Q&A: Kevin brand
Paul Edmunds
Widely regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost artists, Kevin Brand is holding his second exhibition in three months. Balm of Banal, at the Bell-Roberts Contemporary in Cape Town in July, was a series of bronzes made from casts of everyday objects. Something Old, Something New is a collection of two-dimensional works, including a reproduction of his Pieta made from toned duct tape on one rampart of the Castle of Good Hope in 1995. New works, notably the Observer series, are also on show. All of the works are rendered, characteristically, as pixels, made in materials ranging from paint to roofing nails.
Do you get a kick out of seeing viewers squinting and half closing their eyes to make sense of your large pixelated works?
I didn’t realise it was going to happen, but when I saw it, it was actually quite funny.
Some viewers saw Balm of Banal as a move away from the political stance typified by your earlier work. You said to me that you felt this newer work was not that much of a departure. In what sense is this true?
I would say it’s far more refined. The earlier works were “in-your-face” whereas these are a more personal view of issues, on a bigger scale, but still equally relevant.
As an artist, do you feel that an audience’s expectations and your own history limit your ability to change how you work?
They can, but in my case I consciously put them aside. I’m trying to be as true to myself as I can, warts and all.
At the same time, though, an audience does seem to grant the artist a measure of authority. In your case, for example, I trust that any radical departures you make are appropriate because of your history as a successful and pertinent artist. Does this affect how you work?
I trust a viewer will trust me, trust that I’m committed to what I’m doing and that I believe in what I’m doing. So, sometimes it seems that I’m going out on a limb, but I have thought about it.
Here 17, 19 Boys Running, the seven works each referencing your birthday your work is saturated with seriality and numbers.
For me titles are incredibly important. They are a clue to what the work is about or why I made the work.
Is the systematic means of pixelation and production you employ some way of ordering or making sense of issues that are often difficult to reduce?
People have always accused me of having a very “sensitive hand”, so what I’m trying to do, in a way, is remove the hand. In a strange way though, people see this breaking down of an image as a very sensitive way of producing a work. Also, I enjoy the process of working, breaking down and reconstituting an image. Unfortunately I’m just one of those people who do enjoy materials, I appreciate mark-making, but not in a self-conscious way. The finish comes about naturally.
The almost production line-like fashion in which your works are made implies a sense of urgency. Two bodies of work in three months only serve to confirm this. Are you bursting with ideas, continually looking for ways to realise them?
As an artist, the idea has always been critical and there has never been a shortage of ideas. The timing of the shows was really bad.
Is your recent use of images such as that of your children, your car and even reference to your birthday, a kind of homecoming and mellowing for Kevin Brand?
I don’t know that it’s “mellowing”, but it’s taking issues that are not such grand things, or seemingly important. It’s almost like staking your claim to the life you’ve had.
The details
Something Old, Something New runs at the Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street, Cape Town, Tel: (021) 424?7436, until September 1
ENDS
JOY OF JAZZ