Mega Artists Magazine #3

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