A critical analysis of South African underground comics
- Authors: Breytenbach, Jesse-Ann
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Underground comic books, strips, etc. -- South Africa -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2396 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002192
- Description: In a critical analysis of several independantly produced South African comics of the 1980s and early 1990s, close analysis of the comics leads to an assessment of the artists'intentions and purposes. Discussion of the artists' sources focuses on definitions of different types of comics. What is defined as a comic is usually what has been produced under that definition, and these comics are positioned somewhere between the popular and fine art contexts. As the artists are amateurs, the mechanical structure of comics is exposed through their skill in manipulating, and their initial ignorance of, many comic conventions. By comparison to one another, and to the standard format of commercial comics, some explanation of how a comic works can be reached. The element of closure, bridging the gaps between frames, is unique to comics, and is the most important consideration. Comic artists work with the intangible, creating from static elements an illusion of motion. If the artist deals primarily with what is on the page rather than what is not, the comic remains static. Questions of quality are reliant on the skill with which closure is implemented. The art students who produced these comics are of a generation for whom popular culture is the dominant culture, and they create for an audience of peers. Their cultural milieu is more visual than verbal, and often more media oriented than that of their teachers. They must integrate a fine art training and understanding into the preset rules of a commercial medium. Confronted with the problem of a separation of languages, they evolve a new dialect. Through comparative and critical analyses I will show how this dialect differs from the language of conventional comics, attempting in particular to explain how the mechanics of the cornie medium can limit or expand its communicative potential.
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- Date Issued: 1996
An exploration into the photo-transformation of the human form, through a research of its contemporary influential imagery and diversity within our culture
- Authors: Murphy, Alexandra Christina
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Photography, Artistic Photography of the nude Human figure in art Portrait photography
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2416 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002212
- Description: The purpose of this study is to look at how the figure is imaged through the photographic medium today. Through this purpose I aim to explore the individual expression of the photographer in his photographic medium; the expression of the figure within the medium and the diverse practises of this medium in society - to build up an awareness and understanding of the diverse representations of the human form. The general aims of study are: 1 - to study how these three photographers choose to photograph the figure, through their technical, compositional and individual approach. 2 - to show how diverse the usage of the photographic figure is in the visual world. 3 - to expose an awareness of the photographic figure as transformation of an expression of self. 4 - to show the relationship between the photographer and the figure, the camera and the photographer, the camera and the figure, and the photographic figure and the viewer. 5 - to study my own photographic imagery in relation to the other imagery discussed. My research information was collected through: observations, discussions, literature and practical exploration. This study will attempt to draw conclusions, from its explorations, that will highlight the importance of the individual eye: that it is the individual eye that becomes the vehicle of transformation.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The inner image: an examination of the life of Helen Elizabeth Martins leading to her creation The Owl House and A Camel Yard as outsider art
- Authors: Ross, Susan Imrie
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Sculptors -- South Africa -- Biography Martins, Helen Elizabeth, 1897-1976 Owl House (Nieu Bethesda, South Africa) Art brut Women artists -- South Africa Nieu bethesda (South africa) -- Description and travel Primitivism in art Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) Artists -- Psychology Symbolism in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2430 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002227
- Description: The Owl House is situated in the Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda, and the person responsible for its creation, Helen Elizabeth Martins (1897-1976), is South Africa's best known Outsider artist. A number of newspaper and magazine articles, television programmes, radio interviews, play, films, short stories, theses and art works have resulted directly from her work. Interest in The Owl House continues to grow, with visitors coming from all over South Africa, and various parts of the world,to visit it. The Owl House was Helen Martins' home for most of her 78 years. During the last 30 or so years of her life she devoted all her time and energy to transforming the interior of her house into a glistening fantasy world of colour and light, using crushed glass stuck to almost every surface, coloured glass pane inserts in the walls, mirrors of many sizes and shapes, and countless paraffin lamps and candles. She called her garden' A Camel Yard', and filled it with over 500 cement statues, structures and bas reliefs. All the labour involved, apart from crushing and sorting the coloured glass, was provided by at least four different men, who assisted her over the years, Johannes Hattingh, Jonas Adams, Piet van der Merwe and Koos Malgas, though Helen Martins was the inspiration and director behind it all. Through a study of Helen Martins' background and life, and their effects upon her psyche, a rigorous attempt has been made to reach some understanding of why she became a recluse, and what caused her to create this unique body of work comprising her entire domestic environment. She became increasingly asocial as her life progressed, and ultimately ended it by committing suicide in 1976. Through the universality of symbolism, the meanings of the subjects, themes and concerns which she chose to depict are studied. Then, together with some knowledge of her life and personal influences, an attempt has been made to deduce what it was that Helen Martins was trying to express and work through in her creations. This study also led to an awareness of the fact that, although each one is unique, there are many examples of Outsider Art throughout the world. Fundamentally, creators of Outsider Art remain asocial in relation to their cultural milieu and cultural context. Some other examples of Outsider Art, both in South Africa as well as in Europe and India, were visited, and are described and compared with The Owl House as well as with one another. The way in which society reacts or responds to Outsider Art and its creators is studied through the comprehensive records of one specific case which caused great controversy in Johannesburg during the 1970s. Ultimately, working alone or with assistance, it is the Outsider artist who is the driving force behind these unique works, and whose indefinable inner fire of passion alone makes it possible to bring them into being. It would seem that the fascination with Outsider Art is that through their work, creators allow others a glimpse into a different sense of reality which is both mysterious and inexplicable.
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- Date Issued: 1996