Up the polemic: Politics is in art's firing line

03 November 2015 - 02:11 By Andrew Miller

Drawing the president's genitals is now a thing, so to speak. Ayanda Mabulu, Brett Murray and Anton Kannemeyer are all currently high profile presidential genital protagonists. Is it art? A personal attack? Thinly veiled self- promotion?Extensive media coverage around these questions creates the impression that - regardless of the answers - political art equates to great business. But while established artists can leverage the career benefits of political tumult, the reality for emerging artists is far more nuanced.Blessing Ngobeni made his name in 2012 with colourful collages featuring a wild, apocalyptic sensibility. Corpulent dominant males march across urban landscapes littered with tiny ordinary people. His titles are often direct polemic statements: Democratic Slave Master, Comrade, Watch Your Step, Untouchable Politician, Bellies of Freedom.Ngobeni doesn't necessarily view himself as a political artist, but accepts that his art is read politically."My life is portrayed in my paintings. I can't distance my art from how I live," he says."I notice that when leaders display themselves in parliament, many are fat. When I look at the protesters outside, they are thin. I show what I see in my life in my work."Layziehound is of the same creative generation as Ngobeni. Since returning to Johannesburg from a three-year break in KwaZulu-Natal, his new charcoals feature frequently grotesque decision-makers viewed through a cubist-influenced kaleidoscope. His theme is suits, and his titles (Minister of Social Media, Democracy Gone Mad) evoke South Africa's widening class gulf."At the moment my work is about people staining the good name of the suit," he says."Suits used to be about business and positive progress, but today every fox goes into a suit and will rip the man in the street off."Ngobeni is well established, sells at high prices and is increasingly part of the international art world. Layziehound, conversely, is still reaching for career stability. Our conversation thus inevitably turns to the business of art.The themes are training, NGOs, gallery and art studio environments. In these places - the pipelines from whence non-university artists emerge - many young artists mimic existing styles and themes, adhering to the aesthetic and conceptual paradigms of organisations where, since apartheid, depicting the texture of a troubled society is a more assured way to stay attached to vital government and corporate funding pipelines than hard-hitting political commentary."Young artists sometimes follow what is commercially successful," says Layziehound. "They can miss the point of an artist being an analytical commentator. How are we being treated by taxi drivers? What about the bribery in our municipalities? I think these are important questions for artists to think about.""Organisations affect thinking," adds Ngobeni. "You try not to offend within organisations, because you fear the opportunities will go away. But for me there is no true risk in being directly political. I think it builds your thinking, your art, your career."When you say things other people are not saying you move out of working with fear. You can face the lion!"Will we see more young artists approaching hard politics in the future? It's tempting to think the #mustfall generation will produce a litany of new polemic fine art voices, but young politics is, of course, as much about patronage and ideological alignment as any other form.It seems likely that our next generation of creative polemicists is sitting outside of the university gates, peering in.Ultimately, true polemicists are rare birds, and will always pop up in unexpected places...

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