/ 1 September 1995

Show of refreshing New Signatures

FINE ART: Ian Tromp

THE Sasol New Signatures Competition is open only to=20 artists who have not previously held a solo exhibition,=20 so the majority of those whose work is on exhibit at=20 the Pretoria Art Museum are students. Such exhibitions=20 are often a useful barometer of the directions in which=20 art is moving. Although New Signatures seems to provoke=20 some cynicism in sectors of the art world, this year’s=20 show is refreshingly original and many of the works are=20 unexpectedly compelling.

Although the larger proportion of the show is two- dimensional, some of the best works are sculptures. =20 This is reflected in the fact that two of the three=20 prizes awarded have gone to sculptors.=20

These prize-winning works are without doubt the=20 strongest on the show. One, by Wim Botha, a student at=20 the University of Pretoria, is a futile machine: a pair=20 of motor-driven mechanical wings. The sheer weight of=20 the steel frame supporting the wings denies them=20 flight. On one level the work is a quite obvious visual=20 pun; on another, it embodies an absorbing paradox.

The other prize-winning sculptor is MJ Lourens, also a=20 student at the University of Pretoria. His work=20 combines disembodied bronze hands and feet with=20 familiar domestic equipment (a mop, a duster) and=20 other, more enigmatic objects (a fire extinguisher,=20 crutches topped with red fabric). The work communicates=20 a sense of displacement and violence, of something lost=20 or removed; the fragmented bodies speak eloquently of=20 an enormous, though indeterminate, absence.

The third prize was awarded to Henk Serfontein, for his=20 painting Nouveau Cock of Fire and Water. Serfontein=20 juxtaposes painterly styles, overlaying careful=20 description on patches of gestural colour. Other works,=20 by Karin Preller, Albina Bojilova and Adriette Myburgh,=20 seem more committed, and make Serfontein’s work feel=20 obvious and even glib.

It is among the more “conceptual” works that the show=20 falters. Some are silly and irritating — posturing as=20 cynicism and world-weariness, yet hopelessly na=F9ve and=20 in the end failing to transcend their rather petty=20 “cleverness”. There are, though, a few successful=20 works in this category, notably those by Kim Lieberman=20 and Lisa Allan.

Given the age of the majority of its contestants, the=20 exhibition begs comparison with the recent Martienssen=20 show of works by students at Wits. Where that show=20 demonstrated a retreat from technique and an escape=20 into theorisation, the majority of works here are=20 refreshingly unpretentious and adroit. Where that show=20 was marked by an inordinate reverence for our=20 contemporary European and American masters, this show=20 is — for the most part — original, and owes little to=20 glossy foreign art magazines.

New Signatures runs until September 17