Notes

Pretoria-born sculptor, Wim Botha, came to prominence in 2001 with commune: suspension of disbelief, a suspended sculpture depicting a Christ-like figure that he carved out of tightly-packed bibles. First exhibited at the 2001 Klein Karoo National Arts Festival in Oudtshoorn, the work, which is accompanied by a surveillance camera and monitor, was subsequently acquired by the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Botha has used bibles as a found material in subsequent sculptures, notably in a series of busts exhibited in Cape Town in 2011. This work, which dates from the same period, did not form part of his exhibition All This. It does, however, closely resemble the busts carved from bibles, dictionaries, and encyclopaedias shown as either plinth-mounted or suspended pieces. The busts did not evoke any particular subject but clearly referenced the aspiration and form of classical renaissance marble busts.

Botha is well known for his appropriation, mimicry and distortion of familiar symbols and icons – what the artist has characterised as “saturated images”.¹ His method involves study, reflection and interpretation, often using unorthodox (non-classical) materials to express his final form. “It is the challenge of taking an image that is so assimilated into the communal psyche, taking that image and presenting something that takes you by surprise, catches you off guard,” Botha has said.² Of his use of unorthodox materials, Botha states: “In my work there is seldom a distinction to be drawn between the prominence of the concept and that of the medium. I work with materials central to mass consumerist applications, that are subsequently transformed in essence and meaning to a point at which material and concept becomes integrally interdependent.”³

1 Sean O’Toole. (2002) ‘Interview with Wim Botha’, Clean/Grime, Cape Town: Bell-Roberts. Page 6.

2 Ibid., page 6.

3 Sean O’Toole. (2003) Artbio: Wim Botha, [Online], Available: https://artthrob.co.za/03apr/artbio.html

Literature

Sophie Perryer. (ed) (2012) Wim Botha: Busts 2003-2012, Cape Town, Stevenson. Illustrated in colour on pages 58 and 59.