Carrying on from Richard Serra and Carl Andre, as part of the series of minimalist works, I included that of Robert Morris. Who died only 2 weeks ago at the age of 87. His work was also typically macho and perhaps a bit arrogant. According to the Guardian he was controversial and cantankerous. To quote from the article itself:
When the Art Newspaper sent him a series of questions about the 1960s minimalist movement, he replied that the questions were “trivial, superficial, puerile, misdirected, irrelevant, egregious, distracted, dull, feeble, breathless, gossip-mongering, smarmy and lizard-like”.
Lizard-like! Brilliant!
He created a piece called “Box with the sound of its own making” which consisted of a large box roughly made of wood, about 1 metre square. Sounds issued from the inside of the box, of sawing and hammering. What a fabulous thing. What wit. There is humour there. I actually saw this piece somewhere and thought there was someone in it trying to get out!
I recreated this in the form of a small box made of silk organza about 10cms square, and from it came the sound of a sewing machine and scissors and rattling pins. I recorded the sounds onto a tape which played from a tape player hidden behind the wall on which the box was mounted. I told my friend about it and he came to the show specifically to see it and he couldn’t find it! (too small and too quiet!)
