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Upping the ante when flying solo |
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Understanding essences |
In his first solo exhibition in East London,
landscape painter Greg Schultz has powered in and upped the aesthetic
ante in his hometown.
Opening the exhibition last week academic Gary Minkley observed that
white male artists had traditionally painted landscapes through a
western lens - one born of colonialism with "its eye to
exploring/acquiring the land". From Baines to Pierneef, they stripped it
of its indigenous inhabitants and presented a romantic "vision of pure
nature, majestic primal forces of rock and sky". The result was what
William Kentridge called "the plague of the picturesque" - one in which
Minkley says "all idea of process and history is abandoned". Schultz,
however, "paints against this approach". Although he embraces tradition
in terms of quality of drawing and superb exploration of texture, his
work is "about being in a real place and remembering its meaning and
possibilities", says Minkley.
Anyone who has been up a river in this part of the country will
instantly respond to Old Man's Karma. Not just because this wall-sized
riverscape reflects what must have been the artist's immersion and
ruthlessly honest encounter with the landscape, but because it has an
intensity that penetrates far, far below the surface. Schultz clearly
does not seek to dominate or conquer what he sees, but rather to know
and understand essences, and in doing so he challenges us to reconsider
how we see and respond to our landscape. This mixed-media work is so
loaded with meaning and potency that it deserves far more than a few
paragraphs in a small review, but space precludes this. One cannot,
however, omit one of its core issues, and one evident throughout his
entire body of work - the molestation of the environment.
Were he to stop there Schultz's work would probably have earned him
worthy accolades from environmentalists, but, like "a warrior who does
not give up easily", he has pressed further into what has obviously been
a deep journey and continued to push the boundaries of both his art and
understanding. The result is the discovery of the healing power that
resides within the land - its potential as a "panacea" when treated with
due respect. It is this hidden quality which he relays by creating an
atmosphere so pervasive that the viewer can almost bathe in it.
Dawn Barkhuizen (extract from review: Daily Dispatch, 13 September 2005) |
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