“To harm anything is to harm oneself” (Pepperell 2003:172)
Shared Finitude Series
Rhizomatic Artifice Series
The theme of human avarice runs throughout the concept of dystopia as a toxic undercurrent that corrupts the high ideals of the liberal humanist subject. In the Dystopia series traces of avarice is seen in the form of consumer capitalist critique; these appear as literal interpretations evident in Decay as a McDonald’s fries container, in Identity a Peter Stuyvesant cigarette advertisement from the 1980’s and in Avarice as a partial Multichoice logo. The trope of the zombie as a metaphor for consumer culture evident in Jane Alexander’s Bom Boys1(1998) and as the abject posthuman identity (Vint 2013) is echoed in the ashen complexion of the hybrid figure in Avarice.
A growing personal awareness of the devastating effect human avarice has on the natural world, led to the concept of avarice being introduced into the body of work on a conceptual level: Certain animals are classified as vermin as humans encroach on their natural habitat, which led to my investigation of these animals as signifiers for contested territories and identities within the posthuman condition. In Broken Monsters the caracal is adopted as metaphor for this human / nonhuman animal conflict. In Skull of my Country the hyena2 is adopted as ambiguous metaphor signifying, in my mind, both greed and gluttony while paradoxically being a victim of human avarice. In the Shared Finitude Series , Rhizomatic Artifice Series and Horizon of Hope plant matter and natural material were incorporated into the practical process. Decaying plant matter was used to create a mixed media surface using decalcomania3 and mono-printing with natural objects. The resultant chaotic grounds were subdued (by applying glazes) to reflect the human need to constantly control nature. In Rhizomatic Artifice Series, photomontage was combined with oil painting to create a hybrid process; rendering natural plant matter in toxic acidic phthalo green4, creating a natural world dominated by alien hybrid-plants that appear larger than life in a parallel reality marked by a distinct human absence.
The monumental work Skull of my Country confronts avarice present in the rampant corruption within the national government of the time (Munusamy 2016) (The Times Live, 2017). This work combines the hyena with a monumentised human/nonhuman animal-hybrid skull; which signifies, for me, the embodiment of decay as a result of avarice. The central sculptural figure (which paradoxically seems frail and flaccid) is the embodiment of greed towering over the landscape consumed by avarice. The landscape in the background, a pastiche5 section of Altdorfer’s painting The Battle of Alexander at Issus 6(1529) foreshadows the apocalyptic conclusion, which I believe would be the consequence of the perpetuation of human avarice.
In Horizon of Hope a hybrid technique of digital printing, oil painting mixed with elephant dung and decalcomania using plastic bags, and video projection, were used to present a world pockmarked by human avarice. This work is intended to render a possible posthuman dystopian reality. The large digital print of the original small-scale work (originally painted in bright acidic hues) were overglazed with opaque scumble glazes rendering a monochromatic posthuman world, marked by traces of avarice (evident in the marks left by the decalcomania from plastic bags). A photograph of the small-scale work is projected over the large-scale work , rendering the perpetual rise and fall of systems and mindsets. The viewer, is intended to becomes complicit in the process; as they move in front of the projection they influence the image. Ironically the marks left by avarice (the plastic bags) remain unaltered despite human intervention.
A growing personal awareness of the devastating effect human avarice has on the natural world, led to the concept of avarice being introduced into the body of work on a conceptual level: Certain animals are classified as vermin as humans encroach on their natural habitat, which led to my investigation of these animals as signifiers for contested territories and identities within the posthuman condition. In Broken Monsters the caracal is adopted as metaphor for this human / nonhuman animal conflict. In Skull of my Country the hyena2 is adopted as ambiguous metaphor signifying, in my mind, both greed and gluttony while paradoxically being a victim of human avarice. In the Shared Finitude Series , Rhizomatic Artifice Series and Horizon of Hope plant matter and natural material were incorporated into the practical process. Decaying plant matter was used to create a mixed media surface using decalcomania3 and mono-printing with natural objects. The resultant chaotic grounds were subdued (by applying glazes) to reflect the human need to constantly control nature. In Rhizomatic Artifice Series, photomontage was combined with oil painting to create a hybrid process; rendering natural plant matter in toxic acidic phthalo green4, creating a natural world dominated by alien hybrid-plants that appear larger than life in a parallel reality marked by a distinct human absence.
The monumental work Skull of my Country confronts avarice present in the rampant corruption within the national government of the time (Munusamy 2016) (The Times Live, 2017). This work combines the hyena with a monumentised human/nonhuman animal-hybrid skull; which signifies, for me, the embodiment of decay as a result of avarice. The central sculptural figure (which paradoxically seems frail and flaccid) is the embodiment of greed towering over the landscape consumed by avarice. The landscape in the background, a pastiche5 section of Altdorfer’s painting The Battle of Alexander at Issus 6(1529) foreshadows the apocalyptic conclusion, which I believe would be the consequence of the perpetuation of human avarice.
In Horizon of Hope a hybrid technique of digital printing, oil painting mixed with elephant dung and decalcomania using plastic bags, and video projection, were used to present a world pockmarked by human avarice. This work is intended to render a possible posthuman dystopian reality. The large digital print of the original small-scale work (originally painted in bright acidic hues) were overglazed with opaque scumble glazes rendering a monochromatic posthuman world, marked by traces of avarice (evident in the marks left by the decalcomania from plastic bags). A photograph of the small-scale work is projected over the large-scale work , rendering the perpetual rise and fall of systems and mindsets. The viewer, is intended to becomes complicit in the process; as they move in front of the projection they influence the image. Ironically the marks left by avarice (the plastic bags) remain unaltered despite human intervention.
1 Jane Alexander’s 2002 Daimler-Chrysler award-winning installation Bom Boys (1998) depicts 9 childlike figures cast from the same mould. The ashen pallor of their skin evokes images of the zombie and mindless consuming effigy, into which consumer capitalism has turned us all (Vint 2013).
2 The Hyena served as the embodiment of aggression and gluttony during the resistance art movement (NLA Design Visual Arts 2013: [sp})
3 Decalcomania: the process of transferring designs from one substance to another. A technique used by some surrealist artists which involves pressing paint between sheets of paper.
4 The use of oil paint is intentional as the chemical composition will inevitably damage and decay the photographic paper over time.
5 Pastiche is an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
6 Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1529). Oil on panel, 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm. Signed and undated AA. ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
2 The Hyena served as the embodiment of aggression and gluttony during the resistance art movement (NLA Design Visual Arts 2013: [sp})
3 Decalcomania: the process of transferring designs from one substance to another. A technique used by some surrealist artists which involves pressing paint between sheets of paper.
4 The use of oil paint is intentional as the chemical composition will inevitably damage and decay the photographic paper over time.
5 Pastiche is an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.
6 Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1529). Oil on panel, 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm. Signed and undated AA. ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
©2019 by Laurette de Jager