In Hobby Heroes Luan Nel appropriates the miniscule plastic figures from specialist train set kits, so beloved of the Hobbyists for whom trains, and anything to do with them, are a life-sustaining passion. He stages these surprisingly idiosyncratic figures, ranging from punks to boy scouts, in a number of curious situations…. Read the complete Hobby Heroes text by Yvette Greslé.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A joint exhibition with Hentie Van Der Merwe at The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

‘Rose’ Oil on canvas, 50cm x 70cm

‘Holmese Poirot’ Oil on canvas, 50cm x 60cm

‘Lake’ Oil on canvas, 50cm x 60cm

‘Remember Joseph’ 50cm x 60cm

KAPOK/WIND

This installation was part of the project Silence/Violence curated by Greg Streak in Nieuw Bethesda and Durban respectively. Kapok/Wind was part of the Silence exhibition. I attempted to speak about silence by mimicing snowfall (kapok). This was done by tying 2,400 meters of white ribbon to the landscape. The landscape read like a drawing only animated with the help of the wind blowing through the ribbons. Wind by its nature is air in its active and violent state. I tried to show that silence and violence are rarely popular opposites.

NIGHT/LIGHT

This work took place in Durban as part of the Violence exhibition of the project Silence/Violence. Similarly to the work in Nieuw Bethesda, I attempted to speak about the subject – in this case – Violence through its popular opposite, Silence. I created a segment of landscape within the gallery, and placed a child’s night-light in the form of a goose at the darkest end of this passage.

 

With this body of work I explored the concept home, specifically my sense of home/place whilst living in a foreign country. During my two years living and working in the Netherlands, whilst at The Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, I experienced a true sense of being ‘foreign’ for the first time in my life. It was a very sobering experience. During this time I still maintained my long term relationship with my partner in South Africa. We managed regular visits due to his accepting all conference invitations in The Netherlands and Belgium. On each of these trips KLM (airlaine) presented the passenger with one of these collectable vessels shaped like dutch houses. In a very direct way they speak about ‘home’ but by receiving them only when my partner visits deepened this meaning.” – Luan Nel

 

 

This work was first exhibited on The Sasol New Signatues exhibition at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn. It was curated by Clive van den Berg. The images were originally captured in 1999 whilst I was in a research residency at The Dutch Institute in Rome. I was intrigued by the fascist architectural projects of Mussolini. The Stadio dei Marmi being a prime example. By taking these ‘faulty, blurry’ photographs the image tends to ‘unhinge’ Suddenly the mosaic divers on the back wall seem animated, ready to join the very real polo players in the pool. If anything the picture has a subtle sexual romance to it. This in total contrast to its initial intent to parade a fascist bravado.” – Luan Nel

 

Onthou:

Vergeet:

Vergeet (detail):

For the Exhibition ‘Lustwarande, Pleasure Garden’ in Tillburg, The Netherlands. Curated by Chris Driessen and Marianne Brouwer.

This work is an extension of the work ‘Pa se Tent‘ (My Father’s Tent), 1997: an inflatable house, simulating the home where I lived with my father at thirteen, this work attempted to deal with memory, the relationship between father and son, and growing up to be an Afrikaner man. With this work I initially wanted to dig the foundations of this house into the landscape, in order to map my history in a certain way. This developed into the work I have now: filling these foundations with water, shaping canals as letters which reflect the environment. The words “ONTHOU” and “VERGEET” (Remember and Forget) also reflect, and deflect each other. I wished to use this work not just as a mimic of the house’s foundations but to write about memory.

Luan Nel’s installation ONTHOU VERGEET for the exhibition Lustwarende/Pleasure Garden (2000) under fascilitation of Fundament Foundation.

 

This work was part of the Urban Futures Project in Johannedburg, 2000. It involves a bronze sculpture of a pigeon like to ones found in public spaces and on top of public sculptures. Due to inner city crime, many of the existing bronzes are stolen to be sold for scrap metal. This will be the inevitable fate of this bird. I am attempting to use crime as a medium to speak about loss. – Luan Nel

A citywide installation in Johannesburg for ‘The Urban Futures’ project in 2000.

Bronze sculptures of a pigeon were glued (epoxi – bond) into the sites in various public spaces ie. Joubert Park and Ghandi Square. They were all missing by the next day.

Set of 5 photographs, done in collaboration with Ilya Rabinovich. These were taken on the Dutch coastline, behind the seawalls, facing the North Sea.