CR: But the content too is quite different from your normal stuff;, navel-gazing, self-reflexive superstar stuff.
EY: I recently looked at my previous work; I was sifting through it, redoing my portfolio, as one does. Looking at the work it is quite political, but it’s never been overtly political because I think I focused it on myself. Which is always fun, because I could. Because I’m white and a fuckhead.
CR: Does making a sculpture of Desmond Tutu make you less of a fuckhead?
EY: Not really. Maybe.
CR: Less white?
EY: We are all black when the lights go out. But really, I realised that a lot of the work was political. It wasn’t that obvious, it used a lot of humour and it used myself, but it stems from the same concerns that Arch did.
CR: What do you see as your politics?
EY: I think it is political in the sense that it is just me. It's such a personal thing. I am very, very aware of the country’s context and I’m very, very aware of where I come from. It is completely weird and sinister when you look back on it. It was always there. Not that I am dealing with Afrikaner identity altogether. I don’t think I was so aware of what I was doing in my own work when I was doing it. As much as it was navel-gazing - and it pretty much still is - it's not just looking at me. I might be critiquing stuff and I might not. I don’t know where I’m going with this, Chad. Don’t ask me about politics.
CR: The comparison is begging to be made between this work and Maurizio Cattelan’s sculptures.
EY: Cattelan has always been a big inspiration for me and I’ve always wanted to make work like that. It’s just a pity that my first Cattelan piece, so to speak, has to be a political one, because it pushes the comparison. But I’ve always liked that way of working, and I’ve always wanted to be able to do that. A lot of the works I’ve been putting down on paper were like that, in terms of medium at least.
CR: Superreal sculpture?
EY: That and working with big production people that actually know what they are doing, in quite an interesting way.
CR: Tell me more about the production.
EY: I realised it was too big for me to do, so I asked Clare van Zyl from Monkey Films if they would produce it. They have a small sideline in producing art works like Sue Williamson’s Better Lives and Brett Murray’s thing in the Convention Centre. I didn’t even know how to start budgeting this thing, or how to cut down on budget. It’s quite strange to work with a producer rather than a curator, which is how I normally work. It’s less flowery, less and more conceptual and more ‘get it done’.
CR: The film industry always does it better.
EY: It’s the art industry. I think the nice thing about having big companies produce these things, like CFX who did the actual modeling and engineering, it it allows you to concentrate a bit more.
CR: So what was it like meeting the Arch?
EY: Well, I’ve always wanted to meet him, but I was a bit scared. A few days before the opening, I just wanted it to be over. And then he arrived, and he looked at me and laughed, pulled a fist at me. The first words he said after his opening speech was 'I’ll send you bad dreams'. I got a fright.
CR: Do you think the sculpture is offensive?
EY: Not at all. I think what freaked him out is the likeness. There are many other sculptures, but this one really looks like him. He said I got the nose right.
CR: Did you chat?
EY: We did for a little bit, but there were quite a few people who wanted to take photographs and stuff. In the end he asked me why I did it. I told him about this talk he gave at my graduation. It was a whole lot of Science students and Commerce students and Business and the Art School fuckups graduating at the same time.
CR: What was his speech about?
EY: He asked me at the opening and I said, 'Just a load of rubbish'. Then unfortunately he got pulled away to do some more photographs, so I never told him what his speech was. He couldn’t remember. It was too long ago. But it was basically about the current generation and our future. And acknowledging different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities and the role of everyone in the future. Pretty much predicting our current state.
CR: Do you think using a public figure like Tutu in the sculpture is a purposeful publicity magnet?
EY: I don’t think it was meant to be a publicity magnet, and actually it hasn’t been. Also because of the delay with the openings we didn’t push it in the media as much. It also wasn’t an attempt to get lots of people at the opening, because we kept it small and private because of the 'big speaker - small gig' scenario. Although obviously it does attract attention. For me Tutu is probably the most important individual at present in South Africa. Tutu is the first thing I think of when thinking about democracy. It wasn’t necessarily going to be a figurative sculpture. But that’s what it turned out to be. It was funny. It made me happy when I thought about it. It was a cool thing to make.
CR: So what do you think it means?
EY: Its pretty much a one-liner isn’t it? It’s optimistic and it’s sarcastic.
CR: Besides being an important political figure, he is also a serious religious figure.
EY: For Tutu himself, I think he combines it quite well. I’m not particularly religious myself, but I do respect people’s heritage and beliefs. I think if it takes something like religion to create the kind of hope he generates, it's ok.
CR: How does it feel to be sweet and optimistic?
EY: It’s a bit tricky being sweet. I’ll go back to being mean quite soon.
