tion in city streets. How can they begin to worry whether we have minds, When they flnd our bodies so visibly beautiful? There are nearly 40 pictures, in his usual collage style, snatching exciting fragments from city life. Their shifting busyness is no doubt ap- propriate. However, the largest, most recent canvas "Yellow Beach" se.,:rui not only a departure from all the rest, but also a great more'. a-. ment. It looks like the be- ginning of an escape nto Matisse from his hitherto basically cubist structure. SHANNON Michael Shannon shows 20 ideal board- room paintings at the Macquarie*, but they are much better than busi- nessmen usually get. They are all birds ye views of cities, mostly Sydney from the sum- mit of Australia Square. He used to make his cities impact -red acid cement them in a Web of firm black outlines. Now they are sketched rapidly in grey, blue, dun, and they are a little unsteady. Perhaps he has an idea of the summit, res. tPUI an solo n Me so last that the city blurs below you. But more in line with his past resit, which showed some appalled horror at the Infinite spread and infinite con- legion of cities, is the dea of urgency. These ocean - front. cities might be waiting for tidal wave and earthquake; or maybe the city if It grows fast enough itself can throw back the flood. Certainly he Is pro- posing an equivalence and competition bet- ween ocerns of build- ings anu oceans of water. It's decorative, It's elegant, but it's hi- ts damn, too. ^11EA PROCTOR The one -nigh eiddo- Pion to law is the ' tea P.octor Memorial Fund included 30 draw- ings of nude models, done in 1959, and they looked as strong as anything she's ever done. How moving to find an artist's best period (Hans Hofmann was another) at around age 80. More of these Thee Proctor drawings re- main available for sale at $30 each at the Macquarie Galleries for the benefit of the fund. GOLD David Thomas,' a young English gold- smith, has brought his jewellery to David Jones. It is modern, but it is not swinging London. Late Anna Neagle, I would say - "Maytime in Mayfair" - and therefore just right for those who are rich en- ough to buy cufflinks at $195 or amethyst and diamond necklaces at $1810. Hls special feature is a kind of 9D calligraphy in finest gold wire, like Mark Tobey as jewel- lery. QUIRANTE Julian Quirante Is an itinerant Spaniard, He has shown his work in Paris (not in the gal- leries we know from the intemetional art magazines) in Belo - Horizonte, Lima, Miami and now he's brought his wares to Sydney (Hornell Gallery). It Is Paris charm school decorative flow- ers, girls, views on to Mediterranean harbors from cast-iron balcon- ies. It Is not usually seen in serious galleries, Trivial art of this sort hasn't yet been pro- perly named but resort art, airport art, sou- venir art or postcard art might do. There's nothing wrong with trivial art, but it's usually shown in its own galleries. It always has textured surfaces, so that its buyers can be abso- lutely sure they have an original oil painting not a colorprint. ART with Daniel Thomas