33.1.
To Whom It May Concern:
Thinking is a good idea. I strive to create works and situations that encourage us
(not only us as in the art community but also the public at large) to think
again and think ahead. I try to be
thoughtful, to be human and to make public these insights and ways of dealing
with living in the now.
For me, working through art is a way and a place to
interrogate and reveal the idea of Truth.
It is not only about hard facts but also the poetry of time, life,
death, transformation, desire, rebellion, freedom, and conscious and
unconscious choice. The Truth is
more erratic than we care to know.
Fortunately works of art are expected to say what they have to say and
also accommodate multiple interpretations.
I have spent the past decade working with others, primarily
in Johannesburg and Cape Town, in an intense collaborative learning exercise of
my own making. Aside from learning
how to make and represent things, I have been privy to diverse conceptual
practices that have enabled me to tackle life from a nonjudgmental and
paraconsistent stance. I have also
come to know the value of what can come from relinquishing
myself to the relationship knowing that our combination would conjure
up a third voice; this peculiar voice that whispers ‘unnecessary solutions’.
I have been surprised, endured growing pains and been empowered by these
and other co-operative actions which in turn have helped me to move
on from being merely a white South African male; I am not myself and this is a
good thing. If you are a chancer,
as I am, this is the place you want to be. Knowing I will emerge loving my neighbour in ways I never
expected. Stripped bare by all the stumbling I grow a more able, more
considerate, more thoughtful, if not slightly bent, self. All I need is courage and the willingness
to forget everything.
My work encourages me to be not merely innovative and build
on what exists but to be inventive and to be open to ‘uncalled-for
newness’. I can only assume that
what I share inspires others to open up.
If not, it is at least a series of examples of mindful artistic experimentation, and proof that one needs neither deadlines
nor a belief system to make and do things. (2012-05-11)
