June 2017

23rd: Who is that? Nope not me. Just a subject from my latest series. I have been working on collecting a series of before and after portraits. The hope is to the work ready framed for this years Sasol New Signatures. I think that this year will be the last time I enter, so hopefully I will go out with a bang. Lets see.

June 2016

Sasol New Signatures 2016 Entry

29th June: Another year another Sasol! That makes it six on the bounce. Almost had a complete and utter disaster on my hands but luckily things turned out alright in the end. Ok so the pic up above does not look like much, but most of the work is in the little books that are sat on the plinths. These are mindfulness colouring books with a twist.

Copper Plate being prepared.

2nd: Last week I finished off my internship at Warren Editions. With all that I had hoped to do it was over with a bit too soon. But hopefully I am going to be able to use the studio on an ongoing basis. I am really keen to master the photo gravure printing process. But seeing how difficult it is to prepare a plate, I guess for the moment I will just have to be happy with getting it right. The polishing of the plates is in itself a tricky process. If you get tiny, unwanted scratches at any stage of the process, you are looking at starting all over again. A task that I think that if the Greek Gods were really looking to punish Sisyphus, they would have chosen this one. Pushing a rock up a mountain only to see it roll back down, and repeat for eternity? Easy. Prepare a plate for photogravura, it's going to drive up the wall.

July 2014

23rd July: drumdedum dum de dum dah dum with that rather laboured trumpting I am glad to announce that for this years Sasol New Signatures I managed to gain the thumbs up from the judges. Well ok one of my works did, the other not. Which is ok, I am cool with that. To be honest my second piece still needs a bit of work on it to sort it out so it was no disappointment that it didn't get through for the final show.

21st July: Wow so a couple of months have almost flown. Had a hectic time in the UK before rushing headlong into trying to organise for this years Sasol New Signatures. I am not so confident of getting in. Part of the problem was that I was still in the process of working out what to do. I had put up an installation which I wasn't to sure of how to get the best out of it. Stick ot twist or just completely loose the plot knowing that the deadline was coming, rushing at me faster than a well oiled eel sliding down a teflon coated ski ramp. Scccchhhhlaaaaap. So yes I am left with the old I should have, could have, didn't do that scenario and we wait. It's just two days to go now before I hear anything. 

October 2013

25th October: Wow I see that it has been well over six weeks since my last blog. What has happened since the 7th of September? Well I got into the finals of this years PPC (2013) competition. My solo show at Parts and Labour opened. This is going to close this Sunday (27th Oct). Doesn't seem a lot but when you are working around the everyday things that have to get done, earning money etc, well then life is frantic.

September 2013

7th: You put you left leg in,your left out, in out in out shake it all about, that's what the Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award Exhibition is all about. I think that the team at Thami Mnyeli have been watching what's been happening at Sasol and have come up with a plan to counteract all the 'Who Ha'.

Step one: phone up all you entries and tell them they haven't got in: Step two; gauge their response,if they sound like they may be a trouble maker then consign them to the dustbin: Step three; if they sound like they are not fussed then accept them into your exhibition.  I tell you this is no conspiracy theory it has actually happened to me...

Two years ago - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. I didn't question the decision. Went to pick up work and was told no actually it was in.

Last year - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. Because of the previous year I asked "are you sure?". What ever the reasons this was a bad mistake as it obviously earmarked me as a trouble maker.

This year - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. Again I asked no questions and low and behold two days later I got another call to say that I was actually in.

I rest my case

Just made the cut off time for my PPC entry. What should have been a slow and easy process of assembling the piece as the process turned into the worst nightmare of it's kind possible. Pieces that were the right size suddenly were too short. Pieces that were re-cut to the size needed suddenly became much too long. Screw heads started to mess the operation of the device. Needless to say the odd fuse or two was blown. It's amazing how objects that are completely inert can reduce you almost to the point of tears. So the down side is that my entry was entered with a few issues still unresolved - the up side is that all the other entries into the functional category of the competition were pieces of jewelry. 

August 2013

30th: This may sound like sour grapes coming from an extremely disenchanted loser but anyway - The entry that was selected to be this years winner of Sasol New Signatures was ..... I can't find anything online at the moment to show you but anyway it was a combination of a kak painting with a kak video of said kak painting. I guess that the judges must have thought that they had the Midas touch and that by selecting the work it's kakness would be turned into something of pure wonder. Sorry, no, this is the the real world, what is kak remains....KAK.

Before I get taken down for attacking the winning artist I would to make it clear that my issue is not with Dot. She I imagine, like all the other artist's that entered, entered firstly with the hope that what she was entering would get selected for the final show and then maybe get a prize of some sort. She did not select herself as the winner.

So what we have above here is a pic of my entry to this years PPC copetition. It is a camera. Well it is actually two. I have just got to decide which parts I am going to use

For a definition of kak please follow this link  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kak

July 2013

So Sasol - There was a time when it seemed that I was only ever going to be selected for Sasol New Signatures every three years. 2005 - 2008 - 2011 - as regular as you like.No need to be bothering with the in between years, well frankly because I had EF all chance . But then something really bizarre happened last year. Got both of my entries on. Yes it was 2011 so if you added 2 to 1 and then times that by 1 you could end up with three. I guess that's one reason for the anomaly, but now it has happened again. I have been selected for the final show. 2014 was supposed tobe my next successful year of entry but now we have three years on the bounce in which I have been selected. So yes we have a three again, plus its 2013.....that's another three. Then of course 2 and 1 make three as well. So I am just checking over the charts here and apparently Mercury is in retrograde which of course means plans can go awry. But then if you couple that with the characteristics of 3, (imaginative, creative, expressive) you of course get a load of twaddle. So anyway both works have been selected for the final show which is taking place end of August. 

Pic is of the piece I did for the 'Don't let that horse show'.

3rd: It actually happened last week at the opening of 'Don't let that horse' at Art Lovers. Sammy who runs the gallery asked, 'so are you going to be ready for next Saturday?'. 'you what?' I was completely clueless. Ready for what? I knew that I was supposed to be putting some work together work for a group show taking place in August, but next Saturday? What was I supposed to be doing? Well the curator who was/is down in Grahamstown had completely failed to tell men that the dates we had discussed had been completely changed. Marvelous, Fantastic, Awesome, yes that's just great. So with the submission date for this years Sasol New Signatures looming on the horizon like a freight train with no breaks laden with lead  heading down a 1 in 1 hill, I had to suddenly find the time and money to produce work for another show. Yes I managed to get something together but really, I wish people would stop thinking that because I am a carpenter I have the innate ability to perform miracles. Yes despite having no conjuring skills what so ever I do pull out the odd rabbit from a hat but there is only so much I can do.

So this Friday we find out if we have got in to Sasol and then Saturday is the opening of the show.

September 2012

29th:  Oh Lisa Lisa.... Sad Lisa Lisa. I was given a poster for an Art Exhibition dated from I don't know when. I decided to photograph it and here is the result.

Together We Can: 15th September; we went up to Jeppes Town in Joburg to put up my Shack. A chance meeting Julie Lovelace inspired the decision to put it up. It had been sitting in my backyard for the last couple of years, and well the time had come to do something about it. So early on a rainy morning under the Joe Slovo flyover up it went. The weather was miserable, communications got mixed up, street names were misread, nerves got frayed but it went.

Here is Julies piece next to the front door of the shack.

Together We Can: 21st September; Six days and six hours later was the first time that I was able to go and see how the shack was doing. The news was not good. The only evidence of the shack having ever been was the footprint of Julies porcelain piece, and that too was gone.

9th: The end is Nigh! The shame of it, how can things come to this? Surely things can't get worse than
this - not to be selected for the Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards!!! I have just about recovered from the shock, luckily there were paramedics on hand to administer CPR other wise who knows how things would have ended. So anyway once I have finished convalescing I shall be stomping off after Gordon and Jenna to find out why they both suffered from a mental seizure on the same day. To top off the whole farce their was a green sticker on my work which denoted selection for everyone else but me!!! Scandal I say....a bloody scandal. You can see it for yourself, its there.

6th: So how did the Opening of New Signatures go? All things considered pretty well. Arrived in time to miss the opening speeches but not to miss the winners being announced. Fantastic. And the winners? I think the best thing about this years show was the fact that the winner was.......older.....not a senior citizen but someone in their late forties. Which is great as it means that I have another ten years in which to carry on trying to win. That's great....

Work for the shows I am taking part in is going alright. I am assuming the printers have been able to print my prints for the Radiant Exposure exhibition which is happening at Cameo Framers. The image below is one of the pics that  am going to have on show. My work for Me 2 which is happening at Fried is going alright. I am almost finished with my Kaleidoscopes for the Erotica show which is also happening at Cameo Framers.

August 2012

Optimism tempered by realism and an empty pocket leads to unoccupied plinths and half made moulds. Oh well... at least I got most of the bits that I was going to use for my entry to PPC. Next year...next year. As for the Thami Mnyeli Open? well entered something, its just not what I wanted to enter, thus the empty plinth.

So whats coming up? In no particular order...ME II opening on the 15th at Fried; Photographic Exhibition at the Trent Gallery  opening on the 8th September and then an Erotica show opening sometime in September, also at the Trent Gallery. Not sure when though.

Ho hum thus ends the entry for a rather glum month...mind you there is the opening for Sasol on the 29th so you never know...

July 2012

11th: So it is time for Sasol New Signatures again. Entered two pieces into the competition and both got in. So it seems that three is not the magic number after all, or is it? Lets see the year is 2012. Multiply two by zero, add one and two 2 and there you have three. Also last year my one entry got in and this year my two got in. Yes yes I know that makes three. So going on this evidence I would say that without doubt that three is the magic number.

This is almost a repeat of last year where I was stuck without transport for the day. No transport + unselected pieces being left at the submission point = annoyed Nandi.

Here are the bits of waffle that I put with my entries:

Die Oubaas: someone who is senior in terms of rank or age. A term that has connotations of the period of apartheid when the whites ruled and the blacks served. A term that can now be said, with its links to the past, to have negative undertones. entries

In Die Oubaas I wanted to explore the question of just how white people are perceived in the ‘Rainbow Nation’. They arrived on the continent with a technological advantage and proceeded to try and mould what they found to serve their wants. Over centuries they gained control. They knew what was best and how it should be done.

Then gradually, one by one, nations controlled by the recently arrived minorities were let go. In the case of South Africa this was 18 years ago but yet there remains a notion that the Whites are still in control, that they are living off the hard work of the black majority. Just recently Zuma stated that, “The ownership of the economy is still primarily in the hands of white males as it has always been”. This quote came just as I was putting together some of the basic traits for my white people in the ‘Oubaas’ series. A list of stereotypes ranging from the mild to the extreme, each containing just enough truth to reveal a certain resentment. A disquiet that all too often white people ignore because they know what is best and they are right. They are the Oubaas.

Man met Zonnebloemen: At the top of the road that I live in there is a field. Every year in April sunflowers flourish here. As if by magic they sprout up and slowly grow until the whole field is full of tall yellow blooms following the sun. The only sign of human intervention is a hosepipe snaking across the road. The source a tap in a garden of a home. The owner, a foul mouthed drunk with, it would appear, a penchant for beauty. The one and only time I’ve seen him he was completely lost in his ranting, the use of a hooter by a delivery man having launched him into a hyper critical diatribe.

I set up my camera to take a self portrait. As I stood in the field amidst all the splendor, a vague sense of unease haunted me. Though in an open field I was an intruder standing amidst the fruits of another’s labor. This other being in possession of a rage that I feared confronting. A rage that even all the cheery yellow of the flowers could not soothe. Fortunately I remained undisturbed and was left with the incongruity of such beauty being born out of the hands of such fury

June 2012

12th: Things are really starting to get busy and I am wondering where I am going to find the time. Been asked to be in a group show at Fried Contemporary this September. Then there is another group show at Cameo Framers. There is also the PPC Sculpture awards that I want to enter as well a Sasol New Signatures - oh wow just checked the entry date - only got three weeks to sort my entry out! Deadline is the 3rd/4th July. Mmmm - yes I thought that I had a bit longer than that. Trying not to panic trying not to panic trying not to panic trying not to panic trying not to panic.....

In the mean time here is a snap shot of my photos (the less blury ones) that were part of the Minatures exhibition at Art Lovers 1932. They sold which was nice.

September 2011

28th: So anyway got a comment the other day from the mysterious BlackArks - they have a blogger profile but with no info other than they have been online since September 2011 - hmmmm - it made me think - well not much actually - that has been the problem over the last while it has just been work work work work work I am an automaton and I just work work work work work I get up out of bed and I go straight to work work work work work and I only stop work work work work work when it is time for bed work work work work work it is just work work work work monday to sunday work work work work work the life of an artist work work work work work. Yip I know life is not supposed to be easy but this is just taking the piss.

Below is the flyer from the Assembledge fringe show (my name is in the far right corner). All in all I would say it was a pretty cool event. Anyway I am just going to go back to work work work work work.......

15th: Some times I seriously wonder about the validity of calling myself an artist. With the amount of time I get to spend on my practice it hardly seems like a hobby. Sure I have ideas that I want to execute but looking at my work commitments for the next month or two I am going barely going to be having the time to sit on arse to take a quick five minute breather let alone do something productive. The worst thing about this all is that the money that I am bringing in doesn't even cover the bills. Yip I guess things feel pretty hopeless.

On the bright side I have been selected to take part in a show that is being run by Assembledge. The title of the show is titled 'The Art of Assembledge'. It is part of the Johannesburg fringe which is running concurrently with the Johannesburg Art Fair. The show runs from the 21st till the 25th September.

The image below is the piece that I am exhibiting. It is titled 'The Boxer' and is a self portrait which I took with Helga. I stood her up one way to expose half the photograph and then turned her over to take the other half.

4th:  So after getting the call on thursday to come and collect my rejected piece for this years Tahmi Mnyeli Open I went out to get it today. After wandering around the space to see what had been selected I went to go and take my piece of it's easel...'what are you doing?'...'I'm collecting my entry'...'you got your receipt?'...'No'...'You can't take that one it has been selected'...'Ok its just that I got a phone call telling me to come and pick it up'...'someone has been making phone calls to the wrong people, all the ones with a green sticker have been selected'..'oh ok'.. and so after the initial WTF? to laughing about the fact that I hadn't got in to the final I finally ended up having to leave my work as it had actually been selected...oh well.

3rd: Well went to the opening of Sasol New Signatures. As an event it was pretty cool. Good food accomponied with the usual scramble etc etc. The work was ok, saw a couple of pieces that I liked, but to be honest on the whole I found the show to be a little underwhelming. And the catalogue? While it is great to have a record, it would have been nice to see a truer representation of ones work.

I don't know whether I should be admiting to this but my work for the Thami Mnyeli Open got rejected. My Voortrekker piece. Yip....WTF!?!?! In the words of the great Mutley 'Shagafraghashaga' or something to that effect. Yes it is the ultimate humiliation. So yes now I am going to have to go through the humbling experience of picking my work up whilst trying not to think 'how the hell did that get in?' as I walk past some piece of rubbish. Anyway,this brings to mind my experience of walking round the Tate Modern and then the National Gallery in London. With the work in the National Gallery you do not need to be told how good it is. To be considered great it needs no justification, nor do they require you to like them. With the work in the Tate it is different. With some of the works you need the confirmation, to be told that they are great pieces of art, and of course with personal taste coming in to it, it is easy to dismiss one piecs of work as being a joke. The same can be said of some of the works that are selected for ABSA, Sasol, Thami Mnyeli etc etc. Sometimes the justification required seems to vastly outweigh the quality of the work. At times it is all to easy to pick holes in some of the selections. If you are not selected this is no reason to get upset as it is just the way the it is. Best to just shrug your shoulders and say - oh well.

So what else, there is the group on at Fried which I am a part of and then the Altered Pieces group show has moved to Pandora.

August 2011

24th : Just had a peek at the Sasol New Signatures website. Finally this years entries are up and can be seen. Looking at my own entry I have to admit that it doesn't look great. At best I could only describe it as a black murky mess without any artistic merit at all. I am sure that there are plenty of artists out there thinking 'I can't believe it - how the hell did that get in?'. As you can see below it does not look good.

While I have been here in the UK I have work going up at Fried as part of their Aperture exhibition. That runs from the 27th August to the 1st October. I have also had a piece entered into this years Thami Mnyele open. I decided to enter something a lot less low key than my effort from last year. Who knows I might win something...ha ha ha....yes. Anyway thanks to all involved for making it all happen.

Update form 2025 : My entry for Sasol's New Signatures art competition was stolen sometime late 2015. Not sure when or how but it just dissapeared.

July 2011

19th: Three is the Magic Number. At least it seems that way. I think that the selectors at Sasol have decided that I may only succesfully submit a piece of art every three years. Since 2005 the sequence is as follows; yes no no yes no no yes. So for the next couple of years I shan't bother. In 2014 I will try again and of course get in. The pattern is so obvious.

The great thing though is that I didn't have to face the ire of the Nandi who seems to be able to make anyone who steps out of line quake in their boots.

More good news website is back online www.kritikalmass.com So yes today three is really the magic no.

18th: Well things are finally starting to settle on the home front, although is still a shed load to do, plus got a trip to the UK coming up. So what of my Sasol entry, well I don't actually know. Yes I got my entry there on time, I have to add with all the right paper work, but I just haven't got round to finding out if my entry got in or not. My excuse, well non really. I did try to phone them today but no one answered. I just hope my entry got in otherwise I am sure that I will find my self dealing with a mighterly peeved Nandi when I do finally get to talk to her.

Noticed the other day that my website was no longer online. Bloody bastard service providers took it offline for non payment of bill. So anyway, after reminding myself to remain completely and utterly calm during the whole process, I decided to pay the bills online. Despite all the old tricks of refusing to recognise my name/email address/password or giving me the option of paying over the intenet were thrown at me I managed to get there in the end. The most amazing fact is thatI got there without getting to the psycho smashing the keyboard and shouting out wankers stage. Fantastic - only problem is the link is not working - wankers.

11th: Things have been really topsy turvy the last few weeks. Had to move house, which ordinaryly is a mission but this time round the problems just seemed to multiply exponentially. A move that should have only taken a couple of weeks has evlved into a two week affair. At least the worst of it is over but it has mean that I had completely lost touch with the real world. The result of this has meant that I have got my dates mixed up. I though the deadline for Sasol was the 14th but no it is actually tomorrow. Yes so on Sunday there was an 'Oh fuck' moment - a call to the framers which garnered the sort of response which was polite but had echos of a weary school master, with his cane gently swaying behind his back, looking down at one of his many miscreants whilst they babbled some poor excuse for their failure to have done their homework. Thank you Staurt I look forward to seeing the work framed tomorrow. So to cap off a thourougly unprepared week here is one that I succesfully submitted in 2005.