FINE ART: James Garner
WITH the cultural boycott a thing of the past, the idea of cultural exchange has taken on a new currency as practitioners feverishly cast off the shackles of
For many, Three Ways: An Exhibition of Contemporary British Paintings at the South African National Gallery will be their first opportunity to come face to face with a diverse body of contemporary British paintings. (The exhibition consists of works by 39 artists.)
As SANG curator of painting and sculpture Hayden Proud points out in his catalogue essay, there has, since the advent of British colonialism in Southern Africa, always been a strong British influence on art and art education in this country.
Of great interest now is how this exchange can become a two-way operation. There does seem to be an interest in Britain in facilitating this movement. Furthermore, there also seems to be an understanding of the perils of a new kind of colonialism, through which the British seek out South African art which fulfills romantic visions of a dark and exotic continent, an “other” from which they can discover something about the losses they have endured through industrialisation and development.
This is borne out by what Three Ways tells us about current attitudes to painting in Britain, namely a healthy respect for diversity and multiculturalism, rather than a desire for some nationalistic, singular
Jane Langley’s Deception (1989) displays a kind of idiosyncratic quirkiness through its oddball figurations and gently muted colouration. This is very different from say, Rita Donagh’s Cell Block (1989), a painting which, through its clinical, spare rendering, manages to convey something of the bleakness and hopelessness of imprisonment.
Therese Oulton’s Refrains no 6 (1989) is notable for its assured handling of paint. The work is both seductive to the eye and effective as a means of negating the masculine heroics so often associated with the Romantic landscape tradition.
Chrisopher Cook’s Night of Ice and Fire (1989) is similarly alluring in its evocative, hallucinatory treatment of space and light. What is also impressive is the economy of means and apparent ease with which the work was executed.
Though all the selected artists have either taught or studied at London’s Royal Academy of Art, the exhibition succeeds as a far-reaching overview of contemporary British painting. There is evidence here of the multiplicity of forms and concerns which have led to the resurgence of international interest in British painting over the last 10 years or so.
The hope this offers South African artists is that if we can nurture our own sense of multiplicity, without falling back on cultural stereotypes, then there is the possibility of increased international interest. As in the case with Britain, this may also be the best way of increasing support for artists on a local level.
The exhibition runs until March 26