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DIALOGUES |
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Kenzo Kitakata's novel Winter Sleep is, in many ways, a set of cliches. It's main
character, Nakagi, is an ex-convict who is also a painter; the book centres
on his dialogue with two women, with inspiration and aesthetics, and with an
escaped prisoner, who becomes a kind of apprentice. There's lots of angst and
soul-searching, passionate sex, snowy landscapes and open fires, lots of
philosophical discussion and soul-searching. It's immensely readable and
engaging, I just think it continues to make people think painting is about
inspiration and gesture rather than thought and paint. This 'process vs. the muse' dialogue underpins Robert
Sheppard's The Poetry of Saying, which
discusses British Poetry in the second half of the 20th Century. It's also a
dialogue with the past, and it's this past, particularly the rather
well-rehearsed and well-known debate about arguments at The Poetry Society,
which informs the book. I'd contest that Sheppard has rather taken the party
line about 'us vs. them' [ie experimental poets vs the mainstream] to heart;
personally I think this version ignores a lot of the excitement in the air in
London at the time - for instance my own magazine, Stride, was started then, as were other journals such as Slow
Dancer. There were plenty of live
readings and events happening, too. And like many younger writers, I simply
don't want a 30 year old argument continued; schools and movements must be
discouraged, destroyed or dismantled, and we must read and talk as
individuals engaged in networks, not schoolboy clubs. [End of lecture.] But away from this history of petty argument, which should
have long since been forgotten rather than sulked about and pondered on,
Sheppard is on tiptop form as he explores and comments on the work of several
individual authors. He is particularly good when writing about Roy Fisher,
Lee Harwood and Allen Fisher; less convincing on Maggie O'Sullivan and Bob
Cobbing - whose work is perhaps too difficult and strange to actually expound
upon well in the context of writing (it's far more rooted in the visual and
aural than anything else discussed in the book). Sheppard is also good in his
chapter which proffers an overview of 'Linguistically Innovative Poetry
1978-2000', although again it adopts a rather orthodox approach to the
subject by discussing 'schools'. I hope Sheppard, and others, can move on from the petty
politics of the past and concentrate on the important things: writing itself
and what can be done with language. [I note with despair there is a whole
book forthcoming from Salt on the '1970 poetry wars'. How sad.] |
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Robert Smithson's dialogue was with the land, with nature
itself. Spiral Jetty. True Fictions, False Realities is a fascinating exploration of Smithson's most
famous sculpture/intervention. Gorgeously illustrated with maps, notebook
pages, sketchbook drawings and photos, it looks at how and why the Jetty was
built, its critical reception, and its recent re-appearance from the lake,
which had risen to flood and hide it, and the new interest and criticicism
this resurrection has provoked. Like Smithson's own film of the project -
which is discussed here, and was recently on show at Tate Modern the
book comes at the project from many angles, and manages to contextualise,
report and expound upon the massive project. What perhaps the book is best at
showing is the spectacle of the
piece, the sheer wonder it can
provoke. It certainly makes me want to make a pilgrimage to the site before
it, perhaps, is flooded again. And finally Anne Baldassari's Bacon and Picasso, which does exactly what it says on the cover,
that is explores the influence of Picasso on Francis Bacon. There's no
denying the well-documented influence [a one-sided dialogue?] between the
two, but I have to say that at times this book is simplistic and naive: there
are too many pairs of paintings reproduced opposite one another here, as
through to prove the argument. But two amorphous body shapes, or two
stretched figures do not a thesis prove. Particularly laughable is the
pairing of Picasso's bull sculpture made from a bicycle saddle and handlebars
with Bacon's bullfight painting... At this kind of simplistic level one could
match up many pairs of artists who had no real connection at all. However, Baldarassi's text is much more thorough and
articulate than this kind of illustration might suggest. She thoroughly
documents Bacon's critical and aesthetic response to Picasso early on in his
career and its continuing presence throughout his long and successful career.
She persuasively maps out influences rather than similarities,
contextualising both artists' lives and work, as Bacon reassesses and
reconsiders Picasso's presence in and effect on his work. Handsomely
illustrated and designed, this - like the Spiral Jetty volume - is a welcome addition to the art shelves. © Rupert Loydell 2005 |