Untitled 2010

Curator: It has a primal, almost ritualistic feeling. The heavy lines remind me of tribal markings. Editor: I see it too, but what immediately strikes me is the materiality. Look at the heavily textured surface, the way the acrylic paint is built up. You can tell this is Untitled by Paul du Toit, created in 2010. Curator: Yes, and in a way, the texture amplifies the rawness of the symbols. Do you get a sense of the African art influence too, something drawing from the cultural memory of South Africa perhaps? The rough-hewn strokes evoke a certain immediacy. Editor: Absolutely. The brushwork is energetic. Notice how the orange frame-like structure seems to almost cage the central black figure. The relationship between these forms—the figure seemingly contained—adds complexity to the composition. Curator: That is an interesting perspective. I wonder what that visual confinement tells us. Perhaps of boundaries—oppression and hope. Look how it pulls from the visual vernacular of graffiti art and how it conveys an entire range of feeling through simple, almost childlike figures. Editor: I appreciate the rawness of form. It seems almost primitive in its simplicity. It is all angular forms and thick impasto. How might that relate to that psychological symbolism for you? Curator: Well, there's something deeply evocative in its almost totemic presence. The abstracted face stares out at us—the use of rudimentary color seems imbued with layered messages beyond the pictorial or art historical. Editor: Ultimately, du Toit masterfully manipulates shape and color here to evoke an almost unnerving, almost joyful aesthetic experience. Curator: Agreed, the artist offers up layers that speak to universal concerns, a dialogue across history, art history, experience, and perhaps the spirit as well. Editor: Quite right. Thank you.