Artists explore shape and history
ArtEye Gallery in the Design Quarter had the innovative idea of having two talented yet different artists paint alongside each other.
Sthenjwa Luthuli and Lionel Murrcott occupied opposite ends of the gallery and the experience of working alongside each other created a synergy between their two aesthetics.
Luthuli explained that his journey to art started when he used to make wire toy cars as a boy growing up in Durban. “I knew I wanted to do creative things in life,” he said. Luthuli enrolled in art classes at the BAT centre in 2010, and since then he has enjoyed success in the art world being awarded Most Outstanding Artist in his class. He is now a working artist with a studio in the BAT centre. Murcott originally wanted to become a scientist but realised that his talents lay in drawing and writing. He studied Fine Arts at Natal University and today works as a painter and poet.
Both artists had different views on the issue of taught artists versus self-taught artists.
Murcott felt that studying art helped him because it exposed him to many different styles and theories, however Luthuli said that while he is not self-taught he feels that the work of self-taught artists is perfect in that it shows that they have the spirit of an artist.
Both artists had very different explanations for their work. Murcott explained that the idea for the way he draws and paints came to him in a dream in which he could see tiny blacks specks which turned out to be paintings. He believes that these were the paintings of his ancestors.
In his work, Luthuli explores the importance of the circular shape to African culture in contrast to how the modern world seems to be composed chiefly of the square shape. “The square exerts control,” he said. “Even when you walk around you will find yourself walking around a square because of buildings and roads. I feel like we are no longer free as human beings.
“Maybe one day we will just turn into robots. I’m prophesying something that’s going to happen which is what artists are for.”
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