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| Spaces and places |
| An interview with Dawn Barkhuizen |
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Q: Your exhibition Panacea in
East London in September was a big success, both in terms of quality
and sales.
Was it a record for you?
A: Definitely. A high point in my life. And it was
the best opening – the atmosphere and large number of appreciative
East Londoners was fantastic and unexpected. A lot of the credit
though, must go to my beautiful wife, Terry, as well as the Tebbutts,
the Minkley s and the Ann Bryant Art Gallery for their amazing
support and encouragement.
Q: Any other major highs?
A: Well, being one of the artists representing
South Africa at the World Expo in Lisbon in 1998. In 2001, a
collaboration with Danish artists on the Man and Myth Project, in
Aarhus and East London and a semi-finalist in the International
Millennium Painting Competition in 1999 – the South African
selection was at the Sandton Civic Gallery in Johannesburg .
Q: Has it always been this good?
A: No – there have been many, many years of hard
work and perseverance, not giving up on something inside of me. I've
had about 15 years of hardly selling ... understandably art is seen
as a luxury in a country where basic needs are not yet fulfilled for
many people.
Q: So are you a disciplined artist?
A: I get up at four every morning so I can have two
hours to work, it is amazingly quiet (kids are asleep) and I can
give my art my best energy at this time. I really can't work with my
kids continually saying: “Dad give me another piece of paper.” If
I'm not busy painting I still get up at four to prepare for lectures
– even if I have done them before, I read and reread books, material
... you always learn more and it's important to stay sharp.
Q: You're largely described as a landscape painter
I suppose?
A: Yes.
Q: There seems to be a very strong tradition of
landscape painting in the Eastern Cape . Why?
A: It may be something to do with the amount of
space and untamed areas of land. Places like Johannesburg and Cape
Town are so built up. Europe is even worse – like Holland ... all so
perfectly cultivated. But the South-Eastern Cape coastal and
estuarine environment is one of the most amazing spiritual,
political and historical spaces I know. It's got elements of
pre-history and is in a sense, a last frontier.
It has the richness of a sacred space – and that fuels one's spirit
... artists respond to it.
Rhodes University had the well-known Bradshaw School of Landscape
that produced artists like Robert Brooks, Tony Swift and Nigel
Mullins. Artists from here are also known for using green. A painter
from Jo'burg once told me: “You okes use so much green and you
really know how to work with it.”
Q: You personally seem to have a very strong
connection to the land. Why?
A: It's part of the Eastern Cape psyche, we all
have a connection to the land here ... I grew up on farms around
East London and now I live on the Kwelera River, next door to land
that my grandfather once owned. As a boy I would fish for eels
there. I always wanted to go back there. I had little money but
wanted to be there so badly that I built our house myself. We used a
packing crate for a table and sat on cushions on the floor – sounds
very Japanese, but we were just broke (peels of laughter).
Eventually, I made legs for the table.
I carried salt water up from the river for us to wash in – my wife's
hair went sort of green, it was like thatch (more laughter). That
was 10 years ago – it's more comfortable now. I have found my
paradise.
Q: Which artists have influenced you most?
A: Caspar David Friedrich was an early influence,
hints still exist – that contemplation of the great beyond ...
Recently, Anselm Kiefer – the experimental, mixed-media, tactile,
large-scale landscapes. Joseph Beuys – for healing, alchemical,
symbolic attributes of materials ... and our William Kentridge for
his charcoal drawing.
Q: Your work also seems to have a very strong
spiritual component? Are you an eco soldier or an exponent of New
Age beliefs?
A: I am trying to throw off that mantle – I am an
artist. I believe in God – but not in churches.
Q: What do the thin red lines in your work relate
to?
A: I was really ill. I had viral neuritus which was
fuelled by poisoning from all the chemicals we work with in art. I
went through endless medical tests and became very aware of my veins
and blood as well as the thin line between life and death. It forced
me to re-evaluate my life. I realised that loved ones, family, must
come before work. That's why I get up at four in the morning, they
are least affected – I make time to create art.
Q: What is your view of art standards in this part
of the world?
A: There are a handful of great and talented
artists in this area. But many of our good students move to the
happening centres like Jo'burg, Cape Town and the UK – where they
are doing very well ... so there is no shortage of potential and
talent or concept. But we are lagging in technology and technique.
Q: With all the major galleries in Johannesburg ,
Cape Town and to a lesser extent Durban , is it really possible to
stay in East London and stay in the game?
A: I use the Internet, get international magazines
– it's critical to get connected. I will continue to exhibit
nationally and hopefully abroad.
Q: With the merger of Port Elizabeth Technikon, UPE
and Vista University , your fine art department will no longer offer
diploma and degree courses in association with the Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University . Does this mean you lose your job?
A: No, next year and in the future, we will still
have National Certificate students and the last of the third-year
Diploma students, but there will be no post-graduate students next
year. We are currently researching new programmes for African
development.
Q: Has this phasing out been hard for you?
A: One of the lowest points of my life. But we are
going out with a bang – the majority of graduates received firsts
(distinctions) ... Professors Cleone Cull (NMMU) and Alan Crump
(WITS) felt that the phase out of the programmes is a major loss to
the East London community and future students.
Q: Your former students tell me that you are
extremely hardworking and were key in helping them push through
their own boundaries. That can be terrifically draining – wouldn't
you prefer just to paint?
A: Painting and teaching go hand in hand. Teaching
should also be a calling, it offers amazing fulfilment – uplifting
people, witnessing their growth ... I will probably never stop
teaching – part-time, lectures, workshops, crits, etc.
Q: How do you improve on a painting like Old Man's
Karma?
A: I like to believe that current work is a
stepping stone to better work. What I do know, though, is that if
you stay still you die. |
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