Notes

Drawing is central to Karel Nel’s worldly, science-interested practice. “For me drawing has always been a kind of reconnaissance, a means to explore the world around me,” he has stated.¹ This drawing was produced shortly after Nel returned to Johannesburg from an extended period abroad, notably at the University of California at Berkeley where he was a Fulbright Scholar (1988-89) and Simpson Fellow (1991). It evidences his accumulative style of drawing where “fugitive but precise” elements are layered to create the final composition.² The work forms part of a series of drawings portraying rod-like objects. “The rod is a signifier of transition and power in many cultures,” says Nel, who is an accomplished scholar of sacral objects from pre-capitalist societies.³ The juxtaposition of the flare-like red object with a similarly scaled black rod is purposeful and speaks to the artist’s interest in mental (or eidetic) imagery. The work was acquired directly from Nel’s studio by architects Meyer Pienaar & Partners, and thereafter passed on.

¹ Nel, Karel. (1999) Wedge, Johannesburg: Wits. Unpaginated catalogue for staff exhibition of Department of Fine Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, at NSA Gallery, Durban.

² Burroughs, Elizabeth. (2015) Karel Nel: Observe, London: Art First. Page 15.

³ Telephonic interview with artist, 20 April 2016

Literature

Siebrits, Warren. (March 2009) Exit Ahead Push Trolley Now, Johannesburg. Illustrated, unpaginated.