Robert Janz
Six Lean Sticks

For a brochure accompanying the show, Robert Janz wrote: “Six Lean sticks are six lengths of standard white pine, brought from the nearest lumberyard and arranged in the exhibition space. They are rearranged repeatedly, but according to no particular system or rigid interval. No cord, glue, or nails are used. The emphasis is upon casual changes, and directness and simplicity of the structural transformations. The work extends my work with Six Sticks, portable sets of sticks which can be carried easily and arranged outside, in the street for instance. Six Lean Sticks are for interior spaces, leaning off the ceiling or other high architectural features, and arcing down to the floor. The drawings exhibited derive from the sticks. The outline of a stick is traced on six sheets of paper. These six parts can be arranged on the wall or walls in any sequence. Any rearrangements of the parts stretches the structure of the drawing. There are also lines drawn directly on the floor, extending out into the street. These are chalk outlines of the Six Lean Sticks. The break-up of the space in these drawings results from the configuration of the ground over which the lines are traced. The subject of this work is, as it has been in all my previous work, form that changes form. In particular, it is the expansion from an initial set of position, change of position and occasional transformation, and finally withdrawal.”

In a recent conversation he recalled, “My original intention had been to arrange the sticks every day alternating scattered arrangements with geometric arrangements relating to the architecture. During the event I rearranged the sticks while talking to whoever came in. People made suggestions and joined in. It was all very casual. We explored the space, expanding and contracting in it, like cups and dishes moving around when friends stop by for coffee.”

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.