DASART Unisa Art Gallery, 1994

DASART: Group Exhibition: 8 - 28 September 1994

ARTISTS:

·        Ashley Johnson (Johannesburg)

·        Michael Matthews (Pietermaritzburg)

INVITED ARTIST:

·        Ike Nkoana (Soshanguve)

·        David Andrew (Johannesburg)

·        Si Mashiangwako (Mamelod1)

·        Sipho Mokwena (Mamelod1)

·        Mike Moloney (Pietermaritzburg)

·        Rob Wood (Pietermaritzburg)

CURATOR:

·        Frieda Hattingh

DASART MANIFESTATION :

The Dynamic Artists Society (DASART) formed in 1991/92 by Michael Matthews and Ashley Johnson - two artists who have exhibited together in South Africa and Europe, who feel strongly about the power of visual communication. DASART a cooperative that brings together individuals with similar perceptions of the role of art and visual communication in society DASART also provides a vehicle which enables uncompromising art exhibited and with greater frequency.

DASART aims at presenting work that is strong and vibrant reasserting the social value of the painted object in a time of artist flatulency. We feel the urge to develop an anachronistic vision without apologising to internationalisms or local expectations. Through the decadence of money and its domination by empowered minority groups art has become flat and complacent. We want to change that.

We want to change the way in which society perceives art. Creativity needs to challenge prevailing preconceptions and should strive to transform the viewers experience of reality. We believe in the potency or virility of perception. It Is possible to project alternative meanings onto a given context – it is this profusion of contrariness that allows culture to advance. If liberated, the imaginative seed that lies within us can cause these transformations. This is why differing cultures that come within proximity of one another can be mutually invigorating.

A fundamental tenet of DASART is the individual freedom of expression of its artists. Hence DASART exhibitions present a heterogeneous mixture of attitudes, rather than an image of stylistic unity. It Is important to realise that a unity of purpose is the reason we exhibit together. A DASART exhibition is not simply a group exhibition. It parades a communal wellspring of energy that manifests itself in variety.

The objects exhibited are the coagulated remnants of imaginative energy. The energy is in motion and only reaches aesthetic form when it dies. Thus, the process of creativity is like a life force which diminishes when the finished works become stale and stereotypical. For this reason, the achievement of a mature style should be anathema to the artist. Style containment and the exclusion of possibilities.

Ashley Johnson (DASARTIST)

Michael Matthews

Born 1961, Durban

TRAINING:

BAFA University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg
HDE Natal Technikon, Durban

EXHIBITIONS:

1987 – Rolfes Exhibition, Cape Town.
1987 – New Signatures Exhibition, Johannesburg.
1989 – Natal Society of Art Gallery, Durban. A one-man exhibition, “The State of Emergence”
1990 – Karen McKerron Gallery, Johannesburg. A joint exhibition with Ashley Johnson.
1991 – Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg. The Volkskas Atelier Exhibition.
1991 – Natal Technikon Gallery, Durban. One-man exhibition.
1991 – Galerie Binneland, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Joint exhibition with Ashley Johnson.
1991 – Grass Roots Gallery, Durban. One-man exhibition.
1992 – Volkskas Atelier Exhibition, Durban.
1992 – Jack Heath Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. DASART Exhibition.
1993 – Natal Technikon Gallery, Durban. DASART Exhibition.
1993 – Institute of Contemporary Art, Johannesburg. DASART Exhibition.
1994 – Knoll Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. DASART Exhibition.

COLLECTIONS:

Private Collections.
Tatham Art Gallery.
Galerie Binneland Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The South African Embassy, Bonn, Germany.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

A consistent theme running through my work is that of fragmentation and discontinuity. The viewer needs to move around the works to experience the changing formal and conceptual elements. The motifs are fragmented, but their physicality is emphasised through a thick surface skin of collage and paint. I see traditional art materials as loaded with foreign meaning and prefer to use local industrial coatings on surfaces constructed out of iron sheeting. The works are thus related to the South African context through their visual and conceptual associations.

LIST OF ART WORKS FOR THIS EXHIBITION:

1. BACK GARDEN RITES 1991–1992. Galvanised flat iron, industrial paints, and oil paint. 200 cm x 900 cm x 56 cm.

2. MEMORIAL MOENIE MY SKIET NIE 1991–1992. Galvanised flat iron, flat iron, industrial paints, and oil paint. 180 cm x 100 cm x 85 cm.

3. WARRIOR 1992. Galvanised flat iron, industrial paints, and oil paint. 200 cm x 180 cm x 50 cm.

4. FETISH 1991–1992. Galvanised flat iron, industrial paints, oil paint, and card. 100 cm x 200 cm x 80 cm.

5. POLITICAL NOTIONS THE IDEA 1991–1994. Pressed tin, industrial paints, oil paint, and card. 180 cm x 180 cm x 80 cm.

6. THE ART OF LEVITATION 1991–1994. Pressed tin, wood, industrial paints, and oil paint. 260 cm x 30 cm x 240 cm.