bronze on a wooden base

Artwork date: 2013
Edition: AP from an edition of 1 + 1AP
Exhibited: Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, 'A Sculptural Premise', 28 November 2013 to 11 January 2014, an example from the edition exhibited.
Literature: 'A Sculptural Premise'. (2013). [Exhibition catalogue]. Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, 28 November 2013 to 11 January 2024, an example from the edition illustrated in colour on pp.45-46.
Location: Cape Town

(1)

90 x 162 x 120 cm excluding base; 235 x 162 x 120 cm including base

Provenance:

Private collection, Cape Town.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

In 2013 Stevenson hosted a group exhibition titled, A Sculptural Premise, which would bring together an array of phenomenal artists that have diverse approaches to the concept of the sculptural premise. Wim Botha showcased his brilliant Prism 8 sculpture, amongst prominent artists such as Kemang Wa Lehulere, Jane Alexander, Nandipha Mntambo, Nicholas Hlobo and Igshaan Adams. That year, Botha was also awarded the prestigious Helgaard Steyn Prize for sculpture.

Prism 8 forms part of the Prism series, a range of sculptures brought together by a similar evocation of dynamism and temporality. The title of the series alludes to Botha’s use of other artistic media in the conceptual armature of his sculptures – in particular painting, where colour and light stand in for the dimension of time and the depiction of movement. The series of works, combining both Christian and Greek mythology, are a divine exchange between heaviness and lightness, light and shadow. An impressive size, Prism 8 depicts an abstracted bird in flight, light in its gestures, yet solid in its materiality. The bronze is anchored to the floor with a wooden base which plays slightly with ideas of weight, as the bronze would weigh more than the wooden carrier. The wings in this work may also suggest more mythological references, for example the popular Greek tale of Icarus, who ignored headings to not fly too close to the sun with his wings made of wax and and feathers, but ignored the warning and ultimately fell to his demise on his way to the sun.

The meaning and intention is not always straightforward with Botha’s works, as the artists allows for mystery and elements of the sublime to speak for themselves. Chad Rossouw notably introduces Wim Botha work in his review of Linear Perspectives [1], a solo containing other evolutions of the Prism series, in a way that seems apt to approach most of Botha’s work:

I wanted to start this review with a chord by Beethoven, with maybe the sound of a storm and the clashing of tectonic plates. Because how else do you introduce a show so bathed with the sublime? [2]

^{[1] Linear Perspectives was a solo exhibition of Wim Botha’s work at Stevenson Cape Town, which took place between 26 February and 5 April 2014.}

^{[2] Rossouw, C. (2014). ‘Romantic or Empirical Perspectives: Wim Botha at STEVENSON in Cape Town’. [online]. Available: https://artthrob.co.za/Reviews/Chad_Rossouw_reviews_Romantic_or_Empirical_Perspectives_by_Wim_Botha_at_STEVENSON_in_Cape_Town.aspx}

NOTES:

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Spier Art Collection, Stellenbosch; Johannesburg Art Gallery; ABSA Bank Collection, Johannesburg; Nedbank Collection, Johannesburg; Sasol Art Collection, Johannesburg; University of Johannesburg; South African Reserve Bank Collection; Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg; SABC Collection, Johannesburg; University of Pretoria, Pretoria and the BHP Billiton collection, Australia.