Karel Nel: Status of Dust.

Art First New York and Hall & Knight New York City December 4, 2002-January 20, 2003

As contemporary art expands to become a more global phenomenon, growing attention has been paid to the diversity and breadth of contemporary African artists. Yet, in spite of this growth, these artists still encounter various constraints that are unmatched in the more established bastions of contemporary art such as the United States and Europe. The first sound bite I heard in reference to Karel Nel, whose first solo New York show, "Status of Dust" was installed at two locations, Art First New York and flail & Knight, described him as "a South African artist--but whose work is not political." The limitations of not only this negative definition but, more important, the assumption that all South African art need necessarily address the country's turbulent sociopolitical history became immediately apparent upon seeing Nel's work. Nel lives in South Africa, but much like the current state of contemporary art, may be best described as transnational: he spends six months of the year teaching at the School of the Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the rest of the year traveling the globe (London, New York, and many a more exotic locale). The materials he uses, and the work itself, illustrate how his travels inform Iris art and yield a discourse on history--not a history of South Africa, or of any specific place for that matter, but rather a history of earth.

The title of the exhibition derived literally front Nel's incorporation of earth or dust in the work. Categorically speaking, the art is minimalist in nature. The austere Monument includes earth collected from the void of Ground Zero in New York (Fig. 1). Nel utilizes less emotionally charged media in his other works, like black carboniferous material formed on the Gondwanaland landmass before the split ting of the continents, as in Zero (Fig. 2), or ochres gathered front various locales in Africa, as in Potent Fields. Going beyond the literal meaning, the exhibition explored the nuanced implications of the formless substance that is dust. At the heart of Nel's work is a dialogue--the terms that bind the interplay are interchangeable birth or death, alpha or omega, here or there, specific or universal, limited or infinite, past or present.

Nel operates most effectively on a large scale. This exhibition included four panels measuring 95" x 95" that are hinged at the middle to stand upright and form a gentle "V," enveloping the viewer when he or she stands close enough. One such screen, Zero, immediately drew the eye upon entrance to the Hall & Knight installation, albeit assisted by its simple and artful positioning in the center of the gallery and flanked by other works which then lead to Zero like a procession. Zero is simply that--an enormous golden-yellow circle set on a speculite-laced black background. The wall texts of the exhibition remained uncomplicated, providing only data: title, media, dimensions. The specific information of Zero's elemental composition (carboniferous material from Gondwanaland and yellow sand from City Deep, a gold mine in South Africa) combined with the simple geometric form of the term "zero," returned the viewer to a state of original contemplation, an ahistorical time before the continents and the appearance of man.

Yet, even apart from this knowledge, Nel is able to maintain meaning and overcome the critique most often leveled at minimalist art, namely that it is too esoteric, especially to those unfamiliar with art or art history. Nel achieves a universal aesthetic appeal via his use of simple, although immense, size and shape. When one was standing in front of Zero, the disc-like sun became a point of origin, a "zero" point set against a vast, sparkling black void that extended in all directions, positive and negative, toward infinity-analogous to the night sky. John Dewey and Maurice Merleau-Ponty were two of many philosophers to reaffirm the important role that subjective associations play in the artistic experience. The viewer is an active participant, not a passive recipient, in the dialectical relationship with the work of art, in this case, Nel's Zero. The audience, and by implication, their subjectivity as well, "fills in" the zero and completes the artwork, which becomes both universal and mutable. Nel's great accomplishment lies in his deft capacity to create a work that not only exists but thrives concurrently in each and all of these realms--the objective and the subjective, the specific and the universal.

Nel continued a discourse in smaller pieces as well, such as Initiatory Site. This piece (measuring 48" x 95") juxtaposes two perfectly square blocks of heavily textured color, one pink, the other yellow. As the flesh-like tones play off each other, the gritty, tactile nature of the surface tempts the touch of the viewer. Appropriately, further investigation into the context of the painting's creation leads to the discovery that the ochres used as pigments in the painting are also applied to the skin of participants in initiatory ceremonies in the Transkei region of South Africa. Not coincidentally, deeper investigation will reveal that the Transkei is also where Nelson Mandela was born and where he went through ritual initiation.

So, Karel Nel is not an overtly political artist. His work is wide in scope and multivalent in meaning, two characteristics that will grow and deepen not only upon further investigation into the work but also upon further personal rumination. Although new to U.S. collectors and museums, the artist has displayed ingenuity and potential to such a degree that curators in the Department of Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum deemed it appropriate to acquire a Nel for their own collection. This exhibition was a small but noteworthy step toward redefining contemporary African artists of indubitable promise, such as Karel Nel, as, simply, contemporary artists.

The catalogue Karel Nel: Status of Dust (Art First Contemporary Art, New York and London; 29 pp., 17 color illustrations, $10 softcover) contains essays by Jessica Dubow and David Bunn. It is available from Art First New York or Art First London.

Justin Marquis has studied at Georgetown University and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He currently works as a contractual writer in the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.