Michael Taylor at the US Gallery and Jeanne Hoffman at blank projects
by Adrienne van Eeden
Two recent exhibitions offered not only a challenge to conventional illustrative narrative, but also an alternative to our often compartmentalised understanding of artworks.
Although Michael Taylor's MA(FA) degree show, 'Title Sequence', appears to fit very well into those time-honoured categories of painting and drawing, the viewer is presented with a situation where he/she cannot simply use prior knowledge of pictorial codes to 'interpret' the work. Taylor's electronic flipbook series, Immediate Nonsense, offers a very direct confrontation of the viewer/reader's understanding of the much-debated relationship between image and text. The titles mostly evoke something far removed from what the pictures represent - a partnering of seemingly incongruous things that often characterises 'nonsense art'.
Despite the obvious skill, wit and idiosyncratic sense of humour demonstrated by these illustrations, the presentation thereof does (unfortunately?) provide one with a somewhat immediate sense of gratification. The juxtaposition, however, of the large-scale charcoal drawings (Staged Disasters) and set of miniature paintings (The Gift) creates a subtle and much more successful site for the imagination. The drawings in Staged Disasters bear witness to a self-reflective (and self-conscious) realisation of the contrived nature of narrative structure. Furthermore: the method of display, which forces the viewer to navigate the long hall in order to 'discover' the titles of each of the paintings suspended from the ceiling in The Gift, allows for a delayed spatial experience of an otherwise two-dimensional medium.
Jeanne Hoffman, who prefers to identify the (mostly three-dimensional) work in the installation 'Long Words on a Hot Afternoon' with drawing, creates a poetic environment in which the process (rather than simply the product) of drawing is challenged. Although the viewer is given very few specific interpretative guidelines, this 'drawing out' or unravelling of memories and narratives is echoed by the use of materials such as newspaper, cut-up clothing and embroidery thread. Akin to Taylor's work, the 'drawings' are deceptively nonchalant. They are, however, the result of a highly personal and deliberate re-working of materials and make allusions to both Spanish Magic Realism and so-called 'Outsider Art'. Hoffman's intentional subversion of 'acceptable' methods of gallery display and spatial orientation, as well as her refusal to create a clear differentiation between the two- and three-dimensional translations of her thought processes, make for a slightly awkward, yet imaginative and thought-provoking exhibition.
Michael Taylor's 'Title Sequence' showed at the University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery from January 23 - 28, while Jeanne Hoffman's 'Long Words on a Hot Afternoon' showed at blank projects from January 18 - 27. Both have recently completed their Master's in Illustration at the University of Stellenosch.
Adrienne van Eeden is an artist who completed her Master's at the University of Stellenbosch last year and has recently moved to Cape Town. Her exhibition 'Twice Daily After Meals' was hosted by blank projects last month.
Review and photographs by Adrienne van Eeden
US Gallery 23-28/01/06
blank projects 18-27/01/06
