28th Oct, 2018 8:30

Historic, Modern and Contemporary Art

 
  Lot 14
 
Lot 14 - Robert Hodgins (South Africa 1920-2010)

14

Robert Hodgins (South Africa 1920-2010)
Demagogue (Government of the People, Through the People, Know What I Mean?)

oil on canvas

Artwork date: 1992
Signature details: signed, dated and inscribed with the title and medium on the reverse

Sold for R591,760
Estimated at R350,000 - R500,000


 

oil on canvas

Artwork date: 1992
Signature details: signed, dated and inscribed with the title and medium on the reverse

(1)

77 x 90 cm

Notes:

In this work, we see a classic Robert Hodgins’ visual trope: that of a male head in profile, his features distorted and coalescing into a mound of fleshiness that speaks of a face without the clear outlines and markers that give real meaning to that part of the body. The demagogue has the vague appearance of humanness without any articulation of form which would
indicate true personhood. This typical portrayal of the gross, flaccid and unnerving man of power – distinguished solely for the ability to visually unnerve and at the same time fascinate us, is one of Hodgins’ most powerful and memorable artistic strategies. While on the surface we are potentially gazing on a person without character, the shocking juxtaposition of colour utilised in realising its mass and form, and the bold swaths of paint and deft brushstrokes employed in realising its ominous and all-encompassing presence, force us to take this dominating element of the painting very seriously indeed.

The demagogue appeals to mass fears and hysteria; it would seem that Hodgins here is implying that the vocabulary and rhetoric that he spouts to win attention are debased, unformed and illusory. Minuscule in comparison to the main figure and seemingly confused, disjointed and naked, a series of smaller figures are arrayed at the base of the canvas. In a manner that echoes Hieronymous Bosch, they seem to contort and convulse as much as they dance and debate. The bloody red penumbra that emanates from the top of the head of the central figure seems to speak of billowing plumes of smoke, as if his words have the ability to consume and destroy. And then, in a masterstroke that only Hodgins could achieve, the demagogue’s yellow chest and arm strike a contrast to everything else, surmounted by a hand that appears to be giving a sign that seems to imply ‘trust me, you’ll be safe in my hands’. The near-impossible balance between beauty and horror that this canvas invokes seems to speak to us very directly today, with our current politics of vapour, illusion and words that melt into air, leaving all below naked, chattering and abandoned.


Andrew Lamprecht

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Auction: Historic, Modern and Contemporary Art, 28th Oct, 2018

Aspire Art Auctions brought a significant double-header of top lot leads to this sale.

Stellar results were achieved for internationally prominent William Kentridge and Alexis Preller, one of South Africa’s most respected and collectable modern artists. Collectors were attracted to Kentridge’s remarkable, Drawing from Stereoscope (Double page, Soho in two rooms) (1999), which sold for R6 600 400, while Preller’s Adam (1972), sold for a world record at R9 104 000. Modern offerings also included works by Peter Clarke, Kenneth Bakker, and Douglas Portway, while the contemporary segment included Moshekwa Langa, Penny Siopis, Simon Stone, Clive van den Berg, and Georgina Gratrix, amongst others.

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