clare menck
front cover image Late-summer self-portrait with hat and lagoon Oil on wood 32 x 40 cm 2014
Clare Menck
Outside In
2 - 30 September 2014
It is a privilege talking to you about Clare’s works on such a beautiful spring day. It is also appropriate that this exhibition should be in spring, which although it happens annually, always fill us with fresh hope and excitement. This holds true for Clare’s exhibition tonight as well. In addressing you, I can only relate my experience as an avid collector and admirer of South African art. I collect through my eyes, my heart, with passion and, sometimes, bewilderment. For those of you who might not know her well, some background about Clare. She was born in Durban and lives in Moorreesburg. She studied at University of Stellenbosch (where she obtained a Masters Degree) and Michaelis and did post graduate work abroad. She has been painting for 20 years and works almost exclusively in oil. During that time she juggled the roles of artist, wife and mother of 2 children. Clare works mainly in small scale but has demonstrated that big themes can be addressed in a small intimate format. I have collected her works for some time and believe that ambiquity lies at the heart of all Clare’s works, whether they are still lives, landscapes or portraits. I believe that all paintings are in effect self-portraits of the artist, even more so in the case of Clare where there is a strong autobiographical theme through a 20 year oevre. Her works have a promise of intimacy and a hint of disquiet.
Clare has an extensive academic background in the arts and is well acquinted with various art forms and movements over time. This enables her to bring an intellectual backbone to works that often seem to be pleasant and accessible, but which, on closer inspection, beg a number of questions whether it be the object, structure or the use of colour in the work. On the face of it we are presented with three genres tonight – landscapes and intimate portraits, nudes and interiors. Al drie die genres word ondersteun deur verfwerk van hoogstaande gehalte en ‘n aanwending van verf in kleure wat Clare oor die tyd eie aan haar gemaak het en deel van haar DNA as skilder is. As versamelaar wil jy altyd hê dat ‘n kunstenaar moet bly groei, maar steeds herkenbaar bly. Met Outside In slaag Clare by uitstek daarin. Die werke in die groter saal handel met bekende onderwerpe soos Clare en haar familie en vriende, in en om water, in plattelandse dorpe met simbole van weleer. Die werke spreek vir my van ‘n vorm van nostalgie – soos Clare met die motors van ons kleintyd, amper skaam omring deur die flambojante lyne van die sestigs. Kinders speel in idilliese omstandighede in en by water, en Clare slaag myns insiens uitstekend daarin om die kyker ‘n deelnemer aan elke scenario te maak. Dit is ons wat daar swem, die water teen ons voel, onthou van kaal swem, die sensasie van ontwaak vir die sensuele wat kompeteer met die diepe gerusstelling van ons terugkeer na die waters wat ons reeds voor geboorte beskerm en gekoester het.
The pictures in the smaller room are grouped as a theme; an excursion a weekend in Paris, a visit to that most romantic of cities. Clare moves from the outside of the platteland to the inside of an outobiographical journey with seemingly consumate ease. The sensuality and romantisicism that are hinted to in the works we see here are personalised in a city that eptomises these sentiments. The structure of the works, the composition thereof, positioning of subjects, all pay homage to and communicate with masters of the genre. There is something of Cezanne, Freud, maybe Gustave Courbet in particular, that is present in the work, a sub text if you will. Clare invites us into a private journey, something she has done throughout her career, but somehow, for me, almost more so in this body of works than before. At the outset, it speaks of guts and maturity, a conviction, a compulsion to create and narrate even the most personal of journeys. Her inflinching presentation of herself, whether nude or clothed, attracts and confronts the viewer, pushing you back from the intimacy hinted at. The male figure is heavy, peaceful in repose, less confrontational. All together, they speak of personal, but essentially universal experiences of love, excitement, doubt, togetherness and loneliness.
So in short, through these strongly composed and beatifully painted works, Clare invites us yet again to travel along on her artistic and personal journey, but as always, presents enough ambiquity and mystery to enable each viewer to look and look again, to discern his or her own answer to the riddle, establish that unique and special connection that makes the viewing of art so meaningful and rewarding. Thank you.
Opening Address Frank Kilbourn 2 September 2014
List of Work
Father and daughter in a river (Portrait of Johann Louw) Oil on wood 48 x 60 cm 2014
Girl and boy in lagoon Oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm 2014
Woman near lagoon (the artist’s sister) Oil on wood 32 x 40 cm 2014
Woman with silver goblet (the artist’s sister�) Oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm 2014
Boy in lagoon (the artist’s son) I Oil on wood 48 x 60 2014
Late-summer self-portrait with hat and lagoon Oil on wood 32 x 40 cm 2014
Girl with yellow in lagoon (the artist’s daughter) Oil on wood 30 x 40 cm 2014
Swimmers, Green Point (mother-and-daughter self-portrait) I Oil on wood 32 x 40 cm 2014
Swimmers, Green Point (mother-and-daughter self-portrait) II Oil on wood 32 x 40 cm 2014
Late-summer self-portrait staring across lagoon Oil on wood 44 x 60 cm 2014
Moonlight meander (the artist’s daughter) Oil on canvas 32.5 x 40.5 cm 2014
Moonlight streetscape with Plumbago Oil on wood 32 x 40cm 2014
Evening street scene with lit windows Oil on wood 40 x 50cm 2014
The wish house (moonscape with girl) Oil on canvas 60 x 76 cm 2014
Late-summer family party near vlei Oil on wood 120 x 90 cm 2014
Young woman portrait seated in Dutch interior (Camille) Oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm 2014
Self-portrait with veteran cars, Piketberg Oil on wood 48 x 60 cm 2014
Man reclining, Paris I Oil on canvas 60 x 76 cm 2014
Reverie in bed (self-portrait) Oil on canvas 30.5 x 40.5 cm 2014
After Sickert (self-portrait) I Oil on canvas 30 x 40.5 cm 2014
After Sickert (self-portrait) II Oil on canvas 30 x 40.5 cm 2014
Reclining nude with glass doors (self-portrait) Oil on canvas 40.5x 50.5 cm 2014
Self-portrait with a lilac night dress, Paris Oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5 cm 2014
The artist’s feet Oil on canvas 30.5 x 40.5 cm 2014
POG Self-portrait Oil on canvas 40 x 50.5 cm 2014
Man reclining, Paris II Oil on canvas 101 x 76 cm 2014
Hotel room (male nude) Oil on canvas 15 x 20 cm 2014
Man at the edge of the Seine, Paris Oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5 cm 2014
Man in Parisian Suburbia Oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5cm 2014
Cottage in Parisian Suburbia Oil on canvas 45. 5x 60.5 cm 2014
Self-portrait on the edge of the Seine Oil on canvas 91 x 121.5 cm 2014
Outside In presents several departures; most importantly it sees my return to painting on canvas after years of working exclusively on wood. I worked with watery washes for the initial build-up, in contrast to my alla prima work on wood and found the accidental happenings with paint dissolving and dripping onto the canvas both frustrating and exhilarating. The relinquishing of control on a technical level, perhaps for the first time in years, became a frightening and a fulfilling creative journey. As a student when considerations of the market place were not relevant, I worked in a free and painterly style on a large scale, but over the years have developed and concentrated on what has become my forte: realist interpretations of the visual world around me, generally autobiographic in nature, on a small to miniature scale. Personal and life-changing experiences signalled the return to canvas and the need to transform and challenge my existing methodology; resulting in a return to the former looseness, freedom of interpretation and style reminiscent of my early work. This shift in approach is clearly illustrated in the two series presented, the summer-series with Langebaan, Zeekoevlei and the Berg River as backdrop, and the winter-series, with Paris at night as setting. This year started off with an emotional crisis and anxiety attacks which I needed to deal with, overcome or to learn to live with, it was a watershed year for me.
I experienced a relationship break-up, and felt as if I was wading through the river of yet another midlife crisis. I became increasingly aware of the process of aging and of approaching death, as well as anticipating the imminent empty nest syndrome, with my two teenage children soon to be leaving home. This painfully felt existential crisis defined the creative journey towards Outside In. The exhibition found its genesis from photographic references of a warm and balmy albeit tumultuous summer and autumn, during which ordinary activities such as evening walks, picnics or swims with my family became my subject matter. These gentle recuperative activities in and around water constitute the summer-series. As winter approached, I looked inward towards the personal in an attempt to interpret the private and seldom revealed intimacy of adult life. I joined fellow-painter Andries Gouws who was leading a workshop in a coastal village for a few days. The change of scene enabled me, known as a colourist, to find a new, subdued and extremely economical palette: it became my winter-series. I acknowledge the painter Walter Sickert in two paintings of nude self-portraits. The angle from which the subject is viewed, allows for an intimacy between the viewer and artist, as if between lovers. The notion of the gaze created through this mingling of private and public space is reminiscent of the boudoir scenes that were so brilliantly depicted by the likes of Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec. Artist Statement
All text & images: Š Copyrighted All Rights Reserved - Clare Menck Photography Credit: Bradley Mathieson Designed by Jannah Ruthven ErdmannContemporary Internship Programme 2015
ERDMANNCONTEMPORARY & thePHOTOGRAPHERSgalleryZA 84 Kloof Street l Cape Town, 8001 T. 021 422 2762 l E. galleryinfo@mweb.co.za www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za.