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Lippard - 9

technically, he did a lot of things before Morris that Morris has been credited with. This was not, I trust, malicious on Morris' part, but kind of negligent. Nauman was much affected by Morris' early work and his idea of punning within a deadpan framework, but Nauman's 1965 rubber pieces were definitely his own and definitely preceded Morris' random work in felt. I thought it was too bad, or a mistake, on Morris' part to select the famous Castelli "Warehouse" show last year and then not participate himself, setting himself up as the leader choosing from among his disciples. There was a good deal of bad feeling about that from younger artists who were working that way on their own hook and whose studios Morris had visited during the previous year. To make it worse, the New York Times headline on the show read something like "In the Wake of Robert Morris". It's not as clear-cut as it sounds, though, because there was a lot of interraction [[interaction]] on various levels. I think the ideas, the esthethic [[esthetic]], usually come from Morris, who is fantastically sharp, acute, perceptive and bright. But I also suspect that he has to find a vehicle, a physical or stylistic mould to pour his ideas into, and that the vehicle often comes from somebody else, or is reinforced first by someone else. Certainly Nauman was originally influenced by Morris' ideas and early work, but he made his own breakthrough which, in turn, affected Morris.

I kind of hate to harp on all this influence business, which is a hangover from my art-history training, I suppose. Today things go so fast it shouldn't be a factor, but given the way the art world is structured there always seems to be a certain amount of injustice involved. 

Artists, however, are becoming more resilient and more resistant to what society is; they're thinking out ways to make art that they'd like it to be, within the devouring speed syndrome their art is made in. Some of them think it's absurd to fill up their studios with objects that won't be sold, and are trying to get their art to the point where it can be communicated as rapidly as it is made. That speed has not only to be taken into consideration but utilized. Art can use it for its own ends.

UM: What do you think about the way art journals