12 OCTOBER 1985, Page 42

Exhibitions

Dieter Hacker (Marlborough Fine Art till 2 November) Adrian Wiszniewski (Nicola Jacobs till 26 October) Christopher Stein (Browse & Darby till 26 October) Rocks and Flesh (Norwich School of Art Gallery till 26 October)

A house divided

Giles Auty

The glades of contemporary art must seem a place of dark mystery to the layman. Even to those of us in the busi- ness, the tracks left by some of art's major beasts are not always easy to follow, or may be deliberately obscured. What comes out of the undergrowth is not always what appeared to go into it. In the labyrinthine groves, strange transmutations occur. Few can have been odder than that in which the exhausted body of Late Modernism crept into the bushes to die, only to emerge a few months later in resplendent new guise as guess what? — Post-Modernism.

One does not have to be a member of Mensa nor a classical scholar to hazard that after Modernism will come Post- Modernism. But what, if anything, does this current watchword mean?

Three years ago, in a lecture entitled 'No Post-Modernism without a Post-Mortem', I argued that it was unnecessary to conduct an autopsy on the corpse of Modernism to discover what ailments the patient had sickened and died from. Was it slow strangulation by an excess of theory? Or malnutrition caused by the emptiness of much of its rhetoric? I believe we needed to find out, simply to avoid making the same errors in future. If we did not, then Post-Modernism might turn out to be Late Modernism by a different name. The ailing beast might not have died after all.

Why is this question of terminology important?

It matters because terms such as Post- Modernism, Transavantgardism and the like have been cleverly employed to con- fuse vital art world issues and to deflect the criticisms of those who have grown dissatis- fied with much Late Modernist practice.

It should never be forgotten that valid alternative positions existed throughout the years of Modernist hegemony in the visual arts. Artists, writers and a large body of thoughtful opinion drawn from outside the art world consistently ques- tioned the abandopment of traditional virtues in the theory teaching and practice of art. Whatever its commercial success, Post-Modernism has as yet done little, if anything, to answer this questioning.

Few exhibitions could have been more divisive than the Royal Academy's A New Spirit in Painting which introduced so- called Post-Modernism to the British pub- lic in 1981. Some saw this as a fashionable success, bringing exponents of the New Art into headline prominence, while others regarded it as a betrayal — a false dawn inspired by largely commercial motives.

Four years later, opinions remain as divided as ever, which is why some of this week's exhibitions are of special interest. At Marlborough (6 Albemarle Street, W1) we find Dieter Hacker, a German artist whose work appeared in A New Spirit in Painting, having his first one-man show in London. Hacker, like many other disciples of New Art, came only latterly to 'neo- Expressionist' painting. While Hacker had previously worked in the field of Concep- tual art, others such as Bruce McLean and Malcolm Morley had operated respectivelY as a Performance artist and as a Photoreal- ist painter. These artists and many others became overcome, almost simultaneously, by Zeitgeist: an overwhelming desire to paint large, rough, neo-Expressionist paintings. Zeitgeist in art has always struck me as a somewhat mysterious process. Is it the same Zeitgeist which inspires interne: tional bankers to invest simultaneously in certain shares or commodities? I do nar pretend to know. At Nicola Jacobs (9 Cork Street, W1); Adrian Wiszniewski belongs to the wave el young, personable Glasgow artists who have benefited from the re-awakening of interest in figurative painting, while across the street at Browse & Darby (10 Call' Street, WI), Christopher Stein represents an older generation and tradition. Finally, at Norwich School of Art Gallery, there is an exhibition of drawings selected by Pere! Fuller, one of this country's most trenchant critics of Post-Modernist practice. Hacker's works vary from large images which have a certain dreamlike beauty, as in two versions of a female nude entitled `Red Earth', to smaller, uglier paintings such as 'The Night' series in which night slips swiftly into nightmare. The qualities both of painting and drawing are free some might say crude — and the colour fat from subtle. But all this is typical of an al' mode which has swept the world. I' wonder the lay public is mystified. Wiszniewski's work is also far frog', subtle but has a compensatory vigour and joie de vivre. I do not know whether his native Glasgow is a more cheerful city than West Berlin but both seem set to becorne powerhouses of new wave art. TodaY y learn that the head of the Fine Art Depart- ment at Glasgow Art School trains stu- dents not just in painting but also in the art of self-advertisement. Such a hard-nosed realist would surelY despair of Christopher Stein who takes modesty and circumspection to extraordin- ary lengths, supplying no catalogue la; formation at all for his current show a, Browse & Darby. Today this reticence rare and welcome and I was similey refreshed by meeting and talking with tilde artist. His sincerity, dedication and go°, sense are typical of those of other Slade students of the 1960s — such as Lessore and Wonnacott — who have similarly contributed much to the teaching and practice of art. Most of Stein's figatw, paintings are small and emphatic, with a colour range recalling Auerbach and Boin" berg. His charming landscapes, on the other hand, break into more lyrical colour without loss of intensity. Finally, I recommend all within easY, travelling distance of Norwich to visit and Flesh. For any unable to go, the catalogue provides a valuable substitute. In an excellent preface, Lynda Morris casts deep doubts on the parenthood of Post- Modernism.