Willie Bester 34Long
by Linda Stupart
Nobody would come to Willie Bester's opening with me. My friends who usually attend any openings all looked at me with cynical eyes saying: but it's Willie Bester, we did him in high school, we all know what his work looks like and he's been recycling that same protest junk art forever. I must admit, I agreed. However, when I took myself down to 34Long, I found an exhibition that is largely unpredictable, delicate and complex and with a humorous cynicism that puts all us young 'uns to shame.
Bester's sculptures in 'METALized' do indeed tend to centre around recycling. His found debris - tin cups, car parts etc. - sometimes retains its original form (as in the cups in Staatkundige Ontwikkeling) but sometimes loses its functional identity as it becomes part of a carefully sculpted whole. What loads Bester's materials so though, is that there is never an attempt to deny their history. The idea of thrown away cultural and domestic debris is retained even through the most delicate of sculptures. These are not car parts that have been carefully sanded and polished and given art status, but rather discarded pieces of a machine that have been welded together to construct an organic figure whose body has already been exposed to a long and tumultuous life.
A security guard and dog stand guard at the entrance of the chandeliered exhibition space at 34Long. Though the pair recall Bester's famous snarling dogs and policemen from the 2001 Goodman exhibition, 'The Dogs of War' they are quite different. The 2001 show, particularly the disturbing Who Let the Dogs Out referred largely to the infamous TV broadcast which showed an SAPS 'training exercise' where Mozambiquan immigrants were used as live bait for their German shepherds. Teef (Bitch) shows a dog with the sweet face of a house pet welded to the strained and distorted body of an attacker. This dog seems to be a victim turned bad, and makes a wry commentary on the abuse, particularly of women, that can in turn lead to hatred, violence and defensiveness.
The beautifully detailed and uncharacteristically finished New Arrival of 2005 also echoes an earlier piece - Thobeka Leaving, 2001. In New Arrival, Mrs Zembe from Cofimvaba is optimistically striding towards a new life in the city, though she is rather encumbered by her hefty suitcase. Thobeka is leaving her previous life with a similar stride and purpose. It seems almost as if Mrs Zembe might just be a portrait of Thobeka, four years down the line with a new dress and a new physique all she has to show for herself.
Bester's two large works on the show, Staatkundige Ontwikkeling (State Development) and Poverty Driven, both of 2002, use the aesthetics and histories of their recycled media to create two new highly malevolent machines. Though I don�t feel the figurative painting elements of these works is strictly necessary, the pieces are successful largely through the wry puns embedded in their titles. The detail and dark humour created in the white Afrikaner sausage factory of Staatkundige Ontwikkeling is particularly cutting, entertaining and effective.
Two less typical wall pieces, Oortreders (trespassers) and Restricted Area both of 2004, were surprising to me in their apparent whimsy. The pieces consist of tableaux created with generic plastic toys and mounds of wiring framed inside a flayed petrol can. Across the plastic which contains these scenes of policewomen and mini-time bombs, warnings are stenciled in the mode of official state signage. These threats seem to mock not only the sentiments of these mini-marvels but also any vestige of control that these pale figures might exert from behind a screen of history.
Bester's other pieces, House 216 of 2005, Guitar, 2001 and Social Engineering, 2004/5 are less impressive, though the painting in the last is skillful. Amongst the vast, complex and well considered pieces in the show the sick sentiment in Houseand pretty craft of Guitar seem to be included to flesh out a show that is already more than complex enough.
Despite these disappointing works and the distinctly silly title of the show, Bester's exhibition is strong and interesting and proves the artist is capable of developing further. The professionalism of this new gallery, from the perfect lighting to apt curatorial decisions, also help make this show a success. In essence, this is an exhibition well worth seeing.
Opened: September 6
Closes: October 8
34 Long
34 Long Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 426 4594
Email: fineart@34long.com
www.34long.com
Hours: Tue - Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 2pm
