Earlier this month, local artist Chris Soal made his mark as the youngest artist to unveil a large-scale sculpture at the Nirox Foundation, as part of the Nirox Winter Sculpture Fair exhibition Margins of Error.
Having made a name for himself with his unusual use of toothpicks and bottle caps to create art, his latest work, Relic (2019-2021), takes a slightly different approach — he has used toothpicks carefully pulled from wet concrete.
Soal said the process was the result of “happy accidents” in the studio after a piece of concrete broke off a toothpick and concrete work, with the toothpick forms appearing to break out of the surface of the concrete.
“It just so happened that I noticed the texture the toothpicks had left behind on the broken piece of concrete. I then developed a way to pour concrete over sculpted toothpick forms, before removing each toothpick and leaving behind its haunting impression,” Soal said.
The result is a work of art that is suggestive rather than descriptive, as it evokes images of dead coral, barren topographies, rough tree bark and eroded marble, birthing a number of works Soal has exhibited. The latest and largest is the one at Nirox Sculpture Park.
Consisting of concrete sections of various sizes, it was unveiled in the park on May 8.
The 26-year-old said he felt honoured to be included in Margins of Error and for his work to be given a platform to reach a large audience. “It’s been a welcome challenge having to contend with the landscape and consider scale relationships, and the role of the elements in my work.”
But despite his humble stance, Soal has already made a prominent mark on the art world — at home and abroad.
Last year he became the youngest artist to participate in the fifth edition of the Dior Lady Art project, a collaboration between the fashion house and 10 selected artists from around the world who were invited to reinvent the Lady Dior bag.
The collaboration has landed him invitations to exhibit worldwide. For Soal, it’s reaffirmation of the core of his artistic practice and he keeps reminding himself that the works of art which got him noticed by Dior were made in his parents’ garage.
“The real work of an artist happens away from the spotlight — just between you and the work, and there’s no faking it in that moment.”
But it’s also the type of exposure that opens doors for an artist in the form of international solo exhibitions.
His first, which opened at the Montoro12 gallery in Brussels, Belgium, at the end of April, sold out before it opened.
While this spurs Soal on to exhibit more internationally, he maintains he’s not interested in exhibiting for the sake of it.
“Wherever I exhibit needs to make sense for the context of my work and provide an opportunity to push my work in new directions,” he said.
Fans of his art can also view it on Kimberley Cunningham’s show, RESTUDIO, an alternative exhibition model and collaboration with galleries and artists which opened at Dokuritsu House in Johannesburg’s Parktown North on Wednesday.
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