Body and soul
Absa's campaign to promote the 29th edition of the Absa L'Atelier art competition, "Great art takes blood, sweat and tears", comprises a number of different elements – the most provocative of which is a series of acrylic paints made from the actual blood, sweat and tears of local artists Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor and Bambo Sibiya.
Picture: Alistair Russell
The core idea behind the campaign is that producing great art is not something that just happens. It is a process that sees the artist putting everything they have into their work through the intense effort, dedication and raw emotion that it takes to bring a concept to life. This message has been distilled into the three elements that every artist has metaphorically sacrificed so their creative ideas might see the light of day: their blood, their sweat and their tears.
A strong visual reference has been assigned to each of these elements red (blood), yellow (sweat) and blue (tears).
In an effort to make the concept more tangible, artists Willem Boshoff, Diane Victor and Bambo Sibiya agreed to donate their blood, sweat and tears so that paint in these colours could be made. Working with Lancet Laboratories, samples were taken from the artists, processed and cleaned, to ensure they were free of bio-hazardous material.
These samples were then used in the manufacture of the paints, a process jointly undertaken by Willem Prinsloo of Zellen Art Products, and Tracey-Lauren Milne from The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg. The result: “blood” is a deep red with Alizarin Crimson/Rose Madder undertones; “sweat” is a dark yellow, created from yellow, Phthalo Blue, Naphthol Red and Titanium Dioxide; and “tears” is a coral blue, created using Ultramarine Blue.
