Egon Tania at João Ferreira
by Kim Gurney
A series of several dioramas on plinths arranged in a circle greets visitors to the upper floor of the João Ferreira Gallery. The installation, by sculptor Egon Tania, represents the artist's fleeting observations of people particular to the street route connecting two Cape Town suburbs, Woodstock and Observatory, over the windswept Salt River traffic circle.
Each diorama comprises a few figures of up to 45 cm high, which are hewn from sections of jacaranda trunk and partially painted. The girth of the trunk dictates the footprint of each. Parts of old cable reel apparatus form an interesting extension to the base of each diorama, which in turn are placed upon white gallery plinths. The circle formation means the viewer has multiple perspectives on the unfolding narrative.
Most noticeable are Tania's manipulations of scale, which allude to notions of time and space. Figures and objects like newspapers and cans are repeated in the various dioramas but their size alters. Here, a cloaked figure holds a child's hand; over there, the same pair re-appears but reduced many times in scale. Here, a thinly clad woman thumbs for a ride; there, she appears again, much smaller in the distance.
Narrative also enters in another way. A vagrant pushing an empty shopping trolley in one scene later has it stacked high with cardboard for recycling. A mannequin from a shop window display lies discarded on the street and reappears in another scene atop the same cardboard pile.
Tania uses the sculptural equivalent of a photographic Barthesian punctum, the point of recognition and strangeness, to great effect: the Black Label beer bottle lying on the floor, the Spar plastic packet, the bulging Snowflake flour bag tied to the back of the trolley. These are peculiar South African urban details, yet the scenes also reflect the daily rituals of people in cities the world over.
Salt River is a gritty area: a kind of socio-economic underbelly of the more privileged suburbs to which its industries cater. Tania's roughly hewn style suits his subject matter. His visible chisel and grinder marks are an integral part of the work, shaping his everyday characters carrying the shopping, holding a hand, walking to work. His marks also evoke texture: the coat of an old man begs to be touched.
But his rough approach is not cavalier. The vagrant has visibly hewn marks, as if life were literally beating him across the back. His face is a savage approximation. Not so the smooth rollerblader, whose facial features are finely painted. By contrast, the Spar bag-carrying lady's eyes are blankly hewn holes behind which lies an inexpressible void.
The enamel painting is sometimes precise, as for clothing details. But this is counter-balanced with loose brushstrokes that preserve the raw energy. Tania also leaks paint onto the base, which creates an effective visual link. Some sections of the wood are left bare, which allows the eye repose and shows off the medium's natural beauty.
Tania's idea is ultimately very intriguing but inconsistent in execution. The businessman talking on the cellphone, for example, still has the same hand outstretched and the same leg taking the same stride from one diorama to the next. The details all work well but the bigger concept fails to extend to some of the figures, whose place in the narrative is less developed than others.
Opens: May 4
Closes: May 28
João Ferreira Gallery, 80 Hout Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 423 5403
Fax: (021) 423 2136
Email: info@joaoferreiragallery.com
www.joaoferreiragallery.com
Hours: Tue-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm
