life lines
‘THE UNIVERSAL AND THE SPECIFIC ARE TEMPORARILY BRIDGED'
Untitled 1968
Alexander Kennedy finds that less is more than you could possibly imagine in the work of FRED SANDBACK.
n the critical responses that surround the work of
American artist lired Sandback’. there is a desire to
make his installation sculptures more or less than Minimalism. as if the category did not offer enough complexity. contradictions. emotional potential or opportunity for expression for the artist. Yet. Minimalist art critiques the idea of expression as mess. as based on controversial or psychically agitating subject matter. and the easy display of affect as somehow guaranteeing seriousness or emotional profundity'. Minimalist art is more than this. and Sandback‘s work is indubitably' the highest order of Minimalism -r the logical outcome of a formal and philosophical project that strips the object and the viewing subject to his or her bare bones.
This enormously successful survey of his work at lidinburgh‘s l‘ruitmarket is the first major retrospective and the first large exhibition of Sandback's sculptures that has been installed posthumoust (the artist died in 2003). The show has been expertly and thoughtfully curated and installed. with the two lloors of the gallery vibrating with shafts of piercing colour. filling the space with the weighty presence of absence 7— an absence that is felt more acutely than the mundane presence of most art objects. Works such as ‘l’ntitled (vertical construction in two planes). l‘)77'. comprises six lengths of Venetian red acrylic yarn. creating two doorways. simple apertures that respond to the physical presence of the body and the empty spaces it leaves behind or moves towards. They record our passing: our fleeting experiences and bodies
94 THE LIST 3U Mar- 13 AD' 2006
circumnavigate the framed nothingness.
These works do not describe what is there. btit what is not — they lay claim to negativity. to the immeasurable but felt space between points. lines and planes in art. As notes on paper. sketches. a ‘score‘. these sculptures are interpreted differently in every space: the object is removed but the idea remains. The sculptures are alive and in process in this way. They act as poetic statements. lines drawn in the air between you and beyond. The edges of forms are the lines of an argument. a direct proposition hovering yet anchored in space and time. There are references to the grids of Lewitt. Mondrian and Van Doesburg‘s exploration of architectural space (Untitled. l974‘. for example). but their findings are taken to the extreme; the ‘Proun‘ compositions of l.issit/.ky and the corner constructions of Tatlin are reduced to their utmost ('Untitled. l97l‘). Lines become eternally reaching. forms become eternally repeatable. the universal and the specific are temporarily bridged.
It is almost impossible not to stoop to metaphysical language when discussing these sparse yet generous works — paradoxical language goes some way to emphasise the difficulty of actually attempting to describe these sculptures in language. Some viewers will feel that the emperor‘s new clothes have been deconstructed and hung up on the line. or feel that someone has ripped their knitting. Humour will lead back to the work. its colour. its lightness and its life.
Fred Sandback, Fruitmarket Gallery, Sat 18 Mar-Sun 14 May .0000
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THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
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* Fried Sandblck A survey of the late American artist's exploration of Minimalist, Conceptual art and installation practices from the late 605 to 2003. This excellent retrospective includes works on paper, metal constructions and compositions in elastic and yarn that become geometric drawings in space for the viewer to walk around and through. Fmitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 14 May. See review, opposite.
* Paul Carter An exhibition of new sculptures and installation work by Paul Carter. The exhibition brings together pop and rock music references (including the Cure, the Smiths, Lou Read and David Bowie), romanticism and the readymade. The gallery becomes a stage where Dionysian rock paraphernalia and Apollonian art objects merge. The Embassy, Edinburgh, until Sat 1 Apr. See review, page 95.
* Human/Nature Artists including Thomas Joshua Cooper, Patricia Macdonald. Andy Goldsworthy and Joel Stemfetd examine the relationship between mankind and the landscape, nature and culture. The photographers use the camera to record their interactions with the land, and to aestheticise and blur the barring line between these categories. Gallery of Modem Art, Glasgow, until Sun 30 Apr. * Katy Dove Dove exhibits a specially commissioned animation and two animated musical collaborations created last year. The drawings, paintings and prints that inspired the short films are also on display. and present abstract forms that take Kandinsky and Klee's work as inspiration. Repeating patterns and joyous music create operettas that uplift and inspire. Talbot FHce Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, until Sat 814,05