November 3, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
FILM and stop-motion photography are used in a new exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery by three University of the Witwatersrand students.
The exhibition, called The Man, was officially opened by Wits University's Professor Alan Crump, on Thursday, 2 November, in the gallery's The Project Room, which it explains as "a space aimed at foregrounding the work of young artists and experimental works".
The exhibition "The Man" experiments with the medium of film and stop motion photography
It was the first time that Wits students had been given space to exhibit at the gallery, Crump said. "I would like to thank the Johannesburg Art Gallery for affording the three students [the opportunity] to display their work among some of the finest collections of art work in the southern hemisphere."
He said the collaborative work by the three students, Thomas Dunn, Laurence Blogg and Gregory Wright, tried to reflect the reality of South African society. "They used European artistic elements but their influence is clearly rooted in South Africa."
Produced in the first half of 2006, The Man is an experimental film piece accompanied by related photographic prints. Introducing the work, Dunn said each member of the collective contributed individual concepts, skills and technologies towards the final piece.
Using the medium of stop-frame photography, The Man documents the traditional processes of painting, collage, cut-out and sculpture. Thematically, the work uses these media as a vehicle to carry the narrative, which deals with issues surrounding the acquisition of various forms of modern power, ranging from the social to the contextual and political.
Crump explained that the film's narrative unfolded in an imagined urban environment devoid of human subjects, yet traces of humans were clearly evident.
"The movie is about birth, it creates different illusions and the sounds created are a cacophony of absolute power. It's a world where a ship sails around through time in the corridors of the university buildings, a world where machine has replaced the presence of humans," he concluded.
Thomas Dunn introduces his colleagues, Laurence Blogg and Gregory Wright
Dunn said the three artists would give a walkabout of the exhibition early next year. The Man runs until 4 February 2007.
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