-
Gospodar sistema
Lord of the System
Papirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org
Paper editon of the book from the syte
http://www.rototype.org
Uãbenik za arhitekte in slikarje
Fakulteta za arhitekturo in
·ola za risanje in slikanje – visoka strokovna ‰ola
Faculty of Architecture andArt House – College for Visual
Art
Ljubljana 2003
Jaka Bonãa
1
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knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 3
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Lord of the System Paper edition of the book from the
sytehttp://www.rototype.org
Faculty of ArchitectureandArt House – College for Visual
ArtLjubljana 2003
4
Jaka Bonča
v*aU *aU *aU *aU *aU*aU *fgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S
SHDHDHDHDHDHDHocJcJcJcJcJcJcva a a a a a
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SHDHDHDHDHDHDHc6bJcbJcbJcbJcb-
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 4
-
Gospodar sistemaPapirna izdaja knjige z naslova
http://www.rototype.org
Uãbenik za arhitekte in slikarje
Fakulteta za arhitekturo
in
·ola za risanje in slikanje –
visoka strokovna ‰ola
Ljubljana 2003
Jaka Bonãa
5
v*aU *aU *aU *aU *aU *aU *fgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S
SHDHDHDHDHDHDHcJcJcJcJcJcJcva a a a a afgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS
S S S S SHDHDHDHDHDHDHcJcJcJcJcJcJcva a a a a
afgfgfgfgfgfgfKVKVKVKVKVKVKZS S S S S
SHDHDHDHDHDHDHc6bJcbJcbJcbJcbJcbJc
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 5
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6
Gospodar sistema
Lord of the System
Papirna izdaja knjige z naslova http://www.rototype.org
Izdali: Fakulteta za arhitekturo in Visoka strokovna ‰ola
slikarstva v Ljubljani
Zanju: Peter Gabrijelãiã in Mladen Jernejec
Besedilo in risbe: Jaka Bonãa
Oblikovanje in prelom: Jaka Bonãa
Grafiãna priprava: HiFi ColorStudio
Organizacija tiska: BoÏnar in partner, vizije tiska
Tisk: Tiskarna Radio
Naklada 500 izvodov
© Jaka Bonãa
Na naslovnici: Mondrian–1, 1. 9. 1997
Na hrbtni strani: Mondrian–1–txt, 1. 9. 1997
Na strani 1: 1 ,2 ,3–b, 3. 8. 1997
Na straneh 2 in 3: Modularnosti 9 (Tipkopisi / Typesettings),
21. 11. 1999
Knjiga je iz‰la s finanãno podporo HiFi ColorStudia.
CIP – KataloÏni zapis o publikacijiNarodna in univerzitetna
knjiÏnica, Ljubljana
7.0172.01
BONâA, JakaGospodar sistema: papirna izdaja knjige z naslova
http://www.rototype.org/
[besedilo in risbe] Jaka Bonãa. – Ljubljana: Fakulteta za
arhitekturo : ·ola za risanjein slikanje, 2003
ISBN 961–6160–45–1
126812160
Jaka Bonãa
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 6
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`` . .`> A ? /A A >>> A A A >> ? ? A >/ /
/
Gospodar sistema
7
Mondrian–2, 1. 9. 1997
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 7
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Foreword 10
Stone and Its (Hidden) Image 14
Visual Art Is Not Literature 30
Lord of the System 1 52
Lord of the System 2 80
Lord of the System 3 108
Logic 158
Linear Typography 166
8
Contents
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 8
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Predgovor 11
Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba 15
Likovnost ni literatura 31
Gospodar sistema 1 53
Gospodar sistema 2 81
Gospodar sistema 3 109
Logika 159
ârtna tipografija 167
Recenziji 176, 180
Kazalo
9
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 9
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nitially I drew all these drawings (with theexception of Lord of
the System 3) by handwith a rapidograph and a ruler. I wanted
acomputer-generated or computer-proces-sed drawing. But, since I
did not have acomputer, I began to think like a computerinstead.
This way of thinking does not al-low visual corrections.
Consequently, all relationships betweenelements in the drawing
are exactly theway they are. They are not concealed,which is
achieved subconsciously when
drawing by hand. Later, when the opportunity arose, I
trans-ferred all drawings to a computer. I changed and combinedsome
of them, but in the process I discovered that the imple-mentation
of a work of art has a special charm and that thecomputer deprives
us of many things. But it is an excellentsimulation tool.
In retrospect, I tried to arrange drawings into logicalunits. I
added text that, again, in retrospect speaks about mythoughts
triggered by the drawings. But this is only a smallproportion of
all my thoughts.
I designed linear drawings without any illusion of thethird
dimension. Nevertheless, every composition can betranslated into
sculpture.
10
IForeword
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 10
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se te risbe (razen seri-
je Gospodar sistema 3)
sem narisal najprej na
roko z rapidografom
in ravnilom. Îelel sem
si raãunalni‰ko risbo
oziroma raãunalni‰ko
obdelano risbo. Ker pa
nisem imel na voljo
raãunalnika, sem za-
ãel sam razmi‰ljati kot
raãunalnik. To razmi-
‰ljanje namreã ne pozna optiãnih korekcij. Zato so odnosi
med
elementi na risbi ãisto taki, kot so. Oziroma niso kako
prikriti,
kot to lahko kar podzavestno naredimo, ko ri‰emo s prosto
ro-
ko. Kasneje, ko se mi je pokazala moÏnost, sem vse risbe
vne-
sel v raãunalnik in jih nekatere ‰e dodatno obdelal in med
se-
boj kombiniral. Pri tem pa sem odkril, da ima sama izvedba
li-
kovnega dela svoj veliki ãar in da nas raãunalnik marsiãesa
oropa. Je pa odliãen za simulacije. Risbe sem v nazaj sku‰al
urediti v smiselne celote. Dodal sem ‰e besedilo, ki kaÏe
kako
sem, vendar zopet v nazaj, razmi‰ljal ob risbah. Toda to je
ko-
maj majhen del tega razmi‰ljanja. Risbe sem zasnoval povsem
ploskovno, brez vsake iluzije tretje dimenzije. Vendar je
vsako
kompozicijo na risbi moÏno prevesti v skulpturo.
11
VPredgovor
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Foreword
Kompozicije / Compositions, 1978–1992
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 12
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Uvod
Kompozicije / Compositions, 1978–1992
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 13
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14
utte le opere, che si veggonofatte dall’Idio, della natura
incielo ed in terra sono tutte discultura.(All works of nature
created byGod in heaven and on earth areworks of
sculpture.)Benvenuto Cellini
I wish to start with an argu-ment that began back in
theRenaissance. But first, allowme to remind you of this: di-
vinity is invariably adored in sculptural form. We can paint
agod, we can paint Christ, crucifixes, the Holy Family and allkinds
of pious scenes in any religion, but a »painting« is nev-er
revered. A painting can be wondered at, admired or dis-liked, but
never worshipped. Only God or gods carved instone are
worshipped.
Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto,Ch’un marmo solo in se
circonscrivaCol suo soverchio, e solo a quello arrivaLa man che
ubbidisce all’inteletto.(The best of artists hath no thought to
show
TStone and Its (Hidden) Image
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 14
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15
utte le opere, che si veggono
fatte dall' Idio, della natura in
cielo ed in terra sono tutte di
scultura.
(Vsa dela narave, ki jih je ust-
varil bog v nebesih in na zem-
lji, so kiparske stvaritve.)
Benvenuto Cellini
Za uvod bom pogrel spor, ki
ima svoj zaãetek v renesan-
si. Najprej pa bi vas rad opo-
zoril na tole: boÏanstva ve-
dno oboÏujemo v obliki skulptur. Lahko naslikamo boga, la-
hko naslikamo Kristusa, razpela, svete druÏine in vse moÏne
verske scene – in to v vseh religijah – toda »slike« nikdar
ne
oboÏujemo. Sliki se lahko ãudimo, lahko se nam dopade ali
ne dopade, toda nje ne oboÏujemo. OboÏujemo samo izklesa-
nega boga ali bogove na splo‰no.
Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto,
Ch'un marmo solo in se circonscriva
Col suo soverchio, e solo a quello arriva
La man che ubbidisce all' inteletto.
(Kipar, ãe je pri nas ‰e v taki ãisli,
TKamen in njegova (skrita) podoba
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
16
which the rough stone in its superfluous shell doth not
include;
to break the marble spell is all the hand
that serves the brain can do.)
Michelangelo Bunoarotti, Sonnet XV
Io intendo scultura, quella che si fa per forza di levare,
quella che sifa per via de porre, _ simile alla pittura. (By
sculpture I mean thatwhich is fashioned by the effort of cutting
away, that which is fash-ioned by the method of building up being
like unto painting.) Michelangelo Buonarotti
All materials except clay are characterised by a specific
qual-ity that dictates something fundamental. By their
nature,stone, wood, iron and other materials dominate over
theartist; they mystify. Only clay does not show any inherentbeauty
or expression.
Carving forces me to respect the material. The materialprevents
me from moving away. By carving in stone, I ex-plore the spirit of
the material and its own proportions. Thehand thinks and follows
the thought of the material. There isno need to measure, because
proportions are already there,in the block. Things can either
ascend to heaven or descendto earth without changing their
proportions. A sculpture ishidden in a block of stone, waiting for
me to carve it out.
When I carve, I begin with a large solid block, something
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 16
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Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba
17
ustvari to samo, kar marmor skriva,
le to izkle‰e roka utrudljiva,
ki se njegovi roki zamisli.)
Michelangelo Buonarotti, XV. sonet
Io intendo scultura, quella che si fa per forza di levare,
quella che si
fa per via di porre è simile alla pittura. (S kiparstvom mislim
tisto,
kar je narejeno s klesanjem; kiparstvo, ki je narejeno z
dodajanjem,
je podobno slikarstvu.)
Michelangelo Buonarotti
V vseh materialih, razen v glini obstaja neka specifiãna
odlika,
ki narekuje nekaj osnovnega. S svojo naravo navajajo kamen,
les, Ïelezo in drugi materiali k pokoravanju umetnika, k
misti-
fikaciji. Glina pa ne kaÏe nobene lepote ali izraza a
priori.
Klesanje sili, da material spo‰tujem. Material sam me na-
vaja, da se ne oddaljim. S klesanjem kamna odkrivam duh
materiala, njegovo lastno mero. Roka misli in sledi misel
ma-
teriala. Odmerjanje ni potrebno, ker so mere tukaj, v bloku.
Stvari se lahko povzpnejo do neba, ali pa sestopijo na
zemljo
ne da bi spremenile svojo mero. Kiparska stvaritev je skrita
v
bloku kamna in ãaka name, da jo izkle‰em.
Ko kle‰em, zaãnem z velikim trdnim blokom, z neãim,
kar obstaja. Zaãnem z maso, iz katere moram izlu‰ãiti
obliko.
Na zaãetku je materiala mnogo veã, kot na koncu.
knjiga.qxd 7.11.2003 12:09 Page 17
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
18
that exists. I begin with a mass from which I must extract
ashape. In the beginning, there is much more material than atthe
end.
Modelling or constructing a sculpture in the directionfrom its
interior to its exterior, is a procedure that is contraryto
carving. I begin with the frame and use it as the founda-tion for
the construction. It is as if I worked anatomically, be-ginning
with the skeleton and adding the flesh. I can retracemy steps, make
corrections, add and change. I begin withspace, in which I create a
form. It is a creative process, inwhich I begin with nothing.
Carving and modelling are two completely differentmodes of
creativity. Modelling may be an easier way of cre-ating a form in
space. It takes great force to create a form inspace by carving a
sculpture in stone. It is easy to create alarge compact block or
carve it from one side or anotherwithout creating a form. Sculpture
is in many ways coveredwith moss, with different kinds of surface
growth, underwhich there is no form. This is extremely important
when Iwant to emphasise the significance of those who like
Mic-helangelo, Moore, Brancusi or Hepworth have
achievedthree–dimensionality by carving directly in stone.
Directcarving demands that I openly face the material that I
mustmaster. Because of this, it is a very important craft.
If I was as sarcastic as Leonardo, I would say that there
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Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba
19
Modeliranje, konstruiranje skulpture od njene notranjosti
k zunanjosti, pa je postopek, ki je nasproten klesanju. Zaã-
nem od armature in konstruiram na njeni osnovi. Kot da de-
lam po anatomiji, zaãnem s skeletom in kasneje dodajam
meso. Lahko se vrnem, popravljam, dodajam in menjam.
Zaãnem s prostorom in v njem ustvarjam formo. To je us-
tvarjalni proces, pri katerem zaãnem iz niã.
Klesanje in modeliranje sta dva povsem razliãna naãina
ustvarjanja. Morda je modeliranje laÏji naãin za ustvarjanje
forme v prostoru. Hoãem reãi, da je potrebna zelo velika
moã,
da ustvarim prostorsko formo v skulpturi klesani v kamnu.
Lahko je ohraniti velik, kompakten blok ali pa ga klesati z
ene
in druge strani in ne ustvariti oblike. Kiparstvo je vse
preveã-
krat zaraslo z mahom, z raznimi razrastlinami na povr‰ini,
pod katerimi ni oblike. To je zelo vaÏno, ko Ïelim poudariti
pomen tistih, ki so, kot na primer Michelangelo, Moore,
Bran-
cusi in Hepwothova, dosegli tridimenzionalnost z direktnim
klesanjem v kamnu. Direktno klesanje zahteva, da se do ne-
usmiljenosti sooãim z materialom, ki ga moram obvladati.
Zato pa je ‰e kako pomembna obrt.
âe bi bil piker, kot Leonardo, bi lahko rekel, da med kipa-
rji pravzaprav ni bilo velikih umetnikov, temveã le odliãni
obrtniki. In ta umetnost je zaãela propadati, ko so opu‰ãali
direktno klesanje, ki je kiparju omogoãalo, da z vsakim svo-
jim delom osebno zmaga nad materialom.
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
20
have never been any great artists among sculptors, only
ex-cellent craftsmen. This art started on a downward slopewhen
direct carving, which gave the artist a personal victoryover the
material every time he finished a work, was aban-doned.
Every art must obviously have roots in the »primitive« orelse it
becomes decadent. This explains why great periods,such as the
Greece of Pericles or the Renaissance flourishedso quickly: they
followed the »primitive« periods and theywaned slowly.
One of the first principles clearly visible in »primitive«art is
respect for the material. A medieval chalice was madeof rough gold
and adorned with several large preciousstones. When you held it,
you felt the material. A Baroquechalice was of perfect shape,
fragile, gilded and covered intiny stones. When you picked it up,
you were surprised howlight and immaterial it was.
Today, we do not undertake enough practical work, becausewe are
prevented from doing so by the artificially generatedexcessive need
to rush and write. One who does not under-take enough practical
work has lost all contact with the ma-terial and with nature in
general. He imprints things with hisideas and projections that have
nothing to do with the mate-
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Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba
21
Oãitno mora imeti vsaka umetnost korenine v »primitivni«,
ãe ne postane dekadentna. S tem lahko pojasnim, zakaj so
velika obdobja, na primer Periklejeva Grãija in renesansa,
hi-
tro zacvetela, ko so sledila »primitivnim« dobam, nakar se
le
poãasi izgubljala.
Eno prvih naãel, ki se jasno vidi v »primitivni« umetnosti,
je spo‰tovanje materiala. Srednjeve‰ki kelih je bil narejen
iz
surovega zlata in okra‰en z nekaj velikimi dragimi kamni. Ko
si ga prijel v roke, si ãutil material. Baroãni kelih pa je bil
per-
fektne oblike, tanek in pozlaãen ter posut z drobcenimi ka-
menãki. Ko si ga prijel v roke, si bil preseneãen nad
njegovo
lahkostjo in brezsnovnostjo.
Danes premalo delamo praktiãno, ker nas umetno ustvarjeni
potrebi po hitenju in po prekomernem pisanju odvraãata od
tega. âlovek, ki premalo dela praktiãno, je izgubil stik z
mate-
rialom in naravo na sploh. Stvarem vsiljuje svoje ideje in
svoje projekcije, ki nimajo niã veã skupnega z materialom.
Podobno velja tudi za opazovalce, ker morajo biti osvobojeni
vseh samovoljnih obãutenj, torej brez predsodkov. âe imate
zamisel v naprej, predstavo o tem, kam boste ‰li, ne boste
pri‰li nikamor. To je rekel Leonardo.
Ustvarjalec dela narobe, ãe preveã pi‰e o svojem delu. Je-
zik je vedno obrnjen izven sebe, da bi oznaãil nekaj
zunanje-
ga namesto sebe samega. Torej prav nasprotno, kot naj bi bi-
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
22
rial. The same holds for observers, because they must be freeof
all wilful feelings: they must be free of all prejudice. If
youalready have an idea or perception about where your are go-ing,
you will not get anywhere, said Leonardo.
An artist makes a mistake if he writes too much abouthis work.
Language is always directed outwards in order todescribe something
external instead of itself. Consequently,it is quite contrary to
what sculpture should be. It does notsee an egg as a simple, solid
form, but as an object of nutri-tional value or as a literary idea
of an object that will becomea bird.
In addition, unlike in literature things in visual art
areuniformly defined. If I wish to change a single detail in
acomposition, I will end up changing everything else, as well.Only
philosophers can allow themselves to change a singlecomma in order
to get something completely different.
Our weakness is also blind respect for ancient monu-ments. We
endeavour to preserve them, including even ruinsof a large part of
»cultural« heritage. But this heritage is infact ridiculous, if
»cultural«, and we use it in a very confusedway. We emulate it and
turn (semi)art into art, instead of em-ulating nature and using raw
material.
The »primitive« periods are mines of information andmessages for
a historian and anthropologist. But in order tounderstand and
appreciate it, it is important to observe it
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Kamen in njegova (skrita) podoba
23
lo kiparstvo. Tako ne vidi jajca, kot enostavne ãvrste
oblike,
temveã vé za njegov prehrambeni pomen ali pa za literarno
idejo, da bo postal ptiã.
Poleg tega so, za razliko od literature, v likovni umetnosti
stvari enoliãno doloãene. âe Ïelimo spremeniti samo en de-
tajl v kompoziciji, v konãni fazi vedno spremenimo ‰e vse
ostalo. Samo filozofi si lahko dovolijo, da premestijo eno
sa-
mo vejico in tako dobijo nekaj povsem novega.
Na‰a slabost se kaÏe tudi v slepem spo‰tovanju starodav-
nih spomenikov. Posveãamo se njihovemu vzdrÏevanju – ce-
lo vzdrÏevanju ru‰evin, velikega dela »kulturne« dedi‰ãine.
Toda kako je ta dedi‰ãina sme‰na, ãe je res »kulturna«, in
na
kako konfuzen naãin jo uporabljamo. Zgledujemo se po njej
in delamo umetnost iz (po) umetnosti, namesto do bi jo
delali
po naravi in iz materiala.
»Primitivna« obdobja so rudnik informacij in sporoãil za
zgodovinarja in antropologa, toda, da jo razumemo in ceni-
mo, je pomembnej‰e, da jo gledamo, kot pa, da napi‰emo
zgodovino primitivnih narodov, njihovih religij in druÏbenih
obiãajev.
Skozi zgodovino se je stik z materialom in naravo poãasi
izgubljal. Toda veljala so pravila, ki so se razvila skozi
dalj‰e
obdobje iz kolektivne prakse. Temeljila so na zakonih narave
in materiala. Njihova uporaba je pomenila sigurnost. Zato so
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
24
rather than write a history of the primitive nations, their
reli-gions and social traditions.
Throughout history, man’s connection with material and na-ture
has gradually weakened. But rules that had developedover a longer
period of collective practice were observed.They were based on the
laws of nature and material. Theirapplication represented security.
Consequently, they wererespected by all. A house could be
constructed only in oneout of five styles (in Tuscan, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian or Com-posite). These styles were in use from Antiquity
to the lastclassicist period. Only in the Middle Ages, they took a
differ-ent direction. But it is obvious that they respected all
laws ofmaterial.
But if we take a look at the contemporary practice in anyarea of
artistic creativity, we can see that we have lost all con-tact with
material and nature: at a time when we most needthem, there are no
rules or laws that we are prepared to ob-serve. We say that we are
free, that we express ourselvesfreely, that there are no limits.
But the question is whetherwe are truly free. The wise say that we
are not.
In this century, all available means seem to be used forthe
material satisfaction of man who is only interested in sci-entific
and technological progress. There is no unity betweenmaterial, idea
and proportions; there is no unity that would
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25
jih tudi vsi spo‰tovali. Hi‰o si lahko naredil le v enem od
pe-
tih stilov (v toskanskem, dorskem, jonskem, korintskem ali
kompozitnem). Ti stili so veljali vse od antike pa do
zadnjega
klasicizma. Edino v srednjem veku so delali drugaãe. Toda
ta-
krat so oãitno spo‰tovali vse zakonitosti materiala.
âe pa pogledamo dana‰njo prakso na kateremkoli po-
droãju ustvarjanja, vidimo, da smo stik z materialom in
nara-
vo popolnoma izgubili: in prav sedaj, ko bi jih najbolj
rabili,
skoraj ni veã pravil in zakonitosti, ki bi jih bili
pripravljeni
spo‰tovati. Pravimo, da smo svobodni, da se svobodno izra-
Ïamo, da nas niã ne omejuje. Vpra‰anje pa je, ãe smo brez
pravil zares svobodni. Modri pravijo, da ne.
V tem stoletju, izgleda, kot da morajo biti vsa razpoloÏlji-
va sredstva na voljo za razvoj materialnega zadovoljstva
ãlo-
veka, ki ga ne zanima niã veã drugega, kot le
znanstveno–teh-
niãni napredek. Ni veã enotnosti med materialom, idejo in
merami; ni veã enotnosti, iz katere izhaja proporcija.
Pod geslom napredka se praktiki spreminjajo v teoretike,
ki v strogo omejenih izrazih logike in besed zgolj izraÏajo
mi-
sli. Nasprotno pa opazovanje naravnih predmetov ne dopu-
‰ãa, da delam v formulah.
Zame je prava skulptura samo nekaj, kar se ne da izraziti
drugaãe, kot le s skulpturo. Vse, kar lahko predstavim v
dru-
gih medijih, naj raje postane nekaj drugega. Da pa bi
razumel
kaj je skulptura, se moram najprej omejiti na tisto, kar po
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Stone and Its (Hidden) Image
26
yield proportion.Flying the flag of progress, practitioners
become theo-
reticians whose work consists of expressing thoughts inhighly
restricted expressions of logic and words. But the ob-servation of
natural objects does not permit me to operatewith formulas.
In my opinion, the only true sculpture is something thatcannot
be expressed in any other way but in sculpture. Any-thing that can
be presented in other media should becomesomething else. In order
to understand what sculpture is, Imust first focus on what I cannot
express in any other way. Imust focus on artistic practice and
craftsmanship.
Ljubljana, July 21 1994
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27
drugi poti ne morem izraziti. Omejiti se moram na likovno in
obrtno prakso.
V Ljubljani, 21. 7. 1994
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Albers, 1995
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29
Doesburg, 1995
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30
have found out that what we say is notnecessarily true. In my
student days Ipracticed drawing numbers – Arabic – inaddition to
the letters of the classicaltypeface – some call it Roman. But
onlysomeone without any sense at all wouldcall this typeface
»classical«. Only the ex-ternal form of these letters is classical,
buttheir essence lies deep within the classicalletters (sculpted)
and Arabic numbers(scratched). It is a matter of sensitivity.Arabic
numbers have completely differ-ent arches, they tense in a
completely dif-
ferent way and in most cases they are not embellished
withserifs.
In Bauhaus, a functional typeface was developed in ac-cordance
with the contemporary belief that all decorationshould be avoided.
But this functional typeface later provedto be impractical. People
read typefaces with serifs and other»junk« (according to Bauhaus)
much more quickly. Conse-quently, the original idea about the
functionality of writingproved one–sided and forced.
*I intend to write about the difference between visual art
andLiterature and between visual art and literature–to–be. Whi-
IVisual Art Is Not Literature
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31
poznal sem, da tisto, kar o stva-
ri govorimo, ni nujno tako, kot
resniãno je. Ko sem na fakulteti
za vajo pisal klasiãno pisavo,
nekateri ji pravijo rimska pisa-
va, sem pisal poleg ãrk tudi ‰te-
vilke – arabske. Toda samo ãlo-
vek brez vsakega obãutka jih la-
hko ‰e imenuje klasiãna pisava.
Klasiãna je le zunanja oblika teh
‰tevilk, medtem ko notranje bi-
stvo ostaja pri klasiãnih ãrkah
(klesanih) in arabskih ‰tevilkah
(praskanih). To je stvar posluha. Arabske ‰tevilke imajo
ven-
dar povsem drugaãne loke, ãisto druge napetosti, poleg tega
pa veãinoma nimajo serifov.
V Bauhausu so razvili funkcionalno pisavo. Paã po takrat-
nem prepriãanju, da je treba izpustiti vsakr‰no okra‰evanje.
Toda ta funkcionalna pisava se je pokazala kot nefunkcional-
na. Namreã ãlovek bere pisavo, ki ima serife in, po besedah
Bauhausovcev, podobno navlako, veliko hitreje. Tako se je
pr-
votna ideja o funkcionalni pisavi izkazala kot enostranska
in
vsiljena.
*Razmi‰ljal bom o problemu med likovnostjo in Literaturo
ozi-
Likovnost ni literatura
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32
le I have great respect for Literature, I do not have
anythingpositive to say about literature.
With the word literature I refer to everything that hasbeen
imposed on visual art and Literature. I do not thinkthat visual art
is only the material employed or that Litera-ture is merely a
collection of words. The difference does notnecessarily lie in
quality: it can be in the place where litera-ture emerges.
* * * * *There is an old story about three stonecutters.
Someoneasked them what they were doing. The first
stonecutterreplied: »I’m making life more pleasant.« The second
said inbetween the swings of his hammer: »I’m cutting the
fineststone in the land.« But the third looked at the sky in a
vision-ary way and said: »I’m building a cathedral.«
The second stonecutter is problematic: to him, work is apurpose
in itself. But the first and the third stonecutter seewell: they
recognise differences, they know that facts are rel-ative and are
aware that there is not just one form of visualformulation.
Consequently they are more correct and moretolerant than the second
stonecutter, who thinks only aboutwhat has been said and by whom.
The first and the thirdstonecutter understand what has been said
and by whom.They are overflowing with creative enthusiasm.
Nevertheless, writers praise the second stonecutter. They
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33
roma med likovnostjo in literaturo, ki to ‰e ni. Med tem ko
Li-
teraturo skrajno cenim, pa o literaturi skoraj ne vem
poveda-
ti kaj dobrega.
S pojmom literatura oznaãujem tisto, kar je likovnemu
oziroma Literaturi vsiljeno. S tem pa ne mislim, da je
likov-
nost zgolj material oziroma, da je Literatura zgolj zbiranje
be-
sed. Razlika ni nujno v kakovosti. Lahko je razlika v mestu
pojavljanja literature.
* * * * *Stara zgodba pripoveduje o treh kamnosekih, ki so jih
vpra-
‰ali kaj delajo. Prvi je odgovoril: »Delam Ïivljenje
prijetno.«
Med tem ko je ‰e vedno vihtel kladivo, je drugi odgovoril:
»Kle‰em najfinej‰i kamen v deÏeli.« Tretji pa je pogledal v
ne-
bo z vizionarskim pogledom in rekel: »Gradim katedralo.«
Drugi kamnosek je problematiãen. Njemu je delo samo sebi
namen.
Prvi in tretji kamnosek dobro vidita, zato dobro razloãuje-
ta, poznata relativnost dejstev in vesta, da ne obstaja le
ena
sama oblika vizualne formulacije. Tako sta toãnej‰a in tudi
bolj tolerantna od drugega kamnoseka, ki razmi‰lja le o tem,
kaj je kdo rekel. Prvi in tretji kamnosek namreã razumeta,
kaj
je kdo povedal. PreÏema ju ustvarjalna vedrina.
Toda literati hvalijo drugega kamnoseka. Pravijo: »To je
stvaren ãlovek. Ni sanjav.«
* * *
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34
say: »Here is a down–to–earth chap! He does not live in
theclouds, that one!«
* * *A writer must not dare to traverse the gap between what
hethinks is real and what he thinks is invented. But literature
isnothing but a craft that creates images of a world construct-ed
by its Craft. It is no less real than the reality created by
anartist. A writer observes the world, stepping outside and
as-suming the position of an outsider.
Literature is an odd thing. It is thought to represent real-ity
but in reality it does not represent anything. If I observean
object in order to discover what it means, I no longer seethe
object as it is; instead, I think about the question: »Whatis
this?« With this question, I express my desire for every-thing to
be understandable. I search for literary significancesince I am
afraid of the artistic. And as I search for the liter-ary
significance in the artistic, I invent a construction. Iyearn for
something to lean on. If I expect an explanation, itmeans that I do
not understand visual expression. But as faras the visual artist is
concerned, he said everything he hadto say when he finished the
work. Understanding is forwords.
If having seen »Križanke IX« I visited Jakopič to find outwhat
he wanted to express with this painting, do you hon-estly believe
he could tell me anything? And if he had been
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35
Literat si ne sme dovoliti, da bi prestopil prepad med tem,
kar
misli, da je resniãno, in tistim, kar misli, da je izmi‰ljeno.
To-
da literatura ni niã drugega kot ve‰ãina, ki ustvarja podobe
sveta, ki ga s svojo Ve‰ãino sama konstruira. Ni niã bolj in
niã
manj resniãna od resniãnosti, ki jo ustvarja umetnik.
Literat
opazuje svet, pri tem pa sebe izvzema, in gleda nanj kot
avt-
sajder.
Literatura je ãudna stvar. Misli se, da naj bi predstavljala
realnost, vendar v resnici ne predstavlja niãesar. âe opazu-
jem neko stvar z namenom, da bi odkril kaj pomeni, ne samo,
da ne vidim veã te stvari same, temveã razmi‰ljam o postav-
ljenem vpra‰anju. Z vpra‰anjem: »Kaj to pomeni?« izraÏam
Ïeljo, da naj bi bilo vse razumljivo. I‰ãem literarni pomen,
ker
se bojim likovnega. Ko Ïelim najti v likovnosti literarne
po-
mene, izumljam nekak‰no konstrukcijo. Îelim nekaj, na kar
se lahko naslonim. âe priãakujem razlago, pomeni, da sploh
ne razumem vizualnega izraÏanja. Toda kar se tiãe likovnega
ustvarjalca, je s tem, ko je delo konãal, povedal vse.
Razume-
vanje je za besede.
Ko bi po ogledu slike KriÏanke IX ‰el k Jakopiãu, da bi zve-
del, kaj je hotel izraziti s to sliko, ali mislite da bi lahko
kaj
povedal? In ãe bi lahko to povedal z besedami, ali mislite,
da
bi to sliko sploh naslikal? Kolikor vem, tega imena tej sliki
ni
dal sam. (Jakopiãevo ime je bilo ·tudija svetlobe.) Vendar
to
sliko Ïe od nekdaj poznamo kot KriÏanke. Ali ne razumete
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36
able to express it with words, do you really think that hewould
have painted it? As far as I know, he did not give thistitle to the
painting (the original title given to the painting byJakopič was
»Study of Light«). Nevertheless, this paintinghas always been known
as »Križanke«. Don’t you under-stand the absurd wish to explain a
simple, sensorial, artisticand human fact? Why speak about what I
am doing if any-body can see it? Picasso once said: »Do you like
birdssinging? Can you explain it to me? No? Then why do youlike
it?« All this is literature that cannot become anythingmore than it
already is. It speaks only lies. Any idiot can seebeauty in a
beautiful thing. But we should also see beauty insomething else.
Beauty is ever present. When a Chinese per-son draws a line and
then draws another, why is one linemore beautiful than the other?
How can we explain this?How can we explain what a line expresses to
him and whyhe does it? Bernik said all in a single sentence: »I
flattenblack lines to freeze the lie.«
Anthropologists, philosophers, historians, art dealersand others
speak about what art is or should be. Instead,they should allow art
to say what it is. It seems natural thatwe do not use the language
of politics to speak about art.Therefore, it is logical that we
cannot speak about art in away that is foreign to art.
Nevertheless, there is a strong ten-dency to interpret in a
theatrical, literal way. As if it was not
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37
nesmisla Ïelje, da pojasnimo enostavno ãutno, likovno, ãlo-
ve‰ko dejstvo! âemu sluÏi, da govorim o tem, kar delam, ko
to lahko vsak vidi? Picasso je enkrat rekel: »Imate radi
ptiãje
petje? Mi ga lahko pojasnite? Ne? Zakaj ga imate potem ra-
di?« Vse to je literatura, ki ne more biti niã veã, kot le to.
Ves
ãas ti pripoveduje laÏi. Vsak idiot lahko vidi lepoto v
neãem
lepem. Pravo pa je to, da vidim lepoto ‰e v ãem drugem.
Lepota je vendar povsod. Ko Kitajec potegne ãrto in potem
drugo, zakaj je ena lep‰a od druge, kako lahko to pojasnim?
Kako pojasnim kaj izraÏa ãrta zanj in zakaj je vse to sploh
de-
lal? Ali ni Janez Bernik povedal vsega v enem stavku: ȉrne
ãrte plo‰ãim, da laÏ zastane.«
Antropologi, filozofi, zgodovinarji, trgovci in vsi ostali
go-
vorijo kaj je umetnost oziroma kaj naj bi bila. Morali pa bi
pu-
stiti umetnosti sami, da pove kaj je. Naravno se nam zdi, da
ne
govorimo o umetnosti z govorico politike. Logiãno bi tudi
bilo,
da ne bi govorili o likovni umetnosti na kak‰en njej tuj
naãin.
Toda narobe, veãinoma je prisotna teÏnja po teatralnem in
li-
terarnem interpretiranju. Kot da ni pomembno, kaj stvaritev
izraÏa sama; vsaj dokler imam v mislih nekaj drugega.
Ko je Baudelaire, se pravi ãlovek, ki se je ukvarjal s
pisan-
jem Literature, govoril o Delacroixu, o likovniku, ga ni
zani-
mala literarna tema, temveã slikarstvo samo, tisto, kar nudi
barva, kar pripoveduje oblika. Logiãno, saj obstajajo stvari,
ne
teme. Tema je le predmet, s katero se nekdo bavi na doloãen
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38
important what a work of art can say, at least while I
havesomething else on my mind.
When Baudelaire, who wrote Literature, spoke aboutDelacroix, the
artist, he was not interested in a literary topicbut in painting as
such: what colour had to offer and whatform had to say. This is
completely logical, for there existthings, not topics. A topic is
merely an object dealt with in acertain way. As far as I know
Baudelaire was the firstnon–artist who demanded that the viewer
assume an irra-tional standpoint.
* * *The first and the third stonecutter dream that they are
onlyartists, but they are obstructed by the craftsman
within.Nevertheless, this is their treasure, their personality.
Forthis reason they try to bring these two personalities intoline
to avoid suffering. The craftsman is arrogant and theyknow him
well. He forces them to say: »This stone is notthat bad after all,«
and makes them happy at the end of theday. But in the morning, they
wake up to a catastrophe. Theartist is a lowly man who is much less
satisfied than thecraftsman.
The second stonecutter is problematic. For him, func-tional work
is the goal. He was born with a complex, a stateof the spirit that
is completely separate from the wishes ofhis family and the needs
of his society. He is determined to
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39
naãin. Kolikor vem je bil Baudelaire prvi ne–likovnik, ki je
od
gledalca zahteval iracionalno stali‰ãe.
* * *Prvi in tretji kamnosek sanjata o tem, da sta samo
umetnika,
vendar ju obrtnik v njih dveh ovira. Toda v tem je njuno bo-
gastvo, njuna osebnost, zato posku‰ata usklajevati ti dve
osebnosti, ki se ne trpita. Obrtnik je ohol, dobro ga
poznata,
on ju prisili, da reãeta: »O, ta kamen pa ni ravno slab«, in
sa-
ma sta ta veãer zadovoljna. Toda zjutraj – katastrofa. Umet-
nik je nizkoten, ãlovek, ki ima mnogo manj zadovoljstva, kot
obrtnik.
Drugi kamnosek pa je problematiãen. Pri njem je postalo
funkcionalno delo cilj samemu sebi. Ima prirojen kompleks,
stanje duha, ki je popolnoma loãeno od Ïelja njegove druÏine
in potreb druÏbe. Odloãen je izklesati ta odliãni kamen,
ãetudi njegova druÏina strada in katedrala stoji prazna, ker
je
portal prenizek. Izpod njegovih rok bodo pri‰le le
romantiãne
ru‰evine in ne trdnjave in oboki, ki bi zadovoljili Ïelje
ãlove-
ka. Njega zanima le izdelek sam na sebi. Toda vredne stvari
obstajajo samo v zvezi z menoj, samo kadar se me tiãejo. Ka-
men na poti podloÏim pod kolo avtomobila. Sam ni obstajal;
Ïivljenje sem mu dal jaz, ko sem ga uporabil. âim ga zapu-
stim, ga vraãam njegovi niãevosti. Te zveze so neskonãno ra-
znolike in so osnova neskonãne raznolikosti likovnosti.
Prav nasprotno stran istega problema pa kaÏe tale zgod-
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40
hew that fine stone even though his family is starving andthe
cathedral is empty because the portal is too low. The on-ly work of
his hands is romantic ruins, not fortresses andarches that would
make human wishes come true. He is on-ly interested in the product
as such. But valuable things ex-ist only in connection with me,
only when they affect me. Iuse a rock on the road to hoist the
wheel of my car. It did notexist before: I brought it to life by
using it. The moment Idiscard it, it returns to nothingness. These
associations areinfinitely varied and form the basis of an infinite
range ofvisual art.
The opposite side of the same problem is evident fromthe
following story. Degas once said to Mallarmé: »I cannotunderstand
why my poems are no good though my ideasare wonderful.« Mallarmé
replied: »Poems, my dear friend,are made of words not ideas.« The
same holds for visual art.An idea is actually merely a frame that
enables me to build aship and launch it. If I fail to translate
thoughts into themedium, when I do not imagine them practically, in
a physi-cal material, all my thoughts are worthless. They simply
can-not last.
If, according to Thomas Mann, Literature is the ability toevoke
emotion while speaking about everyday things, thenpainting is the
ability to arrange colours in space in a waythat the obvious aspect
of colour disappears to the benefit of
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41
ba. Degas je rekel Mallarméju: »Veste, ne razumem kako to,
da ne morem pisati dobre poezije, ko pa imam dobre ideje.«
In Mallarmé je odgovoril: »Poezija se ne dela z idejami,
tem-
veã z besedami.« Enako velja tudi za likovno umetnost. Ideja
je dejansko samo ogrodje, ki mi omogoãa, da zgradim ladjo in
jo splavim. Ko ne uspem prenesti mi‰ljenja v termine medija,
ko si ne zamislim praktiãno, v fiziãnem materialu, potem vse
moje mi‰ljenje niã ne velja. Preprosto ne prijemlje.
âe je Literatura, kot pravi Thomas Mann, sposobnost, da
vzbudim emocije, medtem ko govorim o vsakdanjih stvareh,
potem je slikarstvo sposobnost razporejanja barv v prostoru
na tak naãin, da oãitni vidik barve izgine v korist orisa
nav-
dahnjene misli. Ta oris je zamisel, ki jo lahko vidim; torej
enotnost ideje in materiala. Pomembno je, da ne loãujem teh
dveh stvari, ki gresta »roko v roki«, da ne razmi‰ljam
duali-
stiãno. Originalni likovni naãin izraÏanja vsebuje oboje
zdru-
Ïeno v enem. To ne pomeni, da razmi‰ljam zaprto, temveã, da
nisem obremenjen z enim na raãun drugega. Ko nisem obre-
menjen, sem stalno pripravljen, odprt za vse. Sem kot zaãet-
nik, ki vidi veliko moÏnosti, in ne ekspert. Ekspert je ãlovek,
ki
se omejuje samo na doloãene probleme in ne vidi celote. On
vedno Ïe pozna stvari; jih je Ïe kje prej videl ali bral.
Zaãetnik
pa je ustvarjalec. Ustvarjalec je vedno na zaãetku.
Ekspert je platonist, ki ne verjame ãutilom, ãe‰ da laÏejo.
Zato je razvil znanstven aparat. Pravi, da raziskuje. To
pome-
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42
an outline of an inspired thought. This outline is a
visibleidea: the unity of idea and material. It is important not
toseparate these two things that go »hand in hand«, not tothink in
a dualistic way. An original artistic expression con-tains both.
This does not mean that I think hermetically; itmeans that I do not
let either burden me at the expense ofthe other. When I am not
burdened down with anything, Iam in a state of constant alertness;
I am ready for anythingand open to anything. I am like a beginner
who sees a greatopportunity and not an expert. An expert is a
person that fo-cuses only on specific problems and does not see the
whole.He always knows things in advance; he has either seen orread
them. A beginner is truly creative. And a truly creativeperson is
always just beginning.
An expert is a Platonist: he does not believe his sensesand is
convinced that they are lying. Therefore, he has devel-oped a
scientific apparatus. He claims that he explores. Thismeans that he
deduces new properties and relationshipsfrom the properties and
relationships postulated in axioms.Consequently, he does not focus
on things but on their prop-erties and relationships between them.
He gains an (in)sightof the problem. The idea about exploration
deludes him. Heconnects visual art with mathematics, trigonometry,
chem-istry, psychoanalysis and music in order to make its
interpre-tation less complicated.
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43
ni, da iz lastnosti in odnosov, ki so postulirani v
aksiomih,
deducira nove lastnosti in odnose. Torej mu niso predmet re-
ãi, temveã samo lastnosti in odnosi med njimi. Problem pre-
prosto u–vidi. Ideja o raziskovanju ga zavaja. Matematiko,
tri-
gonometrijo, kemijo, psihoanalizo, glasbo itd. povezuje z
li-
kovnostjo, da bi jo laÏje razlagal.
Aksiomi, izhodi‰ãe vsake teorije, so ãisto hipotetiãne na-
rave. Opisujejo lastnosti in odnose elementov, katerih
narava
ni v naprej znana. Pomembno je le, pravi, da sistem aksi-
omov ni protisloven, ãe ne lahko dokaÏe karkoli. Lahko pa
spremeni ta sistem aksiomov, da tako dokaÏe karkoli. Sistem
aksiomov je torej izmi‰ljen in vsaka podobnost z realnostjo
je
zgolj sluãajna.
Indijec, na primer, pa se posluÏuje druge poti. Toliko ãasa
prerisuje problem, da se konãno jasno pokaÏe na papirju in
reãe: »Poglej!« On dokazuje in razlaga vidno z vidnim.
*Literatura ima karakteristiko bolj kvantitativnega
oznaãeva-
nja stvari. Tak‰nega pogleda na svet pa ne morem izraziti
zgolj z vizualnim medijem. Objektivno predstavne stvari ka-
kor da ne sodijo v likovni svet.
Literatura se ukvarja le z zunanjo obliko in govori o stva-
reh ne da bi pravzaprav vedela o ãem govori. Trdi, da pozna
predmet razprave, med tem ko prava Literatura ne. Slednja
ple‰e okoli predmeta razprave kot maãka okoli vrele ka‰e in
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Visual Art Is Not Literature
44
Axioms as points of departure for any theory are
highlyhypothetical. They describe properties and the
relationshipsof elements, the nature of which is not known in
advance.The only important thing is that the axiom system is not
con-tradictory, or else anything could be proven. But the
axiomsystem can be changed in order to prove anything. The ax-iom
system is therefore invented and any similarity with re-ality is a
pure coincidence.
An Indian, for example, takes another path. He keepscopying a
problem until it appears clearly on paper and thenhe says: »Look!«
He proves and explains the visible with thevisible.
*Literature with a small »l« tends to present things in a
quan-titative way. This kind of view of the world cannot be
ex-pressed with a merely visual medium. Objectively presenta-ble
things do not belong in the world of visual art.
Literature with a small »l« deals only with the externalform and
speaks of things without knowing what it says. Itclaims to know
what the debate is about, whereas real Liter-ature does not. Real
Literature dances around the topic, beat-ing about the bush, and
because it does not touch upon thetopic, it describes its essence.
An example of this are holyscriptures, which are not written in
metaphors so that simplepeople could understand them, but because
this is the only
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Likovnost ni literatura
45
prav s tem, ko se predmeta razprave pravzaprav ne dotika, ga
opi‰e v svojem bistvu, tako kakor tudi svete knjige. Te niso
pisane v prispodobah zato, da bi jih razumeli preprosti
ljudje,
temveã, ker je edino na tak naãin moÏno (z besedami) opisati
neopisljivo bistvo predmeta pisanja.
* * *Duh vidi na dva razliãna naãina: vidi, kot da gleda z oãmi,
in
sprevidi nek problem (pri ãemer pa oãi lahko tudi ne sodelu-
jejo). »Re‰evanje« problemov je kot re‰evanje kriÏanke; samo
sebi namen. Ni dobro, da o tem posebej razmi‰ljam. âemu
sluÏi duh, ãe ne za re‰evanje problemov? To je vendar narav-
ni sestavni del dela. Pravzaprav je problem, kako si ne za-
stavljati problema, da se duhu ne bi bilo treba truditi okoli
te-
ga, kako ga re‰iti. Re‰evanje problemov je podobno
literaturi,
ki je vedno obrnjena izven sebe, da bi oznaãila nekaj zuna-
njega namesto sebe same.
Kot literarno se nam kaÏe vse, kar ne funkcionira drugje,
kot le v svojem, ponavadi umetnem, izmi‰ljenem, miselnem
okviru. Enostavno si postavim doloãen miselni okvir in zno-
traj njega se izkaÏe kot pravilno vse, kar ni Ïe v naprej z
njim
v nasprotju. Ko pa ta miselni okvir samo malo premaknem,
pa se izkaÏe kot napaãno praktiãno vse, kar je prej drÏalo,
kot
pribito.
Verjamem, da vsak, ki se ukvarja s teorijo, veruje v svoj
prav. To me ne moti, saj lastna likovna praksa nima niã
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Visual Art Is Not Literature
46
possible way of describing (in words) the indescribableessence
of the topic.
* * *The spirit sees in two different ways: it sees as if it had
eyesand understands a problem (in which eyes may or may notbe
involved). »Solving« a problem is like solving a cross-words
puzzle: it has no particular purpose. I should notthink about it
too much. What is the spirit’s task if it is notthe solving of
problems? It is part of a work of art. In fact, itis a problem how
to avoid finding problems so that the spiritwould not have to
struggle solving them. Solving problemsis like literature that is
always extrovert in order to describesomething external instead of
itself.
The literary is anything that does not function outside
itsartificial, invented mental framework. Usually I set myself
acertain mental framework within which anything that doesnot
contradict it in advance is proven correct. But when Ishift this
mental framework only a little bit, practicallyeverything that
seemed absolutely correct just a moment agois now proven
incorrect.
I believe that anybody dealing with theory believes thathe is
right. This does not bother me since artistic practice hasnothing
to do with the convictions of other people. But usu-ally when
somebody believes in something, his belief turnsinto a bitter
sting. In the artistic practice, this sting should al-
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47
opraviti s prepriãanjem drugih. Toda obiãajno, ko nekdo ve-
ruje v nekaj, postane njegovo prepriãanje ost, ki ‰trli. V
likov-
ni–umetni‰ki praksi pa bi morala biti ost obrnjena vedno v
nas same. Nebi nas smelo skrbeti zaradi razlik v mi‰ljenju
med nami.
Toda likovnik, ki preveã pi‰e ali govori o svojem delu, ki
posku‰a izraziti svoje cilje z zaokroÏeno, logiãno toãnostjo,
se
lahko hitro spremeni v literata, ki v strogo omejenih
izrazih
logike in besed zgolj izraÏa zamisli.
Torej! âe likovnik, ki naj bi pravzaprav molãal in se izra-
Ïal le likovno, uporablja besede, potem naj te besede
kolikor
je le mogoãe skopo opi‰ejo, kaj je opazil in o ãemer sodi, da
bi
drugi likovniki zaradi njegove izku‰nje pridobili ãas.
(Tukaj
sem parafraziral Stockhausna.)
* * * * *Prvega in tretjega kamnoseka so vpra‰ali: »Kako so
klesali
Michelangelo Buonarotti, Henry Moore, Konstantin Brancusi
in Barbara Hepworth?«
»Direktno.«
»Kako je klesal Auguste Rodin?«
»Sploh ni klesal.«
Tega problema ne morem razloÏiti v okviru literature. To
lahko razloÏim edino s pomoãjo praktiãne izku‰nje poslu‰al-
ca, ki pa jo Ïal sreãam le redko. Zato se moram zateãi k
medi-
ju, ki je splo‰no uveljavljen. To pa je literatura.
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Visual Art Is Not Literature
48
ways be directed at ourselves. We should not bother aboutthe
differences between our convictions.
But a visual artist who writes or speaks about his worktoo much,
who attempts to express his goals completely, log-ically and
correctly, will soon become a writer whose workconsists of his
ideas expressed in strictly defined expressionsof logic and
words.
Therefore, a visual artists who is supposed to be silentand
express himself only in art should use words only togive brief
descriptions of what he has noticed if he believesthat his
experiences could help other artists to save time.(Here, I refer to
Stockhausen.)
* * * * *They asked the first and the third stonecutter: »How
didMichelangelo, Buonarotti, Henry Moore, Konstantin Bran-cusi and
Barbara Hepworth work in stone?«
»Directly.«»How did Auguste Rodin work in stone?«»He did not
work in stone.«This problem cannot be explained in terms of
literature.
It can only be explained with the help of the practical
experi-ence of a listener, which is unfortunately very rare. For
thisreason I must resort to a generally accepted medium:
litera-ture.
*
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49
*V tej razpravi sem se pritoÏeval ãez pisanje. Namreã, kot
pi‰e
v Vedi, je vse, kar se nauãimo iz knjig (ali od na‰ih
uãiteljev),
enako vozilu. Toda vozilo nam koristi le, dokler smo na
cesti.
Ko pa pridemo do konca ceste, pustimo vozilo in gremo pe‰
naprej. Torej likovna teorija ni vsemogoãna. Vendar se
moramo zavedati, da likovno teorijo vseeno potrebujemo.
Kakor je rekel Johannes Itten, ãe lahko ustvarimo barvne
mojstrovine ne da bi vedeli, je to ne–vedenje na‰a pot. Ko
pa
zaradi ne–vedenja ne moremo ustvariti barvnih mojstrovin,
si moramo vedenje izgraditi. In tukaj nam pomaga Literatura.
V Ljubljani, 7. september 1994
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50
In this article I complain about writing. Because, as theVedas
say, everything we learn from books (or our teachers)is like a
vehicle. But a vehicle is useful only on the road.Once we reach the
end of the road, we leave the vehicle andcontinue on foot.
Therefore art theory is not omnipotent. Butat the same time, we
must be aware of the fact that art theoryis still needed. As
Johannes Itten says: »If you, unknowing,are able to create
masterpieces in colour, then unknowledgeis your way. But if you are
unable to create masterpieces incolour out of your unknowledge,
then you ought to look forknowledge.« And here Literature can be of
great help.
Ljubljana, September 7 1994
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Likovnost ni literatura
ak, 1988
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52
f an artist who is supposed to be quiet andexpress himself only
through visual art us-es words, he should describe what he
hasnoticed and what he thinks could help oth-er artists save time
in as few words as pos-sible. If he speaks about modular order ora
composition of a work, he should act inthe capacity of a
scientist.Initially, I learnt a new language duringmy studies of
modular order in nature.Today, I understand and use this
languagedifferently, because I observe new phe-nomena year by year.
The pure parame-
ters of experience, which I have learnt, have become broad-er.
The language has become more organic and flexible. Isoon discovered
that the artistic does not originate onlyfrom »purely artistic«
properties. All our artistic endeav-ours are a statement about
ourselves and reflect our under-standing of the surroundings. Our
work is greatly influ-enced by the surroundings in a way that
cannot be ex-pressed in words; the »geometric modular« language
isthereby spiritually enriched.
Sequences, fonts, and series – the ordering of thingsthrough
harmonic relationships is in terms of approach clos-er to nuclear
physics, new biology, new genetics or a com-
ILord of the System 1
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53
o likovnik, ki naj bi prav-
zaprav molãal in se iz-
raÏal le likovno, upora-
blja besede, potem naj
z besedami kolikor je le
mogoãe skopo opi‰e, kaj
je opazil in o ãemer so-
di, da bi drugi likovniki
zaradi njegove izku‰nje
pridobili ãas. Ko govori
o modularnem redu ali
kompoziciji likovnega
dela, potem naj to poã-
ne kot znanstvenik.
Na zaãetku sem se s ‰tudijem modularnega reda narave
nauãil novega jezika. Ta jezik danes razumem in uporabljam
drugaãe, ker lahko leto za letom opazujem nove pojave. âisti
parametri izku‰nje, ki sem se jih nauãil, so se raz‰irili. Jezik
je
postal bolj organski in fleksibilen. Kmalu sem namreã ugoto-
vil, da se likovnost ne izãrpa v »zgolj likovnih« lastnostih.
Vsa
na‰a likovna aktivnost je pravzaprav tudi izjava o nas samih
in kaÏe na na‰e razumevanje vsega okoli‰kega. V na‰e delo
prihaja iz okolice veliko tega, kar z besedami ni izrekljivo
in
tako se »geometriãno – modularni« jezik bogati z duhovnim.
Zaporedja, vrste, serije, se pravi, urejanje vsega z razmer-
KGospodar sistema 1
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Lord of the System 1
54
pletely new conception of existence than a pure work of art.
Iunderstand the principle of series (sequences) as a
universalprinciple. It broadens human awareness and possibilities
ofcomposition to the extent that it will continue to inspire usfor
some time in the future.
By using series, I pre–define composition. The material
isarranged and organised even before I approach the task.One may
wonder what is left for me to do if the preparationof material is
based on variation. It means that I do not ap-proach the task
freely. I am bound by order. I become its vol-untary servant,
because I select it myself. But this means thatI still have
freedom.
People want to be free because they hope that this willrelease
their inherent creative forces. But this is merely an ex-pression
of subjectivity. Their hope that it is possible to cre-ate only
from one’s own source is soon shattered. The onlysolution seems to
be objectivity. In this way, freedom is di-alectically reversed.
People realise that they must obey lawsand the system, but this
does not take away their freedom.Freedom is not the violation and
disrespect for rules. Thiswould be banal. We are free when we no
longer feel rules asa restriction, when we expand on them: when we
cease to beanarchic. From a wider perspective, true freedom may
befound only in complete order and discipline.
Order as an artistic composition is not there to serve it-
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-
ji ene kali, ima po pristopu skoraj veã skupaj z jedrsko
fiziko,
z novo biologijo, z novo genetiko, s popolnoma novo koncep-
cijo obstoja sploh, kakor pa s ãistim likovnim delom. Naãelo
serije (zaporedja) razumem kot univerzalno naãelo. To naãelo
tako ‰iri ãlovekovo zavest – moÏnosti v kompoziciji, da ga v
prihodnosti ‰e kmalu ne bomo izãrpali.
S tem ko uporabljam serije, je kompozicija Ïe v naprej na-
stavljena. Vsa dispozicija in organizacija gradiva je Ïe
oprav-
ljena, ko sam s pravim delom ‰ele zaãnem. âlovek se vpra‰a,
kaj mi pravzaprav ‰e ostane, ko pripravljanje gradiva
temelji
na variaciji. To pomeni, da se dela pravzaprav ne lotim svo-
bodno. VeÏe me red. Vanj pa sem se vklenil sam, saj sem ga
zavestno izbral. Torej sem vseeno svoboden.
Ljudje hoãejo biti svobodni, ker upajo, da se bodo v njih
sprostile njihove ustvarjalne sile. Toda to je le izraz
subjek-
tivnosti. Upanje, da je moÏno biti ustvarjalen le iz lastnega
vi-
ra, kmalu propade. Kot re‰itev se pokaÏe objektivnost. Tako
se svoboda sama dialektiãno preobrne. Ljudje spoznajo nuj-
nost, da se podredijo zakonom, sistemu, kar pa jim ‰e ne
jemlje svobode. Svoboda ni v tem, da kr‰imo in ne spo‰tuje-
mo pravil. To je banalno. Svobodni smo takrat, ko nas
pravila
ne utesnjujejo veã, se pravi, ko pravila nadgradimo; ko
prene-
hamo biti anarhiãni. âe pogledamo ‰ir‰e, skoraj lahko trdi-
mo, da je prava svoboda le v popolnem redu in disciplini.
Red, kot je likovna kompozicija, ni sam sebi namen. Daje
Gospodar sistema 1
55
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Lord of the System 1
56
self. It provides us with support. As such, it is justified, but
itmust be rejected when it turns into a form of etiquette.
Laws, rules and systems merely confirm real–life experi-ences,
thereby performing a vitally important task. Theyform an
organisation that is of utmost importance even increativity. Today,
these rules are mostly forgotten and per-verted. In the past, they
were not so objective or so extrovert.They were based on the
experiences and practices of ances-tors. This was a collective
memory, and this something thatcan be restored; observing these
rules meant security.
Some think systems are a trick and therefore they rejectthem. At
the same time, they use a system that has been test-ed and widely
used for centuries and that they are not awareof because it is so
widely present. They have probably learntabout it in school and
simply adopted the work of others.Without any gratitude or
historical awareness!* * *Back in the seminar class during the
first year of my univer-sity studies, I realised that form and
material are closely con-nected. When you wish to create a new
image using a mate-rial that was intended for a different purpose
and has differ-ent properties, you notice that there is a
contradiction be-tween the material and forms that you wish to
create with it.I have always felt that it is extremely important
for the mate-rial and form to come together and complement one
another,
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Gospodar sistema 1
57
nam oporo. Kot tak‰en je sicer upraviãen, a ga je treba
vedno
zavraãati, kadar se kaÏe kot nekaj drugega: namreã kot
manira.
Zakoni, pravila, sistemi le potrjujejo Ïive izku‰nje in tako
opravljajo Ïivljenjsko pomembno nalogo. To je organizacija,
ki je skrajno pomembna celo v ustvarjalnosti. Ta pravila so
danes veãinoma pozabljena in preobrnjena. Vãasih niso bila
tako objektivna, tako obrnjena navzven. Izhajala so iz izku-
‰enj prednikov, iz njihove prakse. To je bil kolektivni
spomin,
to je tisto, kar je mogoãe obnoviti, in spo‰tovanje teh pravil
je
pomenilo varnost.
Nekateri gledajo na sistem, kot na trik, in ga zato zavra-
ãajo. Istoãasno pa sami uporabljajo kak‰nega, ki je Ïe
stoletja
preizku‰en in ustaljen in ki se ga zaradi splo‰ne
prisotnosti
sploh ne zavedajo. Verjetno so se ga nauãili Ïe kar v ‰oli in
ta-
ko preprosto privzeli delo drugih. Brez vsake hvaleÏnosti
ali
spomina!
* * *Îe v seminarju v prvem letniku mi je postalo jasno, da sta
ob-
lika in material tesno povezana. Ko Ïeli‰ ustvariti novo
podo-
bo, pa pri tem uporablja‰ material, ki je bil namenjen drugi
rabi in ima zato druge lastnosti, opazi‰, da obstaja
nasprotje
med materialom in med oblikami, ki bi jih rad s tem materi-
alom ustvaril. Vselej mi je bilo zelo pomembno, da se
materi-
al in oblika zdruÏita in da si vzajemno ustrezata, da torej
ne
vsiljujem materialu oblike, za katero ni bil ustvarjen.
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Lord of the System 1
58
that I do not force the material to assume a form for which
itwas not created.
It all began with a problem of how to place a blacksquare on a
white surface. Theoretically, it can be placedanywhere and the
square can be of any size.
I received the first information about the emerging com-position
from the format of the paper. The sides of the for-mat generally
used in my country are in the proportion ofone to the square root
of two (both A and B format). The for-mat seems to be composed of a
square and the proportion-ate remainder. For this reason, I drew
diagonals of the entireformat and diagonals of the square part.
This defined boththe position and the size (see fig. 1). I placed
the blacksquare in the centre of the upper square part,
determiningits size with the intersection of the diagonals of the
entireformat (see fig. 2).
Later it turned out that I always return to the same
foun-dation. I always find out that I move in an area of what I
call»primary composition«. I have also tried to translate
thissystem into the golden section format. The mental construc-tion
and the order are the same, but the character of the pro-portions
in the golden section does not suit me because dueto emphatic
elongation the golden section leans too much inone direction (see
fig. 3). Therefore we should not search on-ly for quantity in
proportions (relationships), but also for
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Gospodar sistema 1
59
Vse skupaj se je zaãelo s problemom,
kako postaviti ãrn kvadrat na belo ploskev.
Teoretiãno ga lahko postavimo na katero-
koli mesto in sam kvadrat je lahko tudi ka-
terekoli velikosti.
Prvo informacijo o nastajajoãi kompo-
ziciji mi je dal Ïe sam format papirja. For-
mat, ki je uveljavljen v na‰ih krajih, ima
razmerje stranic ena proti koren iz dva (ta-
ko A kot tudi B format). Izgleda, kot da je
sestavljen iz kvadrata in pripadajoãega
ostanka. Zato sem narisal najprej diagona-
le celotnega formata in diagonale kvadratnega dela. Tako le-
ga, kot tudi velikost sta bili s tem doloãeni (glej prvo
risbo).
ârni kvadrat sem postavil v sredi‰ãe zgornjega kvadratnega
dela, njegovo velikost pa doloãa preseãi‰ãe diagonal
celotne-
ga formata (glej drugo risbo).
Kasneje se je izkazalo, da se vedno vraãam k tej osnovi.
Vedno ugotovim, da se gibljem v obmoãju zame prakompozi-
cije. Ta sistem sem posku‰al prenesti tudi v format zlatega
reza. Sama miselna konstrukcija in red sta enaka, le da mi
karakter razmerja zlatega reza ne ustreza, ker je zaradi
svoje
veãje izdolÏenosti preveã usmerjen le v eno smer (glej
tretjo
risbo). Torej v razmerjih (odnosih) ne smemo gledati le
kvan-
titete, temveã predvsem kvaliteto. Vsako razmerje ima dru-
Prva risba / Fig. 1
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Lord of the System 1
Druga risba / Fig. 2 (00, 1978–1987)
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Gospodar sistema 1
Tretja risba / Fig. 3 (00z, 1978–1987)
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Lord of the System 1
62
quality. Each proportion has a different character. The
differ-ence between two proportions, such as between one to
thesquare root of two and the golden section, in a certain
in-stance resembles the difference between major and minor
inmusic.
When I do not wish to construct a certain proportion in
ageometric way, I take its arithmetic approximate in the formof a
ratio between small integers. The quotients 5:7, 12:17,29:41. 58:89
and 7:10 are arithmetic approximates of the oneto the square root
of two ratio. The difference between an ac-curate geometric
construction and an arithmetic approxi-mate is relatively small and
of no significance for the usualartistic purposes. If we calculate,
we see that the quotient of1 to the square root of two is 1.414,
whereas the quotient of7:110 is 1.428. This means that in the
length of one metre, thedifference would be less than a millimetre
and a half, whichis far beyond our visual capacities.
Usually I take the B2 format because it is physically
con-trollable but still large enough. I imagine that one side is
7and the other 10 units long. The entire format is therefore
astructure of 7x10 squares, which shows the basic principle
ofcomposition (see fig. 4). »Struktur ist die Wiederholung
einerEinheit. Die Gliederungen werden bei den ProportionenHalt
machen müssen.« Paul Klee And this is a visible differ-ence between
the first and second composition, a difference
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63
gaãen karakter. Razlika med dvema razliãnima razmerjema,
kot na primer med ena proti koren iz dva in zlatim rezom, je
v nekem trenutku podobna razliki med durom in molom v
glasbi.
Ko ne Ïelimo nekega razmerja konstruirati geometrijsko,
vzamemo njegov aritmetiãni pribliÏek v obliki razmerja med
malimi celimi ‰tevili. Recimo kvocienti: 5:7, 12:17, 29:41,
58:89; 7:10 so primeri aritmetiãnih pribliÏkov razmerja ena
proti koren iz dva. Razlika med natanãno geometrijsko kon-
strukcijo in aritmetiãnim pribliÏkom je sorazmerno majhna
in za obiãajne likovne potrebe pravzaprav zanemarljiva. âe
poraãunamo, znese kvocient razmerja ena proti koren iz dva
1,414, kvocient razmerja 7:10 pa 1,428. Pomeni, da na enem
metru zagre‰imo napako slabega milimetra in pol, kar je da-
leã ãez na‰e sposobnosti vidne zaznave.
Obiãajno vzamem format B2, ker je fiziãno obvladljivih
velikosti, vendar ‰e vedno dovolj velik. Predstavljam si, da
je
ena stranica dolga 7 enot, druga pa 10 enot. Tako je celotni
format struktura 7x10 kvadratov, ki Ïe kaÏe na osnovni prin-
cip kompozicije (glej ãetrto risbo). »Struktur ist die
Wieder-
hohlung einer Einheit. Die Gliederungen werden bei den Pro-
portionen Halt machen müssen.« Paul Klee In tukaj je tudi
vi-
den razloãek med prvo in drugo kompozicijo, mislim na raz-
loãek, ki je za risbama. Prva je narejena po geometrijskih
principih in format je znotraj ãlenjen. Posamezni elementi
so
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that is behind the two drawings. The firstfollows geometric
principles and its for-mat is internally divided. Individual
ele-ments are different and proportions (ra-tios) connect these
elements into a whole.In the second example, a certain unit
re-peats itself and individual elements areproducts of this unit.
The individual ele-ments can be subtracted or added withoutchanging
the rhythm of the composition.
In this I distinguish between thestructure within an individual
element
and between the structure of equal and independent ele-ments. If
I draw a square with a grid that divides it into 5x5small squares,
this represents a structure within or of thesquare. It is something
completely different if I draw 5x5squares. The difference is
immediately visible becausesquares no longer have common borders:
each square hasits own four edges (see fig. 5). This means that
when we payattention to the edges and less to surfaces, what we
seewithin the structure are two parallel borders. This is a
struc-ture of 5x5 (squares) on the 7x10 surface, which is a
founda-tion for my further work.
With the basic grid, I define the rules of the
game/com-position. Actually, I already define them in the first
composi-
âetrta risba / Fig. 4
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Peta risba / Fig. 5 (a, 1987)
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tion. The black square measures exactly 3x3 and the line
cutsaway the upper square part of the format three units abovethe
lower edge. In this way, the format is divided into twosurfaces
measuring 3x7 and 7x7 respectively.
As long as there is only this, I speak about pure composi-tion
that is characterised by a special inherent constructionalsolidity
and order that borders on rigidity. It is like a scientif-ic work.
It contains suppressed forces and tensions. It isbeautiful as it
is. This means that when I lay emphasis onlyon its construction, I
receive an assurance that the final resultwill be »beautiful« no
matter what the composition contains.In this case I achieve this by
drawing a grid/structure. Icould for example accentuate the
perspective cross whendrawing an architectural space. But this kind
of compositionis not alive and it is quickly exhausted. I find life
in irregu-larities. Irregularities manifest as stresses, unexpected
posi-tion, etc. Pure composition is merely a box for the
requiredcontent. The content can be anything and does not changethe
composition.
I emphasise the squares of the basic structure by addinganother
element. In this way, the squares attain individuali-ty. If I set
additional elements in a regular position, whichdue to special
features is mathematically called specific po-sition, if their
position is central or axial (symmetrical),characters emerge (see
fig. 6). But in order for a character to
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razliãni in sorazmerja (proporcije) so tisto, kar te
elemente
povezuje v celoto. V drugem primeru pa se stalno ponavlja
neka enota in posamezni elementi so le mnogokratniki eno-
te. Posamezne ãlene lahko odvzemamo in dodajamo, ne da bi
vplivali na ritmiãni karakter kompozicije.
Pri tem loãim med strukturo znotraj posameznega ele-
menta in med strukturo enakovrednih in samostojnih ele-
mentov. âe nari‰em kvadrat in znotraj mreÏo, ki ga razdeli
na 5x5 kvadratov, je to le struktura (znotraj) kvadrata. âe
pa
nari‰em pet krat pet kvadratov, je to nekaj povsem drugega.
Razlika je vidna takoj, ker tako kvadrati nimajo veã skupnih
mejnih robov, temveã ima vsak kvadrat vse ‰tiri robove last-
ne sam zase (glej peto risbo). Se pravi, ko smo pozorni
pred-
vsem na robne ãrte in manj na ploskve, vidimo znotraj struk-
ture vedno po dve robni ãrti vzporedno. To je struktura 5x5
(kvadratov) na ploskvi 7x10 in je osnova za vse moje nadalj-
nje delo.
Tako sem z osnovno mreÏo doloãil pravila igre – kompo-
zicije. Pravzaprav sem pravila igre doloãil Ïe pri prvi
kompo-
ziciji. ârni kvadrat je namreã velik toãno 3x3 in ãrta
odreÏe
gornji kvadratni del formata 3 enote nad spodnjim robom;
torej je format razdeljen na ploskvi 3x7 in 7x7.
Dokler imam samo to, govorim o ãisti kompoziciji, za ka-
tero je znaãilna prav posebna notranja konstruktivna trdnost
in urejenost, Ïe kar togost. Je kot znanstveno delo. V njej
so
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be recognised at the first glance, it must constructed in away
that clearly reveals its regularity (it is
mathematicallyspecific).
But when additional elements are arranged in a generalposition,
square turn into ordinary boxes with inserted con-tent (see fig.
7). When additional elements are in a centralposition, we see only
these elements as such, but when wemove it, they acquire the
significance of their position (in re-lation to other elements).
The relative significance over-shadows the absolute significance.
This means that a simpleline could be equally replaced by an
elephant in the sameposition. Consequently, the main difference
between thecharacter and a certain sequence is the way elements
arearranged. Characters are defined by their specific position.A
character is memorable because of its regularity. Or else, ifwe
remember a character only partially, it can be recon-structed with
the help of the strict laws of its structure. Thisresembles a music
written in a certain harmony that is de-fined by a solid, almost
rigid inherent order. It lives in ourmemory for a long time.
Some of the best characters are letters. It is interestingthat Y
did not seem good enough to the sculptor AdamSmith. He changed it
by adding another arm to the conven-tional two. This gave
additional emphasis to the letter’s spe-cific nature as a
character. On the contrary, James Joyce in
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sile in napetosti potlaãene. Lepa je Ïe sama na sebi. To
pome-
ni, ko poudarim njeno konstrukcijo samo, si s tem pridobim
zagotovilo, da bo konãen rezultat »lep« ne glede na to, kaj je
v
njej. V mojem primeru sem to dosegel tako, da sem narisal
mreÏo – strukturo. Lahko pa bi recimo poudaril perspektivni
kriÏ, ko bi risal kak‰en arhitekturni ambient. Taka kompozi-
cija pa ni Ïiva in se hitro izãrpa. Îivljenje vidim v
nepravilno-
stih. Nepravilnosti so lahko kak‰ni poudarki, nepriãakovana
lega, ... âista kompozicija je le ‰katla za tisto, kar bi
moralo
biti v njej. To pa je lahko karkoli, ne da bi jo
spreminjalo.
Kvadratom osnovne strukture lahko dam poudarke tako,
da jim dodam znotraj kak‰en dodatni element. Tako dobijo
svojo individualnost. Ko te dodatne elemente postavim v
kak‰no zelo pravilno lego, ki ji zaradi posebnih lastnosti v
matematiki pravimo posebna lega; ko je njihova lega central-
na oziroma osna (simetriãna), dobim znake (glej ‰esto
risbo).
Tukaj vidimo, da se kar tako neki znak (konãno je vsaka
stvar, s tem, ko je, Ïe tudi znak) in znak, ki ga nekdo
zavestno
naredi ali izoblikuje, bistveno razlikujeta. To je prav
tak‰na
razlika, kot med stvarjo, ki ima kar tako neko obliko, in
stvar-
jo, ki ima zavestno izoblikovano obliko. Da pa znak resniãno
Ïe na pogled deluje kot znak, mora biti zgrajen tako, da je
ta-
koj vidna njegova pravilnost (matematiãno posebnost).
Ko pa dodatne elemente postavimo v splo‰no lego, posta-
nejo kvadrati le navadne ‰katle, v katere je nekaj
vstavljeno
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Lord of the System 1
·esta risba / Fig. 6 (b, 1987)
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Gospodar sistema 1
Sedma risba / Fig. 7 (c, 1988)
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Lord of the System 1
72
Finnegan’s Wake discovered something extremely interest-ing
about characters: in the passage where a red hen finds aletter, he
says that there is no difference between writing anddrawing. The
hen found a secret message. The letter means:»You have sent for
me.« All letters bring the secret message:»You have sent for me.«
They do not say: »I have sent foryou.« Consequently Joyce believes
that all characters have acommon significance in addition to their
own individuality.By trying to be as specific as possible, they
achieve exactlythe opposite. They became general.* * *With this I
realised that pure composition is a craft. I foundmy solution to
the problem, because the laws of a craft arenot mandatory for
creativity. A science about craftsmanshipis practical and as such
extremely useful and possibly evenunavoidable.
This procedure can be called a composition–buildingmethod with a
limited number of elements that are connect-ed only to one another.
It consists of a single basic image of amany times varied line of
(five) elements; this defines thehorizontal and vertical line, as
can be expected from a basicmotif with a limited number of
elements. This method is oneof craftsmanship, which has no decisive
influence on thecomposition, and the character of the work. It is
merely anissue of approaching the material with regard to a
selection
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(glej sedmo risbo). Ko so dodatni elementi v sredi‰ãni legi,
vi-
dimo le njih same na sebi, ko pa jih izmaknemo, pa jim pri-
damo pomen pripadajoãega mesta (napram drugim elemen-
tom). Relativni pomen zasenãi absolutnega. Tako bi namesto
enostavne ãrte na istem mestu enako dobro sedel tudi kak-
‰en slonãek, ... To pomeni, da je bistvena razlika med zna-
kom in kar tako nekim sestavom, kako so elementi razvr‰ãe-
ni med seboj. Znake naredi predvsem posebna lega. Zaradi
svoje pravilnosti si znak laÏje zapomnimo. Oziroma, ãe si ga
zapomnimo le fragmentarno, ga lahko rekonstruiramo po
strogih zakonih njegove zgradbe. To je podobno, kakor z
glas-
bo pisano v harmoniji, kjer vlada zelo moãan, Ïe kar tog no-
tranji red. ·e po dolgem ãasu si jo lahko prikliãemo v
zavest.
Primeri najodliãnej‰ih znakov so ãrke. Hkrati pa je zani-
mivo, da se kiparju Adamu Smithu ‰e Y ni zdel dovolj dober.
Predelal ga je tako, da mu je namesto obiãajnih gornjih dveh
rogljev narisal kar tri. Tako je ‰e dodatno poudaril njegov
znakovni karakter. Nasprotno pa James Joyce v romanu Fin-
negans Wake ugotavlja v zvezi z znaki nekaj zelo zanimivega.
Na mestu, kjer je rdeãa koko‰ izbrskala ãrko, pravi, da ni
raz-
like med pisanjem in risanjem. Koko‰ je izbrskala tajno spo-
roãilo. ârka pomeni: »Poslal si po mene.« Vse ãrke prina‰ajo
tajno sporoãilo: »Poslal si po mene". Ne: »Poslal sem po te-
be.«! Torej meni, da imajo vsi znaki poleg svoje lastne
indivi-
dualnosti ‰e skupni pomen. S tem ko hoãejo biti kar najbolj
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74
of design approaches and awareness of the material’s
char-acteristics.
Ljubljana, 1995
I was encouraged to edit and record my thoughts on the topic
that I have been ex-ploring since 1978 by an article by Borka
Tepina, entitled Na konici svinčnika (Atthe tip of the pencil;
Borka Tepina, Na konici svinčnika, Likovne besede, 12–13March 1990,
pp. 65–69).
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posebni, so v nekem smislu prav nasprotno. So splo‰ni.
* * *Ob tem sem spoznal, da ni ãista kompozicija niã drugega,
kot
le obrt. S tem sem vpra‰anje zase re‰il, saj zakoni obrti za
us-
tvarjalnost niso obvezni. Nauk o obrtni‰tvu je smotrnost in
kot tak zelo koristen, morda celo neizogiben.
Ta postopek lahko imenujemo kompozicijska metoda z
omejenim ‰tevilom samo drug na drugega vezanih elemen-
tov. Zgrajen je iz ene same osnovne podobe, veãkrat
variirane
vrste ‰tirih (petih) elementov; vodoravna in navpiãna vrsta
sta temu podrejeni, kot je to mogoãe priãakovati pri
osnovnem motivu s tako omejenim ‰tevilom elementov. To
je metoda bolj obrtne narave, ki nima odloãilnega vpliva
niti
na kompozicijo niti na znaãaj dela. Je le vpra‰anje
obravnave
gradiva glede na oblikovalne naãine ob upo‰tevanju danosti
gradiva.
V ljubljani, 1995
âlanek Borka Tepine Na konici svinãnika me je vzpodbudil, da sem
uredil in za-
pisal misli o problemih, s katerimi se poãasi ukvarjam od leta
1978. (Borko Tepina;
Na konici svinãnika, Likovne besede, 12–13, marec 1990, strani
65–69.)
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Lord of the System 1
Saarinen, 1987 Spirala / Spiral, 19873c, 1991 Zamik / Shift,
1991
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Gospodar sistema 1
n, 1. 9. 1991 dn, 1. 9. 1988 a1a, 1991 Kvadrat87 / Square87,
1990
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Gospodar sistema 1
← ârte / Stripes, 1994
LC–1a, 1994
LC–3, 1994 LC–4, 1994
LC–6, 1994 LC–2, 1994 LC–1, 1994 LC–5, 1994
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80
Construction isplanning, organisation, arrangement,comparison
and control.In short: it comprisesall means that resistchaos and
coincidence.For this reason it befitsthe human intentionand
qualifies humanthought and deed. Josef Albers
his text is an answer to anumber of frequently ask-ed questions.
I have de-scribed methods and situ-ations connected with mywork. I
have incorporatedmemories and circumstan-ces surrounding the
gene-sis of my work and haveadded whatever seemsrelevant: personal
associa-tions connected with mywork.
Lord of the System 2
TI flatten black lines in order to stop the lie in its tracks.
Janez Bernik
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81
Konstruiranje je
planiranje, organiziranje, razvr‰ãanje
primerjanje in nadzorovanje
v eni besedi: obsega
vsa sredstva, ki se zoperstavljajo
neredu in sluãaju.
Zato ustreza
ãlovekovemu hotenju
in kvalificira ãlovekovo
mi‰ljenje in dejanja. Josef Albers
o pisanje je odgovor na
pogosta vpra‰anja. Opi-
sujem metode in situa-
cije, ki se nana‰ajo na
moje izdelke. Vkljuãil
sem spomine na okoli-
‰ãine, ko so izdelki na-
stajali, dodal sem, kadar
se mi je to zdelo primer-
no, osebne asociacije, ki
se nanje nana‰ajo.
Nisem pa vkljuãil izjav,
kaj risbe »pomenijo«. Ne
Gospodar sistema 2
Târne ãrte plo‰ãim, da laÏ zastane. Janez Bernik
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