A MAMMOTH struggle is evident in this group of paintings and drawings by Misheck Masamvu at the Goodman Gallery. Yet at the same time, there is also a burst of bright energy, of lines and colours, of patterns and forms that vie for supremacy as figures, animals and mask-like faces come to the fore.
I will deal with the paintings in a general manner as the works form a coherent body, that is a seamless language runs through the body of work as a whole. The artist’s hand or probably overall bodily, gestural movement creates a tension, dare I say, war between representational elements and abstraction. For one notices flowers, birds, insects, figures in rather contorted poses or in action; feet and hands, as well as ghost-like faces. But then one gets sucked into, as it were, the allure and abundant energy of lines, dots, squares and triangles. Even more in accord with these swirls of basic forms is the general colour composition. Colours intermingle; yellow breaks through black; the white canvas asserts itself; greens become a sickly garish offset of green and yet there are also elements of hope and redemption – a purple line that seems to indicate a path, a salvation of sorts.
The intensity of these surfaces, which do not preclude depth, may be described as wild. However they are also direct, fluent, guttural and confident. The artist does not shy away from mark-making, recoiling into an intellectual world of doubt. Yet this does not mean Masamvu skirts issues, be they philosophical and/or political. For if one were to read definite content – and here the titles of the work may be of assistance – one notices that the artist seems to be embroiled in a psychological drama, at once ecstatic and depressed. And I believe it is this apparent dichotomy, the contradiction of being one with both rational and hedonistic impulses, that energises the artist in the first place. Yet he is not alone for this duality is a peculiarly human struggle. And deeper: the resolution lies in channelling and intelligently directing that unbridled, wild energy in ways that are conducive to the health of self and the health of society at large. In this sense, as a Zimbabwean, the artist perhaps is contemplating a failed system and yet offers a solution in the catharsis of the work. It is this that he brings to the viewer and it is this that also declares – or as one may intuit in his work – that all is not without hope.
The sheer vigour (tempered perhaps by the more static drawings on display) and luminosity of the canvases speak not in my estimation of a violent self/society, but rather of the capacity to surmount obstacles, of the fact that the overlaying of colour, the dripping of paint, the rigour of creating pattern and shape – points to the fact that indeed “Still still” contradicts his processes. For the works move and even where murkiness is evident, there is a the shimmering hue of the primaries, such that they are not still, unchanging, immovable, immobile. Indeed, Masamvu’s directness at a glance appears mere surface quality, but in their presence the painting-object asserts what I dub spiritmatter, that is the co-joining of volition and “stuff” in a unified expression. To simplify: running, for example exemplifies the will to move; the moving body expresses the spirit that so chooses. Yet it is not as simple as that for society at large, both through institutional control and individual, psychological processes as well as biological machinery “forces” one to emit signs. Does this discount free will? I am afraid that is the conundrum that philosophers over the centuries have not resolved.
Yet hypothetically, perhaps for the sake of sanity and the emergence of a just society, one must axiomatically believe that there is free will and in this sense the wild, but precise, strong and tenacious expression that is the artist’s oeuvre portends to a dynamic interplay between the more subtle faculties and matter, namely oil paint and canvas. In this sense my experience at the gallery was such that, notwithstanding the reading of the work as concerned with the drudgery of existence, a certain victory or at least potential success as the self extricates itself from pent up emotion and intellectual complexity and finds itself on the “other” side – the birth of a painting.
A highly recommended series of works that should not be missed.
- Danny Shorkend
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Each September, South Africa turns its attention to the rich cultural tapestry that defines our nation. Heritage Month is a time to honour the traditions, languages, histories, knowledge systems, customs and creative expressions that have been passed from generation to generation, while recognising that our heritage is not confined to the past.
My first encounter with heritage at the Mandela Bay Development Agency was, appropriately, somewhat uncomfortable. It began with cleaning. The Gale Monument, the Horse Memorial and the Queen Victoria statue became my first practical introduction to the business of preserving history.
