Wrinkled

emm: so are they wrinkled pictures or pictures of wrinkles?
ett: well, to begin with, they're not pictures.
emm: and what would you call them?
ett: i'd call them still-lifes of action paintings.
emm: whew! they're not even paintings.
ett: don't be so picky. i mean the gesture. her attitude toward the material. yves
klein blues it, tinguely electrifies it, soto makes it vibrate, mathieu wallows in
it, fontana slits it, christo wraps it up, arman collects it, spoerri glues it to
the dinner table, diter rot lets it vegetate, liliana porter wrinkles it up …
emm: … and then flattens it out again.
ett: and there you are – a still-life. a still-life of a dynamic process.
emm: but does this process have anything to do with art?
ett: who needs art?
emm: who needs wrinkes?
ett: you may not need them, but you've got them.
emm: that's what i mean. wrinkles aren't very nice. wrinkling things up is messy …
emm: … earthquakes ….
ett: or when the wind blows ….
emm: soot on my wrinkled white pants …
ett: … ripples on the water, hokusai's waves …
emm: … muddy ditches …
ett. … the mountains of the wrinkled earth, and the valleys of the moon.
emm: don't go overboard, you'll be calling her a landscape painter soon.
ett: that's the point, wrinkled paper is a landscape, no less than the man in the moon.
emm: then maybe liliana is a cartographer.
ett: good grief, i'd never thought of that!

emm
    williams
ett


decemnber 1968