- "Dasart Draws the line" Gallery 111
- Bullet / Love and Death in Africa
- Eurovirus Installation : Borders
- View of an Installation entitled : Introvirus.
- Indaba - Meeting of the Elders
- Trandels - interactive percussion implements
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"Dasart Draws the Line"Drawing show at Gallery
111, 26 September - 17 October, 1998 Works on show by Ashley Johnson and Michael Matthews |
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| Works by Ashley Johnson
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| "DASART DRAWS THE LINE" is an exhibition of works on paper, which have been created either in their own right or as studies for larger works. The DASART group is represented here by Ashley Johnson and Michael Matthews who have been working together since 1990. Dasart's aim is to rejuvenate the process of looking and experiencing art. They believe that the dominant Western perception of reality is built on assumptions which inhibit Western man from developing an all encompassing vision. Ultimately this would result in a new concept of space and time. The work on show is figurative and emotive, with a strong tendency to explore different media rather than remaining within stylistic conventions. On offer are freestanding 3-D works in homemade paper and cardboard, a sculpture made out of cooked grass, large wire mesh wall hangings, a motorised erotic piece, conventional framed drawings, large collage pieces and digital moving pictures culled from a telephone directory. The works on view are seldom exhibited since most Dasart shows consist of large sculptures, paintings or installations. Thus this show represents an interlude from Dasart's main activities such as the current project titled TRANSMIGRATIONS: RITUALS AND ITEMS which will tour nationally and internationally from 1999. Also available for sale at Gallery 111 will be copies of the Dasart book, DASART COLONIAL MUTATIONS, which documents their last touring exhibition, that contrasted the values of the Victorian Industrial Revolution with an end of the century Dasart vision.
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Works by Michael Matthews - Click on an image to zoom, use your Back button to return here
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Bulletby Ashley Johnson
Now in the USA as part of Transmigrations : Rituals & Items exhibition. Click on the image to zoom, use your Back button to return here Size : 300 x 370 x 190 cm |
Throughout 1997/8, and during the Johannesburg Second Biennale, the Dasartists, Ashley Johnson and Michael Matthews, have been exhibiting works at the Carfax Factory in co-ordination with the Small Spaces Gallery.
Materials : Bark, steel, grass, wood, Colonial maps of Africa, concrete, mesh
Size : variable
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WHAT EURO-VIRUS MEANS TO MEEurope or the developed world is bound up in an intricate relationship of colonization with Africa. Ostensibly, the Europeans came to Africa to bring commerce, Christianity and civilization to the pagan hordes. The reality was suppression and conquest. European technology was superior thanks to the innovations of the Industrial Revolution, epitomised by the steam engine and quinine, for the relief of malaria. Africa was pillaged and the refuse of Europe, like obsolete firearms, dumped. In carving up Africa, the European powers left an indelible imprint, so much so that Africa remains colonized even though the Colonial powers have long since abandoned ship. Perhaps they finally realized that it was just not profitable enough to remain. The unseemly haste with which they departed has left a legacy of poverty and ignorance.
In a very real sense, the Colonial experience is like a virus. This minute organism attaches itself to the host cell and alters the cellular information to create a parasitical system. The system becomes self-perpetuating and is more or less successful in the degree of balance it attains. The point is not to kill the host but to subsist upon it. Not all viruses understand this finer point. It is certain that human evolution has various viral mutations to thank for its present manifestation.
However, within any situation where a dominant culture subdues another culture, the subservient culture adopts the dominant values but is subversive towards these. This results in a counter-colonization which proceeds according to the strength or weakness of the dominant culture. The Euro-virus is a part of this process. In essence, we are making a viral imprint upon European thought by means of art that has mutated through the African context. Thus, although the concept of art is European, the form has become subversive through the African mutation.
In particular, the pieces which I have constructed, seek to express something of the African colonial experience. This expression is tempered by my understanding of human nature. I see colonization and aggression as fundamental life instincts common to all organisms. The vacuum left in Africa by the departure of the Colonial powers was swiftly filled by new dictators. Further atrocities and genocides followed. From my point of view, I do not see reason and consciousness as raising humanity above the beasts. These are instead, tools which have developed from a mutually subliminal environment shared by all organisms. I see elements like culture and language as fully tangible extensions of the body. In other words, the human is totally instinctual and animal. Socialization keeps our wilder instincts in check, but when we get the opportunity, as in Africa, all hell breaks loose. Consciousness and reason help us to negotiate reality, but according to a predetermined vision. True human expression is barbaric and cannibalistic. Our passion to eat and conquer extends throughout our relationships and cultural expressions. Even our institutions, which masquerade as bastions of freedom and equality, are imbued with these attributes. Democracy is a smokescreen for prejudice.
I believe that we need to understand human nature in order to establish a symbiotic relationship with the environment. The imagination is a tool by which we might reconfigure our perception of reality, so that we can redefine the space we call ourselves. Reality is derived from fantasy, which is biological meaning made manifest. Perception is manufactured within us and we understand our world in terms of fictions or metaphors, which are projected onto experience. Chief amongst our deceptions is the concept of self and other. As aggressive colonists, we have to include the environment within our concept of self, or in our instinctual greed, we will upset the balance. In a sense, the human is a virus bent on self destruction and only a counter-viral strategy can possibly create the conditions for a perpetuation of life. Thus, I envisage that alternative metaphors need to be activated so that we can dream ourselves again. It is in our nature to define or hack out moments from ficticious time and space which we harness as reality and experience. Any attempt to create conditions for the environment to recover has to appeal to humanity at its core, becoming a state of body, where mind is seen as body and body is also the larger corpus of humanity. Ideas like 'raising consciousness' simply miss the point. Education is a sham!
Ashley Johnson
Materials: Rubberised tree, lights, black iron, industrial paint, oil and pump.
Size: variable, one room.
Collaboration : Ashley Johnson and Michael Matthews
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Materials : Palm tree core, wood, steel, mesh, grass, fiberglass, coal dust, sand, tape
deck and narrative about the colonisation of Africa
Size : 3.5 x 3.5 x 2 m
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Materials : Rubber, steel, tin, motors
Size : Variable
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