Exhibited

Jorike Langerman (2011) Diek Grobler: An Artist's Monograph with Interactive Catalogue Part I, unpublished Master of Arts dissertation, University of South Africa, Cape Town.

Notes

The idea of painting the religious theme was prompted by an encounter in a Dutch bar in which a group of elderly tourists had assembled around an oval table for refreshments. The moment of waiting for the beverages to arrive presented a scene of joyous gathering which contrasted to the spectre of their age and mortality. ... While the figure of Christ is absent, a suggestion of spiritual presence may be read in the strong central, but invisible light source. The scene is set on what seems like a frozen lake, on which the figures are clearly waiting, clutching worthless little attributes such as a stone, a bus ticket, a cigarette butt, a feather. ... [T]he side panels in my depiction suggest an unattainable moment. This reading is supported by the different perspectives used in the panels as well as the contrasting landscapes. The central panel, in its tipped perspective, achieves a claustrophobic effect in its limited and flattened space, while the view beyond the tables with the bread and wine in the side panels, plunges into deep landscape. ... The scene presents the viewer with a "pregnant moment" in which the religious theme of the Eucharist with its ritual significance of communion is frustrated. ... [T]he "pregnant moment" presents a moment in the action that reveals al [sic] that had led up to it, and all that would follow. ... [T]he suspended poses of the figures give no evidence that any significant action preceded the portrayed moment or will follow it, implying an eternal waiting.

- Diek Grobler