Substrate:
an underlying substance or layer.
- the surface or material on or from which an organism lives, grows, or obtains its nourishment.
From early in my painting practice, the substrate played a role. What I painted on would be as important, often more important, than the images I painted. Whether I painted on lumps of metal, pieces of discarded mechanical objects found in my father’s factory yard or pieces of paper gathered throughout my life, like my early army call-up papers, or the walls of a disused parking lot in the centre of Johannesburg. In time, what I depicted became increasingly meaningful. I also painted on more familiar substrates like canvas and board. This was a natural and necessary development in my oeuvre. In this new body of work, I focus, in a playful way, on the substrate, but in more direct relation to the subject. I unravel the canvas, but point to the city depicted, a boat sails on the canvas, which undulates like the ocean. I hope that such poetic devices and interventions lead to fresh new experiences of my painting.
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In the main, I am a landscape artist. Most often, portraiture manifests through drag in my practice. I would typically depict a well-known person because it enhances the legibility of the portrait. Unlike the usual exaggerated way of doing the makeup, I would attempt to look as close as possible to the ‘sitter’; I actively appropriate their face and mannerisms. In many of my latest paintings, I let some of this spill into the work. Cry me a river II depicts the Victoria Falls, in the area where the falls crash onto the lower part of the river; the actual canvas curls up with the help of hair curlers. It is not visually obvious at first, but upon closer inspection, one discovers this queering of a meaningful site. The title recalls the famous torch song.
I painted Southern African landscapes because it is the landscape in which I was born and am most familiar with. It is a landscape with a storied history; it speaks in a sublime sense of the timeless, of pre-history, of the oldest continent. Most certainly, it also speaks to the struggles of the country in which the site is situated, its colonial past and the present state of society, politics and the economy.
With these paintings, I try to capture a beauty that is within our grasp. These are both familiar and lesser-known landscapes of the part of Africa I call home. An area that can’t be viewed in completely innocent ways, it is laden with cruel history, but it is where I locate identity and a sense of belonging. These are attempts at reconciliation.
