Untitled - The Chinati Foundation
Untitled - The Chinati Foundation
Untitled - The Chinati Foundation
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its own distinctions, grows to contain<br />
an order not of control but of more<br />
choices. Freedom, as one aspect,<br />
and indeterminacy, as another, are<br />
for Chamberlain antecedent to and<br />
larger than order. A smaller, more<br />
easily described work is illustrative of<br />
this use of volume, of surplus and expandable<br />
tin and space. A few iron<br />
braces form a short vertical and a<br />
partial base. Leaning across the top<br />
of this, opposed to the vertical, are<br />
a loosely crushed white kitchen cabinet,<br />
the black inside surface of some<br />
bent auto part and another smashed<br />
white cabinet, all more or less the<br />
same size. Thus there are three parallel<br />
diagonals, casual and occupying<br />
a lot of space but definite. <strong>The</strong> lucid<br />
structure, more exact than in 1960,<br />
is the second reason, the actual one,<br />
why this show is unexceptionable. To<br />
indicate its stature, complexity and<br />
type, the structure can be compared<br />
to that of the Baroque; it resembles it<br />
diagrammatically but does not recall<br />
the Baroque quality as, for example,<br />
Nakian’s sculpture does. A large<br />
relief, high to the extent of four or<br />
five feet, is in part a diagonal mass<br />
across a vertical one and in whole a<br />
radiating, swastika structure. Another<br />
piece comprises a vertical white<br />
radiator hood, an offset gray-blue<br />
fender dropping below it, several<br />
truncating horizontals of red and reddish-brown<br />
and metallic gray-green<br />
and gray-blue. A less horizontal<br />
piece or two, of brighter red, enclosing<br />
a red and violet paper, rests on<br />
top of the severing parts. Chamberlain<br />
is the only sculptor really using<br />
color, the full range, not just metallic<br />
shades; his color is as particular,<br />
complex and structural as any good<br />
painter’s. In part it involves the hard,<br />
sweet, pastel enamels, frequently roses<br />
and ceruleans, of Detroit’s imitation<br />
elegance for the poor—coupled,<br />
Rooseveltianly, with reds and blues.<br />
“CHAMBERLAIN:<br />
ANOTHER VIEW”<br />
ART INTERNATIONAL,<br />
DECEMBER 1963<br />
In 1954, Chamberlain was making<br />
sculpture indebted to David Smith.<br />
It was open, linear and articulated<br />
more or less in one plane. <strong>The</strong> relevant<br />
differences were that the<br />
parts were not as distinct as those<br />
in Smith’s work and that the linearity<br />
was loose and active rather than taut.<br />
Both differences partially concealed<br />
the expert composition. Subsequent-<br />
aplastada, la superficie interior negra<br />
de una parte torcida de un auto y otra<br />
alacena de cocina aplastada, todas de<br />
aproximadamente el mismo tamaño.<br />
Resultan así tres diagonales paralelas,<br />
ocupando informalmente un espacio<br />
considerable pero definido. La estructu-<br />
ra lúcida, más exacta que en 1960, es la<br />
segunda y verdadera razón por la que<br />
esta exhibición es irreprochable. Para<br />
dar una idea de su estatura, comple-<br />
jidad y tipo. la estructura puede com-<br />
pararse con la del barroco: se parece<br />
a ésta diagramáticamente pero no trae<br />
recuerdos de la calidad barroca como<br />
la escultura de Nakian, por ejemplo. Un<br />
relieve de tamaño grande, de cuatro o<br />
cinco pies de alto, es en parte una masa<br />
diagonal que atraviesa otra vertical y<br />
en conjunto una estructura radiada en<br />
forma de svástica. Otra pieza consiste<br />
en un capote vertical blanco de radia-<br />
dor, un guardafango por debajo de éste,<br />
y varias horizontales de color rojo, café<br />
rojizo y gris-verde y gris-azul metálicos.<br />
Una pieza menos horizontal, de un rojo<br />
más subido, que encierra un papel rojo<br />
y violeta, descansa sobre las partes<br />
cercenadoras. Chamberlain es el único<br />
escultor que de veras emplea el color,<br />
toda la gama, y no sólo en tonos metáli-<br />
cos. Su color es tan particular, complejo<br />
y estructural como el de cualquier buen<br />
pintor. Involucra en parte los esmaltes<br />
duros y dulces de colores pasteles – a<br />
21<br />
ly Chamberlain was interested in de<br />
Kooning’s voluminous paintings of<br />
1955 and 1956, such as Gotham<br />
News. Having painted a little himself,<br />
he was impressed by the speed with<br />
which a painting could be started.<br />
He neither liked the methodical labor<br />
of sculpture nor its effect. It occurred<br />
to him that using crushed and<br />
colored metal was a way to have<br />
something in the beginning and a<br />
way to avoid conspicuous tinkering.<br />
In 1960, Chamberlain had a show<br />
at the Martha Jackson Gallery which<br />
was somewhat past the midpoint between<br />
the pieces influenced by Smith<br />
and the completely voluminous ones<br />
he is doing now. <strong>The</strong> work was primarily<br />
crumpled metal, but was usually<br />
organized in tumescent planes.<br />
Rods contrasted to the rectangular<br />
of fan-shaped planes or continued<br />
them in space. <strong>The</strong> color was already<br />
Chamberlainian, but was less clear<br />
than now, since dark and neutral colors<br />
reduced its extent. It was the only<br />
sculpture in which color was successful.<br />
<strong>The</strong> use of automobile metal was<br />
also new.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a three-way polarity of appearance<br />
and meaning in Chamberlain’s<br />
sculpture. This is produced<br />
without an equivalent disparity of<br />
form. <strong>The</strong> work is in turn neutral, redundant<br />
and expressively structured.<br />
menudo rosa y cerúleo – de la elegan-<br />
cia artificial detroitiana para los pobres,<br />
apareados, a lo Roosevelt, con tonos de<br />
rojo y azul.<br />
“ C H A M B E R L A I N :<br />
O T R O P U N T O D E V I S TA ”<br />
A RT I N T E R N AT I O N A L ,<br />
1 9 6 3 - 6 4<br />
En 1954, Chamberlain hacía escultu-<br />
ra incluida por la de David Smith. Era<br />
abierta, lineal y articulada más o menos<br />
en un solo plano. Las diferencias nota-<br />
bles eran que las partes no se veían tan<br />
perfiladas como las de Smith y que la<br />
linealidad era activa y no tan rigurosa.<br />
Ambas diferencias ocultaban en parte<br />
el esmero de la composición. Posterior-<br />
mente Chamberlain se interesó en las<br />
pinturas voluminosas que hizo de Ko-<br />
oning en 1955-56, como Gotham News.<br />
Habiendo pintado un poco él mismo, le<br />
impresionó la rapidez con que se podía<br />
empezar una pintura. No le agradaba<br />
ni el trabajo metódico ni el efecto de<br />
la escultura. Se le ocurrió que el usar<br />
metal estrujado de color sería una ma-<br />
nera de contar con algo al principio y<br />
de evitar la manipulación muy obvia.<br />
En 1960, Chamberlain tuvo una exhibi-<br />
ción en la Galería Martha Jackson que<br />
incluyó obras menos parecidas a las in-<br />
WILLEM DE KOONING, GOTHAM NEWS, 1995, OIL ON CANVAS, 69 X 79”, ALBRIGHT-KNOX ART GALLERY, BUFFALO, NEW YORK.