18 JUNE 1994, Page 28

Wheelbarrow art

Sir: If I might be allowed as a layman to intrude into the spirited modernist visual arts debate currently being fought out in your columns (Letters, 28 May) — my own Damascene conversion to the Auty/Sewell school of thought came a little while back at the RCA. A brief tour of exhibits was highlighted by the catalogue description of watering-cans in a wheelbarrow as represent- ing Jacobins — victims of the Thermidorian plot — on their way to the guillotine. It ranks along with tyres, sheep in formaldehyde, bricks, chocolate and the like.

Perhaps the combatants could be per- suaded to provide a list of contemporary visual art which in their humble opinions might last the test of time — beyond, say, a fortnight.

Clive Thomas

Hillside House, Wrotham, Kent