Artist Critique of Jan Maanda Tshikhuthula by Khehla Chepape Makgato 2011

Tshikhuthula’s depiction of rural landscapes and the public space in which it is received are not simply zones of entertainment but are active productions of knowledge in rural day to day moods along with the temporal occasion to display, discuss, and debate what it means to be raised in remote areas.

His charcoal drawings, wood and linocuts are lyrical, spiritual and poetic. ‘In this body of work I used various objects to depict my grandfather’s presence. For instance, the water pipe is a common feature as my grandfather used to work for a company that repaired water pump pipes. These pumps in urban standard are outdated but back home they are still in use and relied on by surrounding communities. Every time I come across an old pump, I remember my grandfather’ says Tshikhuthula. 

Tshikhuthula’s prints display an ever conscious awareness of his formative surroundings in Limpopo, subtly and almost subconsciously alluding to ethnic design and symbolism. His works are also self-exploratory, inward gazing and personal. It therefore establishes a dialogue between the inner or spiritual and actual physical surroundings. Every object depicted in his landscapes has a significant meaning to him and is used as a metaphor for his family members. For instance; Windmill represents his late grandfather who was a craftsman who dealt significantly with steel and plumbing.

Jan Tshikhuthula joins a long tradition of South African landscape printmakers and painters. In the past, Kim Berman, for an instance, used landscape as a metaphor for telling the historical truth in her art and further used landscape as a metaphor for a nation teetering on the brink of disaster, xenophobia and injustices. 

Most recently, Charles Mrwape, also a printmaker, used the landscape as a metaphor for social transformation and the developmental growth of his soul and conscience as an artist. On the other hand, Phillemon Hlungwani, who depicted landscapes to narrate his family situations from childhood to the days that he emerged into professional art practice.

The above mentioned artists (not unconsciously) happen to be Tshikhuthula’s great influences.

It seems very clear that Jan Tshikhuthula identifies himself with the land, not just ordinary land but his rural landscapes. In his art there is quality and diversity of rural nature. He addresses a stark and immediately recognisable reality of his human relations and reactions. His works of the Limpopo landscapes with their unique and independent visions express the mysteries which lay beneath as well as above the surface of the land. It is important to remember that even though Tshikhuthula had been constantly relocating from one place to another in his childhood he nevertheless retained his spiritual and personal vision which he now brings it to life in his art.

Many of his landscapes are devoid of figures as if the blessedness of the natural grandeur should not be contaminated by mere mortals. However, his metaphor signifies the existence of the human on the land. His works are extremely intimate, silent, even confined in a timelessness of stilled nature. These carefully conceived charcoal drawing glimpses depict the exotic nature of a giant African Baobab tree, the antique quality of a bridge imbuing it with a sense of tremendous order so to construct and constrain windows of a kind within a continent so huge and wide that an individual may be lost in the enormity of its endless expanse.

His art seems to have the right demeanour and visual voice for telling untold stories and giving silent messages that will be seen and heard for a long time. The pastel drawing tradition, a medium he also uses, presents an attempt to assert an alternative viability for landscape depiction. In the work titled: ‘Baobab’ it has surfaces and tones of density and luminosity surpassing any other landscape depictions in South Africa at this time.

‘In my portfolio, metaphors like the bucket and the Zion flag represent my parent(s). They too have joined me on my journey to find out more about the man I am named after. Our search for evidence and stories about my grandfather has changed our relationship; we have become closer and learned more about each other in our search. My art has helped me explain my life here to my parent and helped me to connect to my roots’ says Tshikhuthula.

 Mutakalo wa duvha, Hayani

                   

          

In his works there appears to be an attempt to dominate and control the turgid forces of the land, a way to purchase ownership of native land by shifting the perspective from a one point static view to that of an aerial veld overview. Space replaces the exotic, structure over detail giving a broad intimate and powerful narrative as opposed to ,or rather than a poetic translation. The mystique of ongoing creative production of Jan Tshikhuthula is certainly intriguing and rare, but it is the individual contribution which ultimately bears testimony to his singularity and geniusness.

Critique by: Khehla Chepape Makgato.

Date: 22 November 2011, Newtown, Johannesburg