Reviews
Hugh Adams is dazzled by the self-conscious design of two new art
publications.
Imaging the Imagination
Eds. Christine Kinsey &
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
Gomer
£24.99, Hardback
ISBN 1843234335
Sideways Glances
Ed. Jeni Williams
Parthian
£14.99 Paperback
ISBN 190263845X
British culture excels at the sideways glance, which can often be as
informative as the full-frontal view. However, what has to be acknowledged is that such a glance can be too oblique and serve only to distort and misinform.
As a publication Sideways Glances: Exploring the art of five off-centre artists in Wales is a considerable puzzle. Purporting to deal with artists operating ‘at the edges of officially sanctioned ideas of culture’, it by no means does so. We have: Eddie Ladd, who works in physical theatre / art performance and who is increasingly engaging in web-based work; Megan Lloyd, a storyteller and graphic artist; Daniel Morden, said to ‘perform in words’, rather as an animated concrete poet might, and Peter Bodenham, one of many modern artists concerned with journeys, which he represents through drawings, text and photographs. Problematic is the extent to which any of them operate at the edge: we find ourselves asking just what does these artists’ marginality consist of.
Another of the five artists treated here, Neale Howells, is not atypical; if his edge-ness is held to consist of his lifestyle, his lack of professional collegiality, or even the neglect he perceives on the part of public bodies concerned with cultural support, then fine. Certainly he would not be alone in bundling his art practice with lifestyle in personal mythmanipulation, as Gilbert and George, Richard Long and even our own David Nash have done. However, Howells’
operation at the edges of officially sanctioned culture must necessarily be social, rather than an aesthetic, deviation, because his paintings (I own two) are in themselves by no means on the cusps of normative culture. In fact, just like his use of found materials and his favoured non-gallery showing contexts, his work is well within the conventions of conventional art world exhibition and Abstract Expressionism. It establishes him as no more of an outsider than,
say, Terry Setch. Similarly, Eddie Ladd, another of the artists with whose work I am familiar otherwise than through this book, cannot be considered culturally at the edge, despite her work having been groundbreaking and, unlike Howells, she has enjoyed considerable, though I’m sure never enough, official patronage and recognition.
The book has interest, if only for its aspirations. It is pro eclecticism in art practice but confuses subversion of cultural norms themselves with those who erode the conventional barriers between art forms, which each artist in some way does. The idea of ‘officially sanctioned ideas of culture’ constitutes a very broad church, which needs more precise definition and more sustained attention than it receives here. Despite its considerable caveats concerning what is being attempted, the fact remains that, when the book itself becomes
quasi artwork and almost ‘book as object’ (which this does), it is only conventions of publication which are challenged and hence it is merely the means of communication which may be subverted, rather than cultural acceptability itself. Revolution is a big thing, and conventions and boundaries as they are generally recognised are valuable, if only because their existence serves to enable their own undermining and subversion, which leads either to such cultures’ renewal or to the establishment of new art forms, categories of activity and typologies. Clearly we need to start with an understanding of what exactly is being undermined; here we have real problems in detecting just what we are meant to ‘read’, indeed even whether we are meant to read much in a conventional sense at all. In challenging the mainstream, clarity is of the essence, yet in this case so much is going on that the whole is conducive only to confusion.
Sideways Glances is said to be a ‘performance on paper’ and I have no problem with this as a concept but I am not sure to whom it is addressed, or whether many will have the patience to plough through the visual blitz in order to read the text, which surely is the intention? I am prepared to acknowledge that my reaction may be thought conservative and I would certainly encourage further such experiments in exploring and subverting conventional forms, but I
feel that this book neither informs the constituency of the elect nor contributes to developing understanding in a new audience.
Reflecting on these two publications, one concludes that art book design in general is not yet amongst Wales’ successes. Can it be that excitement resulting from the new-found possibility of having anything in print about visual art in Wales leads to all the over-design and a profound horror vacui? Here we have two publications, their concern with words and images notwithstanding, as different as chalk and cheese but having, ironically, self-conscious design and gratuitous embellishment in common. That and an irritated reader whose comfort in reading appears ignored.
Imaging the Imagination: An exploration of the relationship between the image and the word in Wales succeeds in examining but the tip of a sizeable iceberg, so vast is the subject of the relationship between image and word in Welsh art. The book is classically and ‘beautifully’ designed but very self-consciously so. Extremely well-illustrated, it does not pretend to comprehensiveness but hopes to play ‘a significant role in stimulating further study’. This it certainly will do, for the subject requires revisiting, and one hopes that it will stimulate further research and writing produced to the high standard to be found in this book. The text is scholarly, clear and accessible and certainly indicates a richesse of potential writers on art in Wales. But the book is a bit of an odd sandwich: its first two and final two chapters are essential reading for anyone (whether their interests are contemporary or historical) needing to develop a comprehensive perspective on this area of art in Wales. However, the book’s middle portion comprises a series of essays on individual artists: these could have been free-standing. They are the usual suspects: David Jones, Gwen John, Ernest Zobole, Brenda Chamberlain and Ceri Richards- their presence, I suppose, predictable in a publication opening up a subject as this one does and possibly no less valuable for that. We know that the space available to editors is never sufficient for the enthusiast to pursue the task in hand, but one might have wished for a more expansive treatment of the image / text relationship in contemporary art, and a nod in the direction of the prolific use of texts by artists in architectural and public art contexts, ubiquitous in Wales, would have been appropriate – while crafts would necessitate another, equally substantial, publication!
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan’s essay ‘A Dual Tradition’ maps the historical field thoroughly and accessibly, and although Osi Rhys Osmund does similarly in his concluding chapters, which survey image and text in art today, it is obvious that more has had to be omitted than could be included. Any one of the artists he mentions –Sue Williams, Iwan Bala, Ivor Davies, for example – could equally have sustained a separate essay. This not only says much in general for the range and quality of contemporary work in Wales, but supports the contention that this is indeed a worthy first stab at the subject. The book’s introduction hopes the book will spur further investigation and publication; I’m certain it will. Assuredly it would be a most welcome gift for anyone with either general or specialist interest in Welsh art.
Page(s) 76-78
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