I'm so excited to share an email from artist, Garth Erasmus, with my fifth grade students! After creating self-portraits inspired by "The Muse 3," I asked students to brainstorm a list of questions for the artist - and he responded with a very nice email!
What inspired you to make The Muse 3?
The Muse was part of a series of collage-based works i produced roundabout 1989-1992. Even though it is not a self-portrait, metaphorically it is me... meaning, i am the one who is watching or looking at events happening in my environment, and looking at things developing around me. it is important to note that all this is politically motivated imagery because that was the nature of my work and the nature of the country (Apartheid etc) that time. The Muse formed part of a larger body of work that was entitled SUBJECT TO CHANGE (many of these works are now in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art) and this title really highlights what this series was all about...in 1988 already i was part of a privileged group of political activists who got "inside knowledge" that the Apartheid regime were beginning to negotiate with Nelson Mandela (still a prisoner then of course) his release... the country was burning and the govt had reached a point where they realized they could no longer maintain control, so there was a negotiation process that was kept very very quiet...as you know Mandela was only released in 1991. because i had this inside info i began to realize that the politically-charged imagery i had been doing all along would soon be irrelevant, hence the play on the words "subject to change"...ie that subject was going to change....on one level this is filled with anxiety (from an art perspective)...because what work do i do now? hahaha...so the personal anxieties as an artist reverberates in the wider context of imminent social change....
What is your favorite artwork you have created?
My favorite work is actually the Subject To Change series....simply because of the nature of its contents (my explanation above) i infused in that work ALL the kind of typical political stuff i had been working with since i was younger...so, in effect, the work was a summation of all of my life experiences up till that point...
Who is your favorite artist?
My favorite classical artists are Picasso & van Gogh and my favorite modern artists are Pollock & JM Basquiat
What is it like in South Africa?
SA is a very changed country from when i grew up...it is now a free and open country, meaning that under Apartheid one was confined to living, working and loving in predetermined spaces...ie as determined by your "racial classification", but having said that there are still many many problems we still have to deal with as CONSEQUENCES of a system of social engineering that lasted for generations...so, now we have a society that is is grappling with major social problems like gangsterism and drug abuse....but these kinds of problems of course come from poverty....so...SA is still a country that experiences HUGE economic disparages....after 22 years of the freedom era, the govt is now having to deal with lots of dissatisfaction (protests about service delivery etc)...
What activities did you enjoy as a kid?
I enjoyed playing sport...soccer....i was very good and captained my school team and played for the regional representative team... and had dreams of being professional one day hahaha.
Let me explain...
The school system was Apartheid-based education...in my case there was no such subject as Art at school (even things like Drama, Theater, Music etc...there was no such stuff)....i never did art until i was 21 when my mother bought me a painting set as a 21st birthday gift (with an accompanying "How To..." book) and i taught myself painting....my parents were both teachers and so i was lucky that they could recognize that i had this talent...
okay Jordan, all the best to you and your kids there...it was great hearing from you...
cheers
garth
What inspired you to make The Muse 3?
The Muse was part of a series of collage-based works i produced roundabout 1989-1992. Even though it is not a self-portrait, metaphorically it is me... meaning, i am the one who is watching or looking at events happening in my environment, and looking at things developing around me. it is important to note that all this is politically motivated imagery because that was the nature of my work and the nature of the country (Apartheid etc) that time. The Muse formed part of a larger body of work that was entitled SUBJECT TO CHANGE (many of these works are now in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art) and this title really highlights what this series was all about...in 1988 already i was part of a privileged group of political activists who got "inside knowledge" that the Apartheid regime were beginning to negotiate with Nelson Mandela (still a prisoner then of course) his release... the country was burning and the govt had reached a point where they realized they could no longer maintain control, so there was a negotiation process that was kept very very quiet...as you know Mandela was only released in 1991. because i had this inside info i began to realize that the politically-charged imagery i had been doing all along would soon be irrelevant, hence the play on the words "subject to change"...ie that subject was going to change....on one level this is filled with anxiety (from an art perspective)...because what work do i do now? hahaha...so the personal anxieties as an artist reverberates in the wider context of imminent social change....
What is your favorite artwork you have created?
My favorite work is actually the Subject To Change series....simply because of the nature of its contents (my explanation above) i infused in that work ALL the kind of typical political stuff i had been working with since i was younger...so, in effect, the work was a summation of all of my life experiences up till that point...
Who is your favorite artist?
My favorite classical artists are Picasso & van Gogh and my favorite modern artists are Pollock & JM Basquiat
What is it like in South Africa?
SA is a very changed country from when i grew up...it is now a free and open country, meaning that under Apartheid one was confined to living, working and loving in predetermined spaces...ie as determined by your "racial classification", but having said that there are still many many problems we still have to deal with as CONSEQUENCES of a system of social engineering that lasted for generations...so, now we have a society that is is grappling with major social problems like gangsterism and drug abuse....but these kinds of problems of course come from poverty....so...SA is still a country that experiences HUGE economic disparages....after 22 years of the freedom era, the govt is now having to deal with lots of dissatisfaction (protests about service delivery etc)...
What activities did you enjoy as a kid?
I enjoyed playing sport...soccer....i was very good and captained my school team and played for the regional representative team... and had dreams of being professional one day hahaha.
Let me explain...
The school system was Apartheid-based education...in my case there was no such subject as Art at school (even things like Drama, Theater, Music etc...there was no such stuff)....i never did art until i was 21 when my mother bought me a painting set as a 21st birthday gift (with an accompanying "How To..." book) and i taught myself painting....my parents were both teachers and so i was lucky that they could recognize that i had this talent...
okay Jordan, all the best to you and your kids there...it was great hearing from you...
cheers
garth