Dario Matter at Erdmann Contemporary
by Kim Gurney
In his solo début entitled 'Discomfort', Dario Matter transforms the Erdmann Gallery into an animated graveyard with his contemporary take on the tombstone. Instead of memorialising a person's life, however, he asks us to recall uncomfortable aspects of everyday moments.
We are about to have some fun with this odd-looking bicycle, these tools or that strange piece of meat when a sharply placed bit of text or incongruous form bursts our bubble. All is not as it seems. New meaning becomes apparent and one of two things happens: the smile is smartly wiped from our face, or a new one develops.
The former strategy is evident in Body Tools where a slab of marble on a steel trolley forms the apparatus for some unknown procedure. A bowl is hewn from the marble surface, pitted at the base, and to the right some ominous tools lie in their hollows. To the left, a bone rests in a sunken form. The words 'Body Tools' are engraved on the side of the marble slab.
The intimate size of the work is uncomfortable: it suggests as much a dissection table as a service tray for eating. Food and death are intertwined. Animal and human references are also fudged, and the bone and term 'body' are ambiguous. The harsh trolley, cold marble slab and tools contrast with the softer organic bone and concave bowl. The wheels suggest function and question location.
The work continues to confound the viewer and allows multiple readings. It is one of the more successful because it is not didactic. It is suggestive and satisfying to contemplate.
The opposite is true of Sexually Abused, where the visual devices employed lack the same flair. A girl's dress with a flower engraved on one side and the words 'sexually abused' on the other, is supported by a steel structure. Crushed glass lies on the floor around its base.
Toyboy is a fun, concise piece: a masked marble creature with oversized ears and no arms, smooth and good-looking but ultimately useless, is carted around on a steel trolley. This kind of simple visual pun is continued in other takes on the exhibition's theme. Uncomfortable is a chair with pointed marble seating for a cushion.
A series of accompanying Polaroid photographs comprises images of herbal healers, playgrounds, graffiti and inner city spaces. Their connection, both to each other and the rest of the exhibition, is not that clear. Matter's daily walks in Salt River apparently inspired both his photography and sculpture.
Matter is a trained stone sculptor and graduate of Michaelis School of Fine Art. He has exhibited primarily in Switzerland. This is his first solo show in Cape Town. Rooting his art in a more conceptual foundation has been one of his challenges in the past.
'Discomfort' certainly holds together under its theme, which has been broadly interpreted in this range of sculptures. Because each work is such a different take on the overall theme without reference to the other pieces on show, the exhibition risks losing its thread. But Matter's strongly developing personal visual language ultimately ties individual works of varying quality together.
Opens: July 6
Closes: August 13
Erdmann Contemporary
63 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town
Tel: (021) 422 2762
Fax: (021) 422 3278
Hours: Tue-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 12am-2pm
www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za
