MEGA ARTIST
Issue no: 01
What does“ Visual Art” mean to you?
Hehe, anything man made and largely hand made, that can be seen / touched / displayed( or utilised).
Did you ever go to an ART school and would you say going to an ART school is a must for any ARTIST?
After finishing school I did go to Wits Art School. I have a BA Fine Arts Honours from Wits, It is preferable to attend some kind of arts school / art training, even if not fully accredited or full-time, the artists’ camaraderie, the opportunity to do group / shared works, to share ideas / themes / materials / crits etc, are all very useful and helpful. Getting into the‘ art diques’ of who’ s who and what’ s what can be very useful to one’ s own artistic career, but many artists achieve greatness through being selftaught, so art school is not always essential.
Some of us, Artists, who grew up in the township, have never seen or came across a female visual artist till later years in life. What would you say are some of the challenges female artists meet along these artistic path?
Hmm, this is are tough and many loaded questions to answer. Partly it’ s the age-old expectation that( black) girls should be at home / make babies / do the domestic work / the planting, etc and look after the family and children; some black women artists actually worked as domestics or were the children of domestics. Most people see the arts as frivolous / useless. not part of the general economy and thus girls, as well as boys, are often not encouraged to take this route. Musical arts are seen as a little better, because the potential for fame and celebrity is quite great. Many people seriously believe artists are crazy, which of course means they need to be respected or listened to or supported, In the western World women artists have also been downplayed; few women ever achieving the immense success or fame of male artists, and this is not necessarily because their work is not as good, just that they are female. This century I think we may finally see women artists- including black women- achieve‘ equality’ with men artists, but there are still many rural / disadvantaged / underexposed parts of the world and Africa, where while they may acknowledge women as great crafters, will still not be quite so comfortable with / about women artists as they are with / about men artists.
Does South Africa have the right artists to take on the world?
Yes, definitely. In all the arts, not only visual arts.
What would you say is the‘ Achilles Heel’ of visual art in South Africa?
There could be a few. Lack of a buying audience and viewership; and lack of show-spaces that are affordable and fair for artists. Traditionally it has been whites who have been the showers and buyers of art, the white population has shrunk over the past twenty years, while the populations of arts practitioners has grown, with a shrunken market, few artists find they can make a living from their art. Black people have to become appreciators and buyers of South African art products. The other problem is show spaces- few and far between and usually very expensive for artist( galleries taking up to 50 % of selling prices)- so few artists get to show their work regularly, or in many different galleries / venues, Perhaps the biggest Achilles Heel is the Department of Arts and Culture and the provincial departments, who seem over 20 years to not have achieved much in either expanding audience / buyership or creating more and easily accessible spaces where artists can regularly show their work at affordable / fair rates. Ofcourse, the new Achilles Hell may even be censorship- the new Minister has said that anything he thinks is‘ derogatory’ WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE.
We have seen a couple of your latest ARTWORKS and We must say, they look more“ Politically inclined” and we being visual artists we sometimes ask; What does it take to be a more‘ Militant artist’( no nonsense artist) and how can Art in general help build our nation to be more conscious of their political, social or economical life?
Hmm, I didn’ t set out to be politically inclined, it turns out I just am that way! Nkandla made me stand up and want to say something, so my source material became photos / stories etc. in the newspapers and it is impossible to avoid politics once one becomes embroiled in‘ the news’, I find myself, wanting to pass comment on all the incidences / characters and so I make them into collaged / mixed media artworks. I add my particular brand of humour / satire and the rest is up to the viewer. People squirm and giggle and say my works make them re-think what they thought, so I guess in a small way I am making some people more aware / conscious of our socio-politico life. I think one has to paint from one’ s heart- if you fell it, then paint it, the‘ it’ may be nature, or still-life, or portraits, or fantasy or socio-politico-commentary, heheheh.
Are you not wary of the implications you might land in, due to the political artworks?
Yes and No. So far a lot of people have said I’ ve taken risks; a lot of galleries have gently turned me down by pretending they are already too full; a few admitted they did not want to potentially alienate government. The works reflect on true and offensive incidences / personalities in our real lives- the material comes-
www. megaartists. co. za August 2014 Page 20