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.

 

This project ‘Kisheniev-Johannesburg’ was a collaboration with the Moldovan-Israeli artist Ilya Rabinovich.

In 1999 we did two journeys together to our respective places of earliest memory. In Rabinovich’s case Kisheniev in Moldova and in my case Johannesburg, South Africa. We did two separate bodies of work investigating ideas concerning memory and often memory’s failure to present any concrete, tangible truth. Rabinovich worked exclusively photographically and I worked in Oil on Canvas. We both explored video but mainly in the sense of travelogue.

View on Ilya Rabinovich’s site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Sad Songs’ is compilation of various artists’ ‘sad’ songs… chosen from pop and other music.

Compiled/curated by Bojan Sarcevic.

 

This is an installation that involves the painting of miniature figures at the bottom of the wall touching the floor. The space should be as anonoymous and white as possible. This is yet another work which does not translate well in slide documentation. The overall effect on the viewer is one of searching: it took people rather long to realise that these were images on the skirting board.

 

 

In his solo exhibition ‘Paper’ at the Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet, Cape Town, Nel painted on pieces of paper gathered throughout his life. These bits of paper can be anything from old Army Call-up papers to a discarded post-it from a few days ago. He paints various scenes and fragments of narrative on this chosen ‘canvas’

 

‘Pa se Tent’ form the exhibition Taking Stock at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1997.

“My work is a white Teflon inflatable, entitled Pa se Tent, which …is an almost exact replica of the house we lived in in Verwoerdburg Park in Alberton when I was 14 years old. The white house inflates and deflates at regular intervals, creating the illusion of breathing …” – Luan Nel

A one-night exhibition of murals in the disused 6th floor parking lot of The Carltong Centre in the centre of Johannesburg.