Wim Botha, Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year winner for Visual Art is erudite and reserved, accommodating and wary, as he talks about his exhibition Premonitions of War on display at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
“I work with art history, but not Art History as an academic discipline”, explains Botha. He draws on iconic and venerated images from art and religion over the ages, “things that people perceive as being great” he says, “for whatever reason. For some people these images are just background noise with no personal meaning, for other people, it’s what they live by”.
All these images have recognizable content and because people respond to them in a certain way already, Botha uses this to do, as he says in a characteristic understatement “interesting things”.
Premonitions of War consists of recent works, and while Botha stresses that what you make of it may be different, his intention was to create a sense of unease brought about by the combination of various different images, “just a sort of lingering nervousness that you can’t put your finger one” he explains.
Botha juxtaposes images to create this effect, for example combining the “Mieliepap Pieta“, a life-sized mirrored replica of Michaelangelo’s original modelled in maize meal and epoxy resin, with an image of Christ’s crucified body. Only, it’s not Christ hanging in the characteristic pose, it’s what most people will recognise as the devil.
The material is very important, because “that’s what the actual thing is made of and like images, the specific materials has a specific kind of associations depending on who you are” says Botha. For example, maize meal and coal, two of the materials Botha works with have South African associations. Botha believes this brings his images, many of which are drawn from Western Art History, into a local context.
Botha smokes as he talks, considering each question, slightly disdainful but unfailingly polite. He’s most animated when talking about the work itself. The small bronzes are his personal favourites from this exhibition, “they’re precious, they’re tiny, they’re likeable and very violent” he says. The first bronze shows Isaac slitting Abraham’s throat. The second shows, Bacchus, “and instead of drinking and fucking, the satyr is killing his god” says Botha, looking up at the bronze; “the beauty of the jewel-like nature of them is a nice contrast to the violence implied”.
Botha is pleased about the exposure he’s getting from winning the Standard Bank award, and personally, it serves as some kind of affirmation, “but one should remain sceptical about awards of all kinds” he says stubbing his cigarette and standing up. The interview is over, but there’s a lingering sense of unease in the room. It’s so much more than interesting. But let’s leave it at that.