Untitled - The Chinati Foundation

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