Solo exhibition: Ideas yoked by violence together

19 July 2016 - 10:24 By Staff reporter

There's a quote from VS Naipaul's A Bend in the River which precedes the description of artist Michael MacGarry's new show Between Rot and Genesis at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg. In it the author reflects on feeling like a ghost "not from the past - but from the future. You felt that your life and ambition had already been lived, and you were looking at the relics of that life. You were in a place where the future had come and gone."It's this space of contradiction, particularly in the post-independence oil boom economies of countries like Nigeria and Angola, that MacGarry locates much of his practice.His working method, which often involves sculptures made from different contextually significant elements "yoked together", reflects the binary oppositions associated with African countries. A piece of timber from Marikana has a pure platinum nail hammered into it. A door fragment from Mawela Primary School in Vuwani is combined with bone and concrete. In For most of the many, much of the time, a large sculpture has a marble skull perched on it and its frame has been shot through with holes by police using assault rifles.These constructions are shown with two of MacGarry's award-winning short films - Sea of Ash , detailing the experiences of a West African refugee in Italy and Excuse Me While I Disappear, set in the Chinese-built city of Kilamba Kiaxi near Luanda, where a cleaner sweeps the empty streets of a development too expensive for most Angolans to afford.MacGarry, known as an impish conceptual provocateur, admits that while his new show "may seem broad, it's actually quite narrow in terms of subject matter". It's concerned with the humanitarian, social, political and economic costs of progress.MacGarry is preoccupied with the impact of the Chinese in countries like Angola and admits that, while he initially perceived their influence as negative, he now sees it as positive.''The Chinese are building hospitals and cities. Their planning may be daft and may be a white elephant, but that isn't necessarily their problem or fault," he says.With three more shows this year and a solo show planned for the Wits Art Museum next year, he's keeping busy and pursuing an ideal of success that he defines as "being able to keep doing what you want to do". - Tymon SmithBetween Rot and Genesis is at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg until August 6..

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