The facets of life

David Koloane: He reinvented, rediscovered the facets :

Gwen HERAT

One day, the child thought, I will create my own world. He was fascinated by the many facets of life and was filled with an inner confidence in what they all would be. He struggled within to comprehend their meaning but was too young to focus on their realities.

The little boy was David Keloane, destined to be South Africa's greatest painter or one among the few. From an early age, he reinvented, rediscovered its possibilities and reinvented alternatives and announce to his people that beauty belonged to all and to be shared equally.

With the passing of years, his mind was filled with a new awareness. He read not only about South Africa but about the rest of the continent upon which the suns of independence were rising. Suddenly, he leapt from his chair.

The sun? he thought. It is the same and only sun that rise on the world, in all countries; on every nation, on every individual in equal warmth. The thought fired his imagination. How was he going to react. Yes, in colour and tone. For the young Koloane, black was supreme not because of his colour of skin or of his nation but because of the hidden radiance coming from the centre of life. He knew that he can dive in this depth and reach the unknown territories. Koloane visualised the power of colour. It had ingrained pearls of laughter. The light danced within it, bounced back and forth, sliding and swirling. Black and white together could paint the whole world, Together they produced all shades of grey.

And green? He found hope in it. In Red, blood and anger. Blue was like the sky or like good spirits. Koloane would sit in solitude and ponder about their potential when writing beckoned him which was the starting point in his artistic career. Books became his constant companion especially those that questioned the unjust system. He said that during aparteid many of the titles were banned.

Koloane's early education came from books that came into the country in the suitcases of travellers from abroad and also from booksales from charities where under heaps of old and second hand copies one could fish out banned books and literature like gems lost in the dust. All these experiences made young Koloane more determine to play his part in society. He imagined stories, carved poems while his first love remained writing.

But he had another medium that was stirring within that was to beguile and ravish the art scene in his beloved but tormented country. But nothing destined Koloane to become a painter. There were no easily identified models or works of Masters. Koloane voiced his feeling aloud. 'Creativity is as remote as its distance from Johannesburg to the sea. We have to find creativity if creativity did not find us'.

These words rang loud and clear as I spanned the length and breadth of Johannesburg's art centres trying to locate and recreate his activity but no curator was interested in updating me on this fascinating painter or they were simply bored about their art. My daughter and I found them to be an exhausted nation until the National Arts Council of South Africa where he had been a member since 1997. He had been the curator here and at a number of international group shows where his works had been featured that included the Venice Biennale. 'Knock and the door shall open', I thought to myself. By this time, my daughter, Parveen was exhausted and had waned off her feelings to discover South African art but then she had a determined mother as every thing ended well. We both became fascinated by the art of David Koloane.

David Koloane was born in 1938 in Alexandra township of Johannesburg. He studied art at the Bill Ainslie Studio in Joahhensubrg and later completed the Diploma in Museum Studies at the University of London. This was the break he was waiting for. Overnight his reputation was established both nationally and internationally as a pioneer black artist in apartheid South African from the mid 1970.

But when I asked my SA colleague about Koloane, she shook her head. Never heard of the guy' she said. I was annoyed. 'What about Shaun Pollok? Her eyes lit as she rattled off the names of the SA African National team. I was disgusted. So much so for some South Africans.

Curator, artist, writer, arts administrator, he was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Fund Award in the Netherlands and is the co founder of the Fordsburg Artists Studio. David Koloane's art reflects the socio-political landscape of South Africa, both past and present. The condition crated by the apartheid system have to a large extent transfixed the human catastrophe as the axis around which his work presented.

New forms of artistic expression such as abstraction were not the real option for the black South African artist who was encouraged only to stay within the confines of 'township' art which assumed the genre did not require formal instruction. The artist had little chance of evolving towards a more complex discourse. It was in this atmosphere that Koloane had to balance himself. He was yet young and not quite ready to paint until he met Jacob Mahole and together from the primary, they developed into painting and jazz among others. After leaving school, Koloane had to do odd jobs to help towards his father's illness but was able to hold his first exhibition along with the well known sculptor, Michal Zondi. By this time Koloane had decided to dedicate his lifetime for art. He commenced the determination by painting the white walls of his studio with black charcoal figures, forming them into panel drawing. The haze that spread a veil on Johannesburg at times, and which also made the night more mysterious was captured by Koloane in blurred images.

They were drawn into scenes of chaotic life that encompassed darkness and in which neon lights added to the sense of alienation. Technically he worked from dark to light and was aware that an artist had no control on his work once started. Within life, he observed, there is death.

His consciousness as well as in his work, Koloane had a strong yearning towards elevation of the soul that would free the human being from their indiffernces and self-inflicted misery.

Koloane never sought his answers through religion or spirituality and was careful about the independence of his mind. He explored the transcendental mediation and it seemed to suit him best. Thus rose the greatness of David Koloane's art for the world.

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