Notes

An unfolding in time (2021) is emblematic of the artist’s evolving and explorative body of work with the humble toothpick. Tonality in the work comes from the combination of toothpicks made respectively from birch wood and bamboo, and leaves the impression of having organically grown out of the wall to occupy the same space we reside in. Suggestive of pelts, animal skins, coral, and organic forms, the work speaks to a relationship between nature and culture that needs addressing in the face of the pressing ecological concerns of our time.

The title acknowledges the laborious making of the work, while also acknowledging the time that the birch wood and bamboo would have taken to grow before being reduced to the sliver that is momentarily utilised and then forever discarded. Form can only come through careful observation and patient working.

Chris Soal is an award-winning, emerging South African artist. Soal’s studio-based practice is sculptural in its output, working with objects and materials in ways which show not only a conceptual engagement with the contexts and histories of the objects but also re-enforce the body as a site for knowledge reception and production. Soal’s works seek to make a poetic statement through the simplest of means, engaging the viewer’s spatial awareness and perception while challenging societal assumptions of value. Through his use of discarded and mundane ephemera, such as toothpicks and bottle caps, along with concrete, rebar, electric fencing cable, and other industrial materials,

Soal’s work intuitively develops the familiar to the point of the uncanny. Soal’s works can be considered as a social abstraction that is deeply rooted and reflective of having grown up in Johannesburg, South Africa. Foregrounding our current pressing ecological concerns, the artist’s works with toothpicks primarily consider and seek to expose the paradoxical relationship humankind has with nature, that of simultaneous dependence and domination.

Biography courtesy of the artist. Images courtesy of Hayden Phipps and the artist.

Provenance

Private Collection.