Democratic Intuition

Résumé du livre

"Democratic Intuition (2013-2019) is an eight-chapter project that questions conceptions of democracy in relation to the daily lived experiences of southern Africans. Mokgosi examines the ways in which democracy can be thought of as inscribed in the individual by various institutions and through processes of socialization and intersubjective exchange. As a result, the project reveals the inherent contradiction between one's supposed individual freedoms and the necessary recognition of and interaction with the other in democracy. This exhibition brings together works from seven of the eight chapters of the project (Exordium; Comrades; Lerato; Lex; Acts of Resistance; Objects of Desire; and Chimurenga) in a unique opportunity to view the progression of Mokgosi's contemplation and investigation of democratic ideals. The content of the work is based on images of southern African life, art history, and the artist's extensive research. Influenced by cinematic theory, Mokgosi storyboards each chapter and installs his canvases to mimic the filmstrip, creating narrative juxtapositions that communicate and complicate meaning. Drawing from history painting and propaganda, Mokgosi includes iconographic details in his compositions that may not be recognized or understood by a Western audience. By combining broadly legible themes with pointed, specific imagery, Mokgosi encourages a desire in the viewer to understand a history beyond what is already known. In addition to his choice of imagery, a reconsideration of the technique of painting itself is central to Mokgosi's work. In choosing a highly realistic style, he points to pre-photographic celebrations of painting that equated mastery with an ability to convincingly portray the world, as well as to the twentieth century's adoption of realism for political propaganda and advertising. In some panels, passages of striking realism are surrounded by seemingly unfinished areas where the canvas was primed with clear gesso. Beyond calling attention to the fact that these images were not generated from a literal or symbolic white background, these glimpses of beige canvas disrupt any sense of illusionism and acknowledge the limits of all pictures in fully representing our world and ourselves ..."--Gallery website jackshainman.com accessed 16.08.2021