Prima Materia
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As part of his enquiries into the nature of 20th century art he has taken into account, as did Mario Merz, investigations into the sculptural potential of The Fibonacci Sequence. He has also begun to consider the all-encompassing subject of matter of Joseph Beuys. Like Mario Merz and Joseph Beuys he senses that time cannot be expressed in a linear progression. Time and the enduring energy of art can be most properly considered by the symbol of the spiral, used by mankind from time immemorial. That is why he is apolitical and why he had to educate himself at the Free Art Academy in Den Haag, Holland, to be among artists, art teachers and students who, like himself, needed to accept the challenge of modernism. He found himself enthralled by the internationalism of the European art world. He became committed to the ways in which the history of ideas could be expressed through the visual arts as defined in the great European art collections. He has always found it natural to express his thoughts through painting and sculpture on history, prehistory, mythology, astronomy, biology, physics, and mathematics. His art is full of an energy which comes from his sense of wonderment at how much there is to learn from the natural world. His complex use of age-old signs as symbols indicates his need to ask questions in the face of the ineffable mystery of the past. He is not prepared to give easy answers. He is fully prepared to learn, to be on a journey of discovery, to ask questions. |
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His latest travels have taken him to England and to the Celtic world of Scotland and its Mediterranean equivalent in Malta. These are two aspects of the edge of Europe rich in prehistoric temples and megalithic burial sites which can be regarded as solar and lunar observatories. He has sought out points not normally associated with the contemporary art world from which to incorporate South Africa in the history of 20th century art.
He has followed in the footsteps of South African artists and art experts who have been prepared to work in Scotland under the aegis of the Demarco Gallery.
Robert Slingsby has accepted the responsibility to help create a meaningful cultural dialogue between South African artists and the artists he has begun to identify himself with in Scotland: Dawson Murray, Elizabeth Murray, Marion Leven, George Wyllie, Robert Callander and Elizabeth Ogilvie.
Through their work they are inviting Robert Slingsby to investigate deeply the cultural heritage which makes them identified as Scottish artists - with the stuff and substance of the landscape and seascape from which they draw their inspiration, and which makes them incorporate the elemental forces of nature, of the wind and weather found on the North West extremity of Europe.
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Robert Slingsby has entitled his sandblasted sculptures (those he has made on his return from Malta and Scotland) "Prima Materia". This title encapsulates his philosophical view of art making. It is the title of this publication which exists to make clear this philosophy. His new sculptures are sculpted from Table Mountain sand stone. It is in the form of a table whose supports are welded aluminium. There is an aluminium spiral ascending from a central hole in the stone with blue neon tube fitted to the spiral. The stone table top is covered by a glass plate fitting perfectly on the stone with a hole cut out of its centre with the words PRIMA MATERIA sand blasted on it at three points. This table-like sculpture exists for anyone who wishes to celebrate life as a journey where birth and death are seen as two aspects of new beginnings and where any human beings journey through life is seen to be a form of exploration in which through the language of art the realm inhabited by humanity can be seen to ascend to that of the angels. It is about the celebration of the eternal and mankind’s capacity to love all aspects of the natural world. It is a tribute to artists whose work Robert Slingsby would wish to honour: to Mario Merz and his table sculptures and his theory of the mathematical aspects of nature: to Ian Hamilton Finlay and his words expressed in concrete poetry; to Elizabeth Ogilvie and her concrete poetry engraved on transparent glass; to Joseph Beuys and his deepest philosophical questioning of PRIMA MATERIA . |
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Richard Demarco
