Don’t let anyone tell you that Apartheid
has nothing to do with South Africa now.
Those roots run deep and tangled
and we’ll be tripping over them
for many generations to come.
~ Lauren Beukes (Watson 2008)
#RiseoftheFallists Series
#PostFall Series
Decay (meaning literally to fall) embodies the central theme that runs through the concept of dystopia; while Romantic images of abandoned desolate spaces speak to the urban decay visible in a dystopian society, it simultaneously functions as a metaphor for the social decay within the changing social reality of the post Rainbow Nation, South Africa. In the paintings; Decay, Identity and Avarice the urban decay all allude to physical decay in both bodily and urban manifestations. Likewise, for me, body horror1 function as a signifier for decay. The ultimate crossing of boundaries into the abject body (corpse) can be seen as a symbolic break with the liberal humanist mindset. In Identity body horror signifies the metaphorical horror collectively felt by South African society.
The Animal that Therefore I am Series marks the genesis of the transfer process - images depicting civil unrest were collaged to create a fragmented reality, digitally printed on paper and transferred onto the canvas. This process allowed for two different physical manifestations of decay on the canvas surface; sections of the transferred image deteriorates to such an extent causing it to peel, echoing physical decay. Similarly, the acrylic fluid causes the image to ripple, once the backing paper is completely removed, which mirrors posters pasted against inner city overpasses, alluding to urban decay. Thereby allowing the physical process to reflect the concept of decay.
With the emergence of the Fallist movements2 my focus shifted to site-specific incidents of discontent in South Africa’s Media. My work started investigating the totemic3 quality of statues. The contemporary phenomenon whereby the validity of these statues is being questioned is not only symbolic of the changing social reality, post Rainbow Nation, but also a global zeitgeist (Hubby 2017).
The #RiseoftheFallists Series addresses these specific sites of protest. The final painting phase was executed using verdaille4 to obtain a rich variety of perylene-black showing subtle nuances in colour which signifies for me the almost ‘living’ quality of these effigies causing the viewer to feel “sorry for a statue” (Murris 2016) about to fall. Likewise, in the paintings; Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum , Umlimi - aka Farmer, Warrior, Statesman and Mamelodi'a Tshwane (the whistler of the Apies river) it is imperative to note that the verdaille painting technique used to depict these effigies (Rhodes, Botha and Kruger) and their pedestals (painted in grisaille5) are intended as irony. Statues are traditionally seen as solid, static and ‘cast in stone’ so one would expect them painted in unyielding sculptural painting techniques (impasto alla prima). Ironically, the Fallist movement have proven them to be anything but ‘cast in stone’.
The lean painting technique is an ironic statement of the totemic yet ephemeral nature of statues. My work investigates these effigies not as mere monuments but as emblematic of the monolithic liberal humanist ideals which are failing as the monuments that embody them are falling. Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum depicts a partially covered Rhodes statue emblematic of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic image: the Vitruvian Man6 (c.1490). The fall of the Rhodes statue has become emblematic within my metaphorical oeuvre as symbolic of the fall of monolithic systems such as apartheid and colonialism.
In the #PostFall Series the monolithic structures investigated in the #RiseoftheFallists Series are revisited and presented as both visually and texturally riven. The two series: #RiseoftheFallists and #PostFall will be exhibited with the corresponding paintings back to back and suspended from the roof. This installation is intended to demonstrate the impossibility of embodying two different mindsets simultaneously, thereby heightening the contrast between the liberal humanist and posthuman paradigms.
The Animal that Therefore I am Series marks the genesis of the transfer process - images depicting civil unrest were collaged to create a fragmented reality, digitally printed on paper and transferred onto the canvas. This process allowed for two different physical manifestations of decay on the canvas surface; sections of the transferred image deteriorates to such an extent causing it to peel, echoing physical decay. Similarly, the acrylic fluid causes the image to ripple, once the backing paper is completely removed, which mirrors posters pasted against inner city overpasses, alluding to urban decay. Thereby allowing the physical process to reflect the concept of decay.
With the emergence of the Fallist movements2 my focus shifted to site-specific incidents of discontent in South Africa’s Media. My work started investigating the totemic3 quality of statues. The contemporary phenomenon whereby the validity of these statues is being questioned is not only symbolic of the changing social reality, post Rainbow Nation, but also a global zeitgeist (Hubby 2017).
The #RiseoftheFallists Series addresses these specific sites of protest. The final painting phase was executed using verdaille4 to obtain a rich variety of perylene-black showing subtle nuances in colour which signifies for me the almost ‘living’ quality of these effigies causing the viewer to feel “sorry for a statue” (Murris 2016) about to fall. Likewise, in the paintings; Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum , Umlimi - aka Farmer, Warrior, Statesman and Mamelodi'a Tshwane (the whistler of the Apies river) it is imperative to note that the verdaille painting technique used to depict these effigies (Rhodes, Botha and Kruger) and their pedestals (painted in grisaille5) are intended as irony. Statues are traditionally seen as solid, static and ‘cast in stone’ so one would expect them painted in unyielding sculptural painting techniques (impasto alla prima). Ironically, the Fallist movement have proven them to be anything but ‘cast in stone’.
The lean painting technique is an ironic statement of the totemic yet ephemeral nature of statues. My work investigates these effigies not as mere monuments but as emblematic of the monolithic liberal humanist ideals which are failing as the monuments that embody them are falling. Nolite te Bastardes Carborundorum depicts a partially covered Rhodes statue emblematic of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic image: the Vitruvian Man6 (c.1490). The fall of the Rhodes statue has become emblematic within my metaphorical oeuvre as symbolic of the fall of monolithic systems such as apartheid and colonialism.
In the #PostFall Series the monolithic structures investigated in the #RiseoftheFallists Series are revisited and presented as both visually and texturally riven. The two series: #RiseoftheFallists and #PostFall will be exhibited with the corresponding paintings back to back and suspended from the roof. This installation is intended to demonstrate the impossibility of embodying two different mindsets simultaneously, thereby heightening the contrast between the liberal humanist and posthuman paradigms.
1 Body horror is a horror film genre’s main feature of the graphically depicted destruction or degeneration of a human body or bodies (Collins Online Dictionary 2018: [sp])
2 Fallist movement: the term attributed by the South African Press to a movement calling for the fall of everything from the Rhodes statue, university fees, Afrikaans as higher education language and President Jacob Zuma (Davis 2016)
3Totem: anything serving as a distinctive, often venerated, emblem or symbol.
4 Verdaille is a painting technique, from the 12th century AD, with a painting executed mainly in tints, tones and shades of Green. It usually starts with a transparent green glaze and works the whites, greys and blacks into the wet ground (Wilcox 2014: 47).
5 Grisaille is a technique from the 12th century AD, whereby the painting is executed mainly in tints, tones and shades of Grey. It is usually started with a transparent glaze comprising of French Ultramarine combined with Burnt Sienna, and working the whites, and blacks into the wet ground (Wilcox 2014: 45-46).
6 Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian man (c.1490), as the “iconic emblem” (Braidotti 2013) for classic or Renaissance humanism. Haraway (2008) states that The Vitruvian man has come to imply “High Art, High Science: genius, progress, beauty, power, money” (Haraway 2008: 7)
2 Fallist movement: the term attributed by the South African Press to a movement calling for the fall of everything from the Rhodes statue, university fees, Afrikaans as higher education language and President Jacob Zuma (Davis 2016)
3Totem: anything serving as a distinctive, often venerated, emblem or symbol.
4 Verdaille is a painting technique, from the 12th century AD, with a painting executed mainly in tints, tones and shades of Green. It usually starts with a transparent green glaze and works the whites, greys and blacks into the wet ground (Wilcox 2014: 47).
5 Grisaille is a technique from the 12th century AD, whereby the painting is executed mainly in tints, tones and shades of Grey. It is usually started with a transparent glaze comprising of French Ultramarine combined with Burnt Sienna, and working the whites, and blacks into the wet ground (Wilcox 2014: 45-46).
6 Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian man (c.1490), as the “iconic emblem” (Braidotti 2013) for classic or Renaissance humanism. Haraway (2008) states that The Vitruvian man has come to imply “High Art, High Science: genius, progress, beauty, power, money” (Haraway 2008: 7)
©2019 by Laurette de Jager