lionel smit submerge exhibitioin catalogue

7/27/2019 Lionel Smit SUBMERGE Exhibitioin Catalogue

1/17


2/17


3/17

From a young age, Lionel Smit has moved between sculptureand painting. Having grown up with sculpture 1, the mediumseemed at rst the best outlet for his creativity. However, after afew years, Smits enthusiasm for sculpture waned, and hedipped a tentative toe into the waters of painting. Liking thefeel, he dived in, transforming a space long-accustomed to theworkings of clay into a textured location of canvas an d colour. 2

Thus far as a painter of large-scale portraits, Smit has steadilystrayed from gurative representation. A few small paintingshang in a corner of his current studio in Strand, Cape Town asa reminder of the days in which gure came rst, but a quickglance into the rest of the substantial studio space is enough

to conrm that surface is now Smits primary interest. Enormouscanvases in various stages of completion ll the space.Great paths of colour and fervent drips and splashes adornevery working surface. But what is most intriguing is that thecanvases furthest from completion contain no gure at all.

This is because Smits portraits do not function in the traditionalsense, intent on capturing an aspect (or, ideally, the essence)of the sitters personality. Instead, Smits expressionism castsa veil over realism, the portrait still holding the residue of hisperformative practice. The face of the sitter provides, quite simply,a container for Smits experimentation with colour and stroke.

In the early stages of each work Smit is involved entirely in the action of painting, which has for a long time been thelocus of his inspiration, directed by a nuanced and intuitiveunderstanding of colour. As the abstract surface is built, the

image of the subject emerges and Smit applies dening lines,shadows and highlights in order to reveal the face.This method runs contrary to ordinary techniques of gurativepainting or drawing, in which the foundation of the gure is laidrst as sketch and then lled out, with realism as a precursor toabstraction. It is also, signicantly, not unlike the process inwhich a sculptor might be involved, building through abstractioninto representation.

Smit has recently returned to sculpture, but with a decidedlypainterly approach. The sculptures that appear in this body ofwork are counterparts of the paintings over-sized bronzebusts modelled on similar subjects to those that appear in thepaintings. At rst, the impenetrable permanence of bronzeseems at odds with expressive practice. However, Smits treatmentof the medium and the level of his involvement at every stepof the process reveal bronze to be especially well-suited to the

translation of his painterly activities into sculpture.

Smits bronzes are created using the lost-wax casting method,which is one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques.There are a number of steps in the procedure, beginning with

the moulding of the form out of clay. Smit has described hisapproach to sculpting as a mimic of his approach to painting. 3

The surface is built up with pieces of clay in the same way thathis painting surface is created through overlaying bands andswathes of colour until a desired effect is achieved;

with both media, Smit is engaged in a curious game of push

and pull between the gurative and the abstract. The tactilityof the sculpted form simulates the complexity of the abstractpainted surface.

Once the clay form is complete, a mould is made of the gureinto which molten wax is then poured to achieve a coating

that will, once hardened and removed from the mould, form acopy of the clay original. At th is point, the common practice is tochase the wax model rubbing out any marks that may haveformed, smoothing out any imperfections.

However, true to expressionist form, Smit moves in the oppositedirection. Rather than clean the model up, Smit reviews themodel and works into it further painting molten wax with abrush or pouring it over t he face to achieve drips and splashes.The reworked wax model is then ready to be cast into bronze.Once complete, the patination process begins.

Patina refers to colours that are produced on the surface ofbronze through its natural aging process in certain environments.

A patineur accelerates the process using heat and chemicals inorder to achieve a particular effect in a shorter space of time. 4 Commonly, the patinas available to artists are natural browns,blacks and greens. However, considering the importance ofcolour to Smit in his painting, and the integrity with which hispainting practice translates into sculpture, traditional patinasdont quite t the bill. Hence, Smit collaborated closely with JoseVentura of Janapatina using alternative patinas, including fumepatinas, which allow for the fusion of intensely saturated coloursonto the bronze.

Smits ability to intervene in the patination process has producedremarkable results that are in keeping with his avant-gardeapproach. Brilliant streaks of blue and green collect in thegrooves of an ear; the natural shadow in the crease of an eye lidis intensied by the deepening of a rich black patina.

Absorbed in Smits fascinating use of robust patinas, the viewerreturns full circle. As it is with Smits paintings, although theydo indeed contain faces, the surface of the work

complicates the conception of the gure. Smit has elaboratelyconstructed and successfully achieved a tension betweenrepresentation and texture in his paintings. His pre-occupationwith surface and its nuances, as well as his unconventionalapproach to the medium, has allowed Smit to consistently

translate this tension into bronze. The complexities of colour both technically and by association are ultimately the key toSmits fruitful experimental treatment of traditional practices.

1 Smits father is the Gauteng-based sculptor, Anton Smit.2 See Dialogues by Sanford S. Shaman, in Submerge,

catalogue for Smits 2010 exhibition at 34FineArt.3 Ibid.4 An amusing example of this in history can be found in a

story from the studio of 19 th Century French sculptor, AugusteRodin, who would instruct his assistants to urinate oncompleted sculptures stored outside.

Jacqueline Nurse, 2011


4/17

SURFACE STRUCTURE #4 Oil on Canvas170 x 130cm2011


5/17


6/17

FRAGILE AREA Oil on Canvas165 x 230cm2011




7/17

SUB SURFACE Oil on Canvas165 x 165cm2011


8/17

SIREN Oil on Canvas80 x 80cm2011


9/17


10/17

EXTERNAL Oil on Canvas230 x 165cm2011


11/17


12/17



13/17

DIVERT #1 BronzeEdition of 12180 x 45 x 30cm2011


14/17

MALAY GIRL WITH DRIPS BronzeEdition of 1278 x 32 x 51cm2011


15/17

DETAIL OF A FUME PATINA


16/17

Quai cations and AwardsQualications and Awards

20092009- Merit Award, Vuleka, Sanlam Art Competition,

Cape Town

20082008- Achievement Award, Pro Arte School of Arts

20002000 - First prize in the MTN Art Colours Awards of Gauteng

1999/20001999/2000- Best painting student Pro Arte School of Arts

Seected ExhibitionsSelected Exhibitions 20112011- Surface, solo exhibition, Artspace, Johannesburg- 34FineArt, Art Monaco 11, Monaco- MOMAC, group exhibition, Roberta Moore Fine Art,

England

20102010- Cynthia Reeves Projects, group exhibition, Art Miami,

USA- We are not Witches, group exhibition, Saatchi

Gallery, London- Submerge, solo exhibition, 34FineArt, Cape Town- Out of the Ofce, group exhibition, Kunstmuseum

Bochum, Germany

20092009- F.A.C.E.T., Charity Auction, Christies, London- Group 09, group exhibition, 34Long Fine Art,

Cape Town- Gesprek, group exhibition, University of Stellenbosch

Gallery, Stellenbosch- Relate, solo exhibition, Grande Provence,

Franschhoek- Nuance, group exhibition, UCA Gallery, Cape Town- Identity, group exhibition, Platform on 18th Gallery,

Pretoria

20082008- REFLECTIONS, group exhibition, Rust-en-Vrede,

Durbanville- Day Dream, two man show with Jaco Benade,

Magpie Gallery, Centurion- Rendezvous - focus wearable art, Fada Art Gallery,

Johannesburg- Reect/refuel, group exhibition, Association of Arts,

Pretoria- Twenty artists/twenty portraits, UCA Gallery,Cape Town

20072007- Project, group exhibition, Carol Lee Fine Art,

Johannesburg- Flesh/:scape, two man show with M.J. Lourens,

Magpie Gallery, Centurion

20062006- 40 x 40, group exhibition, KKNK Arts Festival,

Oudtshoorn- Epidemic, Judge, Hope, solo exhibition, Voir Gallery,

Pretoria- Physical self, group exhibition, Gallery 88, Sasolburg- Turn the table, group exhibition, Artspace,

Johannesburg

20052005- Group therapy, group exhibition, Civic Gallery,

Sandton- Oppitafel, group exhibition, Artspace, Johannesburg

20042004- Pretoria, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town- Solitude, two man exhibition with Rossouw van der

Walt, Gordart Gallery, Johannesburg

20032003- Mortem Life, two man exhibition, Visual Arts Gallery,

Johannesburg- Spring of Gifts, group exhibition, Soan Studio,

London- New Signatures, group exhibition, Pretoria Art

Museum- PPC Sculpture Competition, Association of Arts,

Pretoria

20022002- Three man show with Liam Lynch and Zander Blom,

Millennium Gallery, Pretoria- Matriarch, group exhibition, Minds I Gallery, Pretoria

Seected Publications and MediaSelected Publications and Media

CataoguesCatalogues- Out of the Ofce, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany2010

- WE ARE NOT WITCHES, Saatchi Gallery, October 2010- Submerge, LIONEL SMIT, 34FineArt, October 2010- Christies, F.A.C.E.T. (catalogue cover), October 2009- Residue, Grande Provence Gallery, October 2009- Group therapy, Sandton Civic Gallery, 2005- Pretoria, Everard Read Gallery, November 2004

ArticlesArticles- ART OF AFRICA, Grafti, The Graff Magazine,

Summer 2010- Grand Scale, Garden and Home Magazine,

April 2010- AbouTime Magazine, 2007- Ou idees met moderne aanslag, RAPPORT,

2 July 2006- A look away, Art Magazine, 2006- Individuality of faces, Pretoria News, 15 June 2006- Soos in n tweepas, Beeld plus, 26 November 2004- Radically different works from striking ensemble,

Interval, May 2002

CollectionsCollections- Ellerman Contemporary- Laurence Graff Collection- Rand Merchant Bank- European Investment Bank- Johannesburg City Council- Saronsberg Wine Estate- Delaire Graff Wine Estate- South African Embassy, Nigeria- Parkdev- Various private and corporate collections

ARTIST BIOGRAPHYARTIST BIOGRAPHY Born in Pretoria,1982.Lives and worksin Cape Town.

ArtspaceChester Court142 Jan Smuts AvenueParkwood2193

Tel: +27 (0)11 880 8802Fax: +27 (0)86 649 8551Email: [email protected]: www.artspace-jhb.co.za


17/17

lionel smit submerge exhibitioin catalogue

Documents