Leonardo

Polymorphism in Painting through the Use of a Labyrinth

Author(s): Walter Gaudnek
Source: Leonardo, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Apr., 1970), pp. 149-158
Published by: The MIT Press
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Leonardo, Vol. 3, pp. 149-158. Pergamon Press 1970. Printed in Great Britain

POLYMORPHISM IN PAINTING
THROUGH THE USE OF A
LABYRINTH
Walter Gaudnek*
Abstract-The author states that the polymorphic nature of a painting comes to
an abrupt end when an artist considers his work finished. He does not believe that
any painting can be finished.
A complex labyrinthian painted structure may provide a basis for polymorphism in painting, which, in his case is intended to lead to a metaphysical or
sacred comprehension of the world. He discusses examples of labyrinths he has
made.
He believes that the development of continuously unfinished paintings may
make fixed or frozen pictorial statements obsolete.
He discusses the idea of a center being a Seventh Direction of Space, which,
in the case of a labyrinth, is the viewer, himself. Further, he states that his
labyrinths proclaim an acknowledgment of the extraordinary, the mysterious
and the supernatural, as they present themselves in the etymological vocabulary
of visual language.

--

II

I. INTRODUCTION

of 1960 I initiated the 1014 Group, which led to my

studio being converted into the 10/4 Gallery. This

In New York, in the fall of 1960, I1 became aware of

event had important consequences on my work.

During the day my studio served as a gallery. At
the end of each day I found myself moving paintings
from the gallery to the storage room in the back so

what I later called 'The Death of the Frame'. This

concept I presented in a lecture the following year

[1]. I had been already involved with non-easel

painting before that time. During my studies at the

I could paint. One day while moving back to the

studio a 3 x 4-5 m tryptich I was working on, I was
called to the telephone. When I came back I stared
with fascination at the three panels that leaned
haphazardly one against the other, their angles
projecting casually into space. I rushed into the
storage room to bring back other unfinished paintings, arranging them like a cardhouse, with several
canvases overlapping each other. My excitement
increased. I took a pair of scissors and cut a hole
into one of the paintings which covered a section of
another. Now the pictorial imagery continued not
only sideways from canvas to canvas (cf. Figs. 1, 2
and 3) but broke through the painting itself. I
hurried to get paint and brushes and, in a state of
intense joy, blended my paintings into a labyrinth.
I did so in a simultaneous process of integration and
expansion by painting over previous images, by
cutting large openings into them and by connecting
the images on the various panels.
The following days I continued the labyrinth by
adding more and more canvases until the studio
was completely filled [2]. On January 17, 1961, I
opened an exhibition of my maze-like work under
the title 'Unlimited Dimensions' (also known as

Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Munich from

1952-1957, I had several opportunities to paint

decorations for the artists' carnival festivals held in

Munich every year. The form of these room-size

decorations often included a continuation of flat-

surface painting into environmental, sculptural

extensions. I admired similar works done by various
artists, whose easel paintings I found quite unsatisfactory. I worked with artists such as Mac Zimmermann and Edgar Ende at the Haus der Kunst. Ernst
Geitlinger, my teacher at the Academy, who had just
completed a mural for the home of art patron Josef
Pankofer in Berg near Munich, inspired me to make
a painted sculptural design for the garden (it was
not built) as an extension of Geitlinger's mural.
I did not recognize further implications of paint-

ings that continue beyond the frame until several

years later when I moved into a studio in the deserted
Artist Club meeting rooms on 4th Avenue and 10th
Street in New York.
Together with the artist Ray Schultz in the summer
*Artist living at PMP Studio, 39 West 68th Street, New
York, N.Y. 10023, U.S.A. (Received 28 June, 1969.)
149

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Walter Gaudnek

150

Fig. 1. 'Unlimited Dimensions', detail, acrylic paint on canvas, each panel 3-5 x 1-5 m, 1960-1961
(cf. Figs. 2 and 3). (Photo: Paul Cordes.)

Fig. 2. 'Unlimited Dimensions', detail, acrylic paint on canvas, each panel 3-5 x 1-5 m, 1961
(cf. Figs. 1 and 3). (Photo: Vytas Valaitis.)

'Abraxas'). In June it was shown, together with

works by other artists, at Martha Jackson Gallery,
New York.

Since then I have worked on a variety of mazes or

labyrinths that I call 'sanctuaries', in order to indicate the ritualistic or religiously archetypal intent of
my work. I am now working on one to be entitled
'Twentieth-Century Catacombs' (it is a continuation
of my painting 'Expulsion from Paradise' (cf. Fig. 4))
that I have been commissioned to instal for the

National Meeting of United Presbyterian Women

at Purdue University, July 1970.
The paintings 'Unlimited Dimensions' and

'Expulsion from Paradise' illustrate two different

directions of my work. To me, the first involves a
harmonious and expected continuation of 'movement' and imagery, while the second incorporates
radical shift, discrepancy and non-harmony. Pictorial rhythm and proportion is maintained from one
panel to another in 'Unlimited Dimensions' by
continuity of line and expansion of a shape. Spirals
and circles alternate as a related sequence. On the
other hand, to achieve continuity from one canvas
to another in 'Expulsion from Paradise', I attempted
to transplant variations of pictorial elements of an
inorganic character.

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Polymorphism in Painting through the Use of a Labyrinth

151

Fig. 3. 'Unlimited Dimensions', detail, acrylic painting on canvas, each panel 3-5 x 1-5 m,

1960-1961 (cf. Figs. 1 and 2) (Photo: Paul Cordes.)

II. TECHNIQUE
Painting may be defined as the placing of pigments
on a surface. During the act of painting, the image
undergoes a considerable amount of change as
components are added or eliminated. A line or a
shape transforms the virginal plane at the will of the
painter-the painting as it develops might be said
to have a polymorphic existence. A finished
painting, like a completed building, is finished in an
arbitrary sense, since it could be continued endlessly,
no matter how satisfactorily the artist may feel he has
achieved his restricted goal.
Numerous prehistoric paintings, for example,
perhaps demonstrate how new images desired
because of a changed need may be acceptably superimposed on old ones. What to one generation of

cave artists seems to have been a completed expression, to a later one seems to have required additions.
In superimposing, the cave artists built upon or
expanded an existing work in two ways: either they

gave a two-dimensional rendering an illusion of

three dimensions or they extended the size of the

composition. I believe that this could be done with
numerous 'finished' paintings made by, for example,
Mark Rothko and Barnet Newman. I can think of

my paintings as objects that can be changed and

continued in the future-either by myself or by
others.

In order to permit changes in the images at a later

time, I apply acrylic paint on unprimed canvas as
thinly as possible. This technique also has the
advantage of making it possible to roll up my

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152

Walter Gaudnek

Fig. 4. 'Expulsion from Paradise', detail, acrylic paint on canvas, each panel 5 x 1 5 m, 1962.
(Photo: Paul Cordes.)

Fig. 5. 'Twentieth-Century Catacombs', sketch, pen and ink, paint and collage on paper, panels

20 cm x various widths, 1968 (cf. Fig. 6). (Photo: Rena Hansen.)

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Polymorphism in Painting through the Use of a Labyrinth

153

i~~~

Fig. 6. 'Twentieth-Century Catacombs', details, acrylic paint on canvas, each panel4-5 x 1 5 m,

1968, (in progress) (cf. Fig. 5). (Photo: Rena Hansen.)

labyrinths for convenience in shipping and storage.

(The dimensions of most of my single panels are
3 x 1-5 m. My largest ones, in 'Expulsion from
Paradise' and 'Twentieth-Century Catacombs', are
5 x 1-5 m.) To permit different arrangements, the
panels have no fixed orientation. They may be
assembled in any fashion. The panels may be
connected by hinges to provide stability.
I feel that each of my panels should exist as a
separate artistic statement at any time. However,
the concept of arranging numerous panels into a
labyrinth of polymorphic cell formations fascinates
me. Therefore, I make a series of panels that have
a related imagery that gives both a cohesive and a
disturbing effect when the panels are arranged in a
labyrinth.
To obtain a bird's-eye view and to work out details
of an intended labyrinth, I construct small models
made of pieces of paper and cardboard upon which
I draw or paint (cf. Fig. 5). These models are also
suitable for the private individual.
Since walking through my full-scale labyrinths
may be tiring, I decided to incorporate an artistic

version of a garden swing (cf. Fig. 7). As can be seen

in Fig. 8, it is possible for a viewer to enter the
enclosed swing and, while swinging, to study parts of
a labyrinth through openings.
My involvement with the idea of polymorphism
through the use of several intergrated paintings may
offer a reason for my concern for traditional easel
painting. A trapped or static vision of a painting on a
wall, as well as the fleeting experiences offered by a
tour in a museum, seem to me now to be infantile.
To symbolize my scorn, I made decorated perambulators, which also represent to me my awareness
of limited or controlled labyrinths (cf. Fig. 9).
III. MY AESTHETIC IDEAS

The idea of large-scale and chaotic labyrinths now

fascinates me more than the works arising from
either the cold and ordered doctrines of the Bauhaus

or from the systematic rationale of church dogma.

Labyrinth-type drawings and paintings have been
made since the Stone Age. Often they are identified
with magical, mystical and religious symbologies

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Walter Gaudnek

154

Fig. 7. 'Magic Swing', acrylic paint on canvas, 3-5 m high, 1963, (in progress) (cf. Fig. 8).
(Photo: Ralph Baxter.)

that express the belief that a difficult and winding

way may lead from riddle, puzzle and enigma to
salvation and perfection.
For van der Leeuw [3], a labyrinth conveys the
convolutions in the realm of darkness, where the way
is known to one who has overcome death. Theseus,
who slew the bull, Minotaur, in the labyrinth on the
island of Crete, according to him, relates directly to

Christ, who conquered the monster death. Important in van der Leeuw's conception of the labyrinth
is not the labyrinth itself but the ritual of the snake
dance along the serpentine paths which represents
the transition from death to eternal life.

My obsession with the labyrinth originated from

my interest, as a painter, in the vast complexity of
images and their meaning. During the past several

years I have been inspired by my friend, the New

York artist and poet, Steven T. Wheeler. His
paintings express for me a challenging introspection
into the intransigence of our world that functions
simultaneously on numerous levels. His idea of

'dethroning the obvious' [4] has opened and

widened my outlook as a painter in many ways.
I would like to emphasize that my basic concern
while developing multi-level paintings was to remain
a painter as distinguished from a sculptor or an
architect. I wanted to develop a style of painting on
canvas which would permit a special kind of continuity beyond the frame. I have been careful to
avoid Dada and anti-art statements in order not to

fall into the trap of producing amusement-park

trickeries to which a labyrinth readily lends itself.

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Polymorphism in Painting through the Use of a Labyrinth

155

0
11

*IIh
Fig. 8. 'Magic Swing', detail, acrylic paint on canvas, 3-5 m high, 1964 (cf. Fig. 7). (Photo:
Len Bauman.)

I was not surprised when one viewer wrote that

my work 'Unlimited Dimensions' recalls theater
decor done in the early 1920's. My problem has
long been known to me and it became even clearer
when artists became interested in 'happenings' in
the early 1960's [5]. I was pleased with an interpretation by another viewer which suggested that
walking through my labyrinth was rather like
making one's way through a space craft in a state of
weightlessness. This reference to weightlessness is
perhaps significant. I see it as a demand for a new
orientation in art, a need to extend a painting
beyond its frame. Also, I feel this represents a break
away from the grip of horizontal-vertical composi-

Malevich. However, I realize that to go beyond

traditional easel painting the work of these pioneers
was essential. Alcopley introduced the idea of a
frameless horizontal and vertical painting in his
'Promenade Pictures' and 'Skyscraper Pictures'
respectively [6]. In his 'dimensions of time pictures',
he makes it possible for a viewer to see only a part of
the picture at a time so that to obtain an experience
of the whole work the viewer has to change his
position, as when viewing a sculpture.

tions which were pioneered by Kandinsky and

in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in

1. The continuously unfinished

I remember being attracted to architect Frederick

Kiesler's model of the 'Endless House', which I saw

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Walter Gaudnek

156

the fall of 1960, while I was working on 'Unlimited

Dimensions'. But I soon felt that Kiesler was not

actually striving for a structure that could be endlessly continued. In my view, Kiesler still thought
in terms of a completed house, though it implied
endless dimensions.

Luckily, being a painter, I do not have to think in

terms of building materials. I can add new canvases
to my labyrinth and cut openings into them wherever
I please. The hypnotic effect of alternate repetition,
one may say, makes it impossible for me to stop-

and this is true. I came to appreciate the continuously unfinished. I am still working on my labyrinth 'Unlimited Dimensions' that I started in 1960.

It has been exhibited twice; now, a city in Germany

is planning to show it in 1972 and, by that time, it will

have grown to three or four times its original

number of 29 panels.
Art, regrettably, I believe, is too often associated
with that which is completed, such as a traditional
painting. Still, many of the aspects of the world of
man and nature carry the marks of incompleteness
and of change. For this reason, I strive to start a
work which can be changed as time passes, first, by

adhering to an archetypal theme and, second, by

allowing for continuation and change, including

mutilation.

2. Breaking the fixed arrangement

It is not by chance that numerous contemporary
painters are turning to Op and Kinetic art. Music,

dance, drama and poetry, have, I believe, been

closer to life than painting. Van der Leeuw points
out, rightfully, that painting and sculpture may be
seen as a 'freezing of a stream of life' [7].
An important characteristic of my labyrinths is the
lack of a fixed floor plan. At first, I made markings

on the floor of the 10/4 Gallery in order to more

easily continue painting at night after the gallery
hours. I made a sketch which somewhat resembled

a floor plan but I soon discarded it. I was surprised

when I realized that the panels could be placed in the

room in any way, including upside down. 'Twentieth-Century Catacombs' (cf. Figs. 5 and 6) illustrates my attempt to free even figurative images
from 'right-side-up' imprisonment.
In aiming for the continuously unfinished paint-

ing, I discovered that the position of the panels

could be changed without diminishing the aesthetic

qualities of the labyrinth. This was demonstrated

one day when firemen haphazardly shifted my
panels around because of a fire on the roof of my
studio. I was overjoyed to observe the beauty of the
resulting arrangement.
3. Integrating ontomorphic and polymorphic space

A circumscribed or fixed image on a canvas is

ontomorphic, while an image that changes in or with

time is polymorphic. It is clear that the possible

arbitrary arrangement and unfinished paintings on

the panels of my labyrinth embody interactions of
ontomorphic and polymorphic concepts.

I am fascinated by the observation that whether

one is making or looking at a work of art, movement
of some kind is involved, that is, they are of a polymorphic character. In an unseen traditional painting there is no gross movement at all, except that of
slow deterioration.

4. Toward Seven Directions of Space

A polymorphic painting can, I believe, enact, by
a process of integration and alternation of ontomorphic and polymorphic images, the human
anxiety with regard to change. This observation
made me aware of the possibility that the amorphous
nature of space can be changed into a logical structure by establishing somewhere a fixed point.
In my studies, I found that a specific location, such
as a center, has been called the Seventh Direction of
Space [8].
Mircea Eliade explains convincingly how the
discovery of a fixed point-the center-may be
equivalent to the creation of the world. His study of
what he calls the 'sacred center' appears as an
essential prerequisite for an awareness of the
sacredness within oneself [9].
Applied to my work, I felt that my labyrinths
provided an experience of the six directions of space.
I believe the seventh direction is provided by the
viewer himself. A view of the horizontally expanding platforms of 'Unlimited Directions' as seen by
a viewer is shown in Fig. 2 and as seen on a vertically
expanding platform in Fig. 3. The vertical arrangement recalls Schwitters house-dimensioned Merz-

bau. A comparison may also be made with Wheelers'

paintings which invite the spectator to enter his
paintings mentally and 'to walk around in them' on
a number of platforms [10]. His pioneering multiplateau idea has contributed to my understanding
of kaleidoscopically expanding levels, which constitute an important basis for my theory of polymorphism in painting.
However, since the beholder physically enters my
mazes, he is forced to accept the beyond-the-frame
continuation of images in that he has to break with
the usual experience of 'knowing where he stands'.
My pictorial sanctuaries represent to me the
reality of man's abandonment in space. In the
expanse surrounding the viewer, graphic structures,
directions and proportions change without warning.
I believe that my labyrinths provide an aesthetic

approach to the experience of space in a new way.

5. Suspended pictorial movement

In my painted construction 'Magic Swing' (cf.

Fig. 8), the viewer may enter it through an opening.
Once inside, he can sit in the swing and move back
and forth. The resulting visual experience leads, in a
way, to a mysterious living unity between a viewer
and art.

The aesthetic or mystical implications may seem a

bit too playful to justify further analysis. But it is

my conviction that they strongly symbolize an

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Fig. 9. 'Ontomorphic Labyrinths', acrylic paint on canvas, 3 m high, 1963. (Photo: Ralph
Baxter.)

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Polymorphism in Painting through the Use of a Labyrinth

opening by which a passage from one region of

experience to another is made possible. By entering
and experiencing parts of the unknown in a total
embrace, I feel that the viewer is ultimately exposed
to a sacred world.

6. On the use of light

A sculptor friend of mine convinced me to pay

more attention to the lighting of a labyrinth. He felt
disturbed by the fact that I had used a single revolv-

ing light source, haphazardly placed within 'Unlimited Dimensions' at its showing. I employed light
in this manner to draw a viewer's attention to the
various openings in the panels. I thought the
flashing light gave a life-like breathing quality to the

labyrinth and that it symbolized the sun. Instead

of installing the single revolving light, I now provide

viewers with flashlights. When a large group of

people explore the inside of the labyrinth, numerous
lights flash across the images giving the labyrinth an
eerie effect. Whether a museum would be willing to
provide flashlights is another matter.

157

failure of institutionalized thinking to develop sensitive integrity where there is a rather well-functioning
economic system has led to a revolutionary attitude
as regards the sacred side of human life. The twentieth century has seen a renewed yearning to
capture the magical and daemonic world of the

primitive. Furthermore, such pioneers of modern

art as Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian, introduced into their works visual experiences that they
felt was an expression of man's spirituality but it was
not of the kind looked upon with favor by established

Christian church organizations. This development

was misunderstood and immensely vulgarized by
some sectors of the art world. The decorative

aspects of abstract art was placed on the throne. I

believe that now social pressures are rising for human
justice rather than for superficial law and order and
that there is a religious desire to penetrate the deeper
levels of the sacred. These levels bring forth the vital
aspect of art as an aesthetic manifestation of the

Holy-a frightening and irrational experience,

described with understanding by Rudolf Otto as the

'mysterium tremendum' [12]. This 'wholly other'

(das ganz Andere) belongs to the collective heritage

7. The ontomorphic labyrinth

In the summer of 1963, I had a sudden urge to

construct an ontomorphic labyrinth. I decided to

use perambulators (cf. Fig. 9). It might strike the

reader as an odd choice for the visualization of an

idea, but upon closer inspection one can see that

these carriages are in fact a logical conclusion. I say
this because a baby carriage, by its very nature, is a
limited and controlled labyrinth for a child within.
A carriage also illustrates that one can have mobility
and still exist in a fixed enclosure, a point symbolized,
I believe by Picasso's sculpture of the monkey with

its head made from a toy automobile and by

Wheelers' painting 'Little Joe Picking His Nose'.
To me a polymorphic and an ontomorphic labyrinth

portray distinctly different human experiences

which have been deeply embedded in man during
the evolutionary process.

of pictorial language. The torturous pain of the

struggle to free the spirit from its past so that it may

soar weightlessly to new Edens of spontaneous

creativity, however, remains elusive.

My labyrinths are an attempt to proclaim an

acknowledgement of the extraordinary, the mysterious and the supernatural, as they present themselves

in the etymological vocabulary of visual language.

This is why numerous images in my paintings are

primitive ones, such as circles, spirals, disks,

serpents, eyes, crosses and masks. The Tree of Life

and Tree of Death, the pregnant moon and a lovely

madonna under a group of totems assume and

restate a polymorphic symbolism for the artist. I
believe that by means of highly complex labyrinthian
pictorial structures the art of the twentieth century
can produce a modern sanctuary or a contemporary
icon [13]. Writers such as Rudolf Otto, Mircea

Eliade and Gerardus van der Leeuw provide the

basis for finding a vital religious orientation within
what Gusta Rene Hocke describes as 'Die Welt als

IV. VISUAL ETYMOLOGY

In my study of the 'visual etymology of painting',

I consider the possibility of integrating the past with
the present in order to anticipate the future. My
approach envisions a research into the artistic
origin and meaning of graphic structures similar to
the study of words, known as the science of etymo-

logy. This is the source of my term 'visual etymology'. Recently I made a study of the symbolic
meaning of the horizontal and vertical in art, from
the Stone Age to the Space Age [11 ].
With the rapid changes in life occurring in the
twentieth century, the subject of symbolism in art
has, I believe, entered a new era. First, the content
of painting and sculpture, which has reflected social
life and individual expression, has been studied by
the emerging science of psychology. Second, the

Labyrinth' (The World as Labyrinth) [14].

V. CONCLUSIONS

1. The kaleidoscopic or polymorphic nature of a

painting comes to an abrupt end when an artist
considers his work finished. I do not believe that

any painting can be finished. Furthermore, interpretations of paintings change, depending on the
personal experience of the critic or beholder; the
polymorphic nature of art criticism comprises an
unlimited number of more or less equally valid
opinions.
2. A complex labyrinthian painted structure may
provide a basis for polymorphism in painting, which,
in my case, is intended to lead to a metaphysical
or sacred comprehension of the world.

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158

Walter Gaudnek

3. The development of continuously unfinished beholder physically enters a labyrinthian work of art.
paintings may make fixed or frozen pictorial state- 5. When viewers explore a labyrinthian painting

ments obsolete. An alternation between onto- using flashlights, light becomes a specific and intemorphic and polymorphic elements in painting may gral part of the awsthetic experience.

suggest a way of more closely integrating art and 6. My labyrinths proclaim an acknowledgement
life. of the extraordinary, the mysterious and the super4. A Seventh Direction of Space, as the sacred natural, as they present themselves in the etymocenter within oneself, is experienced, I believe, when a logical vocabulary of visual language.
REFERENCES

1. W. Gaudnek, The Death of the Frame, Lecture at New York University, (March 6, 1961).
(To be published.)
2. H. Janis and R. Blesh, Collage, (Philadelphia, New York: Chilton, 1962) p. 272.
3. G. van der Leeuw, Sacred and Profane Beauty, Translated from the German by D. E
Green, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963) p. 44.
4. S. T. Wheeler, Hello Steve, (New York: Press Eight, 1946).
5. J. Claus, Kunst Heute, (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1965) p. 208.

6. L. Alcopley, Drawings as Structures and Non-Structures, Leonardo 1, 3 (1968).

7. G. van der Leeuw, op. cit., p. 155.
8. J. E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols, Translated from the Spanish by J. Sage, (New York:
Philosophical Library, 1962) p. 186.
9. M. Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, Translated from the French by W. R. Trask, (New
York: Harper & Row, 1961), p. 20.
10. W. Gaudnek, Infinite Platforms in Paintings of S. T. Wheeler. (To be published.)
11. W. Gaudnek, The Symbolic Meaning of the Cross in Contemporary American Painting,
Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, 1968.

12. R. Otto, Das Heilige, (Breslau, 1917).

13. W. Gaudnek, Modern Icons, A Statement of an Exhibition of Paintings, (New York:

Goethe House, 1969).
14. G. R. Hocke, Die Welt als Labyrinth, (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1957).

Le polymorphisme en peinture et l'utilisation d'un labyrinthe

Resume-L'auteur enonce que la nature polymorphique d'un tableau prend fin brusquement lorsque l'artiste considere que son ceuvre est terminee. I1 ne croit pas d'ailleurs

qu'une peinture soit jamais achevee.

Une structure peinte complexe de type labyrinthe peut fournir une base au poly-

morphisme en peinture, ce qui, dans le cas de l'auteur, doit conduire a une comprehension du monde metaphysique ou sacree. 11 expose et discutes des exemples de

certains de ses labyrinthes.

A son avis, le developpement de tableaux continuellement inacheves peut rendre

desuets le temoignages picturaux fixes ou figes.

I1 discute ensuite l'idee d'un centre qui serait une Septieme Direction de l'Espace
repr6sentee, dans le cas du labyrinthe, par le spectateur lui-meme. De plus, il pense que

ses labyrinthes proclament l'existence de l'extraordinaire, du mysterieux et du

surnaturel, d'apres la maniere dont ils se presentent eux-memes dans le vocabulaire

6tymologique du langage visuel.

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