16th January 1957
Dear Peter and Alison,
I have been thinking about our conversation of the other evening and thought
that it might be a good idea to get something on paper, as much to sort it
out for myself as to put a point of view to you.
There have been a number
of manifestations in the post-war years in London which I would select
as important and which have a bearing on what I take to
be an
objective:Parallel of Life and Art
(investigation into an imagery of general value)Man, Machine and Motion (investigation
into a particular technological imagery) Reyner Banham's research on automobile
styling Ad image research (Paolozzi, Smithson, McHale) Independent
Group discussion on Pop Art-Fine Art relationship House of the Future (conversion
of Pop Art attitudes in industrial design to scale of domestic architecture)
This is Tomorrow Group 2 presentation of Pop Art and perception material attempted
impersonal treatment. Group 6 presentation of human needs in terms of a strong
personal
idiom.
Looking at this list it is clear that the Pop Art/Technology
background emerges as the important feature.
The disadvantage (as well as the great virtue) of
the TIT show was its incoherence and obscurity of language.
My view is that another show should be as highly
disciplined and unified in conception as this one was chaotic. Is it possible
that the participants
could
relinquish
their existing personal solutions and try to bring about some new formal
conception complying with a strict, mutually agreed programme?
Suppose we were to start
with the objective of providing a unique solution to the specific requirement
of a domestic environment e.g. some kind of shelter,
some kind of equipment, some kind of art. This solution could then be formulated
and rated on the basis of compliance with a table of characteristics of Pop
Art.
Pop Art is: Popular (designed for a mass audience) Transient
(short-term solution) Expendable (easily-forgotten) Low cost Mass produced
Young (aimed at youth) Witty Sexy Gimmicky Glamorous Big business.
This
is just a beginning. Perhaps the first part of our task is the analysis of
Pop Art and the production of a table. I find I am not yet sure about the "sincerity" of
Pop Art. It is not a characteristic of all but it is of some - at least,
a pseudo-sincerity is. Maybe we have to subdivide Pop Art into its various
categories
and decide
into which category each of the subdivisions of our project fits. )X/bat
do you think?
Yours,
