implicit art

Sean Slemon’s latest body of work strikes an almost sublime balance between the frivolous, and the momentous. Both a departure from, and continuation of, his last series – which saw three Gauteng solo shows, and won him the Sasol New Signatures award in 2005 – it accents the absurdity, and necessity, of space.

In an informal chat with Slemon while browsing through images of his work, we talked about how architecture is really just a carving out, a framing, of Nothing. His pieces literally draw out this relationship.

Slemon follows beams of light from a windowpane to the floor, and builds solid-but-transient structures of string around them. There’s a witty lightness – literally and metaphorically – to these constructions, which have to make you smile. They are performances within performances, ephemeral arrangements that play off the daily magic of the setting sun. The impossibility of the light’s refractions and distortions, played up by occasional twists or turns in the string, is almost surreal. Slemon simultaneously extrudes, maps and warps light and space, curiously, rather than forcefully.

But there’s also an incredible weight to the questions these installations implicitly ask.  What would the world be like if we could build a home out of light and shadow? What would it mean to Soweto, to New Orleans? Conversely, Slemon highlights the commoditization of Nothing, the sociopolitical questions around finance and ownership. Who gets to build, sell or live inside?

In another of Slemon’s works, he gained legal permission from the Chief of Forestry
at New York City’s Parks and Recreation Department to  down several dead street trees, throughout the island of Manhattan. The hassle of obtaining a permit and finally securing the trees, from what it sounds like, was a comedy of bureaucratic errors worthy of Telkom-like performance art on its own. The plan from here is to splice these trees in half and install a sculptural forest within the confines of a public foyer.  Again, Slemon interrogates notions of inside/outside, growth and light, but with a nuanced allusion to death and the cityscape. The genius is in its simplicity, and how comfortable windows and trees make us feel, even in a restricted space.

For Solid Light, Sean Slemon’s solo show @ David Krut Arts Resource, he will create one of his site-specific window/light installations, and is producing a series of etchings that both document and dialogue with the aforementioned works. These are drawings that portray light-casted edifices, interior forests, and memorialized street trees – all relaying a tangible softness and careful humor, with his trademarked hint to larger uncertainties.

Slemon’s work is fragmentation, distortion and refraction, framed. From his new sketches that turn trees into bound marionettes, to his now-known possession of space through careful measuring, he is confusing our notions of constitution, and asking us to enjoy being confused. Don’t miss this fascinating exhibition @ David Krut Arts Resource on Thursday June 22nd at 18:00.