Artist uses paintbrush to promote change
Sandton artist Brian Rolphe believes art has the power to instigate positive change. He speaks to the Chronicle about his illustrious art career.
WORKING at the Johannesburg Central police station motivated Gallo Manor artist, Brian Rolfe to instigate change and action.
“When I was still getting my art career off the ground, I worked in the forensics department of the police for six years, sketching identikits, sometimes five or six a day. This work stretched my capacity as an artist. Many times, the image I sketched drew an emotional response from the victim. Other times, I would later see the person I had drawn on paper face to face in court, and I would be amazed at how the drawing was able to lead to powerful action, namely, an arrest.”
Today Rolfe continues to produce emotive pieces, saying the goal of his work is “to change the way the public sees what they are looking at through a single image”.
This desire for change was expressed in his recent painting, The Soul of the Nation, where among other vivid images he portrays two women, one with her mouth closed and the other expressing herself through singing. The painting, now owned by a politician who according to Rolfe doesn’t want to be named, portrays newspaper extracts from the controversial Brett Murray case (the artist whose political painting recently stirred crowds into protest action).
The goal of his work is “to change the way the public sees what they are looking at through a single image”.
“I changed an image showing a man holding a machine gun, to a man holding an electric guitar – my message, ‘Dont change the music’. We are a democracy and we must celebrate this freedom.”
One of Rolfe’s most famous pieces is his rhino portrait depicting a bleeding rhino with blood-teared eyes, exhibited at The Art Company, Gallo Manor, to raise money for the Save the Rhino Fund. “I started with an image of beauty and then proceeded to put blood on it. People said to me, ‘You’ve ruined it’, but that was the point of my work. I wanted to show people they were ruining what is beautiful.”
Rolfe is also a renowned set painter, and when he isn’t behind his paintbrush and canvas, enjoys rock climbing and travelling, mostly to the bushveld.
For more information visit www.brianrolfeart.co.za, or email brianrolfeart@gmail.com
