Untitled

Object Details

Kagiso Pat Mautloa, born 1952, South Africa

Label Text

Mautloa's abstract works are concerned with scale, size and texture and are saturated with color. They focus on life in the townships, creating compositions in which the harshness and simple beauties of life coexist. Mautloa is able to bring the environments of township life into the gallery space through careful manipulations of found materials such as metals, barbed wire, cloth, nails and weeds, enveloping them all in a serene palette of pastel blues, pinks, grays and yellows.

In this work, Mautloa addresses the impact of AIDS upon the everyday life of township residents, crafting the barbed wires that separate the haves and the have nots in South Africa into a soothing heart shape. The canvas is opened to reveal the window of an apothecary dispensing small viles of local medicine (healing and aphrodisiac potions). The brutality associated with the barbed wire and metal grill fences is softened by the application of a soft medical gauze that coats the canvas. The gauze also suggests the veil of misunderstanding and secrecy surrounding the contraction and implications of HIV status.

Description

Large mixed media, primarily abstract work in pink, orange pastel palette. The texture and surface of the composition is build up through an additive collage process and overlaid with a thin layer of medical gauze. A small rectangle is cut into the canvas and fronted by a wire cage to reveal within a number of small viles. Barbed wire and scrap metal are shaped into a heart form and a vague figurative form to complete the composition.

Exhibition History

Healing Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 2016 - June 26, 2019

Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 18, 2002-January 5, 2003

Content Statement

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Image Requests

High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by the Annie Laurie Aitken Endowment

2000

Object number

2000-23-1

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© 2000 K.P. Mautloa

Type

Painting

Medium

Mixed media on wood

Dimensions

H x W: 122.5 x 110 cm (48 1/4 x 43 5/16 in.)

Geography

South Africa

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National Museum of African Art Collection

National Museum of African Art

Record ID

nmafa_2000-23-1

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys75bcb091c-4f34-4da8-a053-c8aee604cb07