• Home
  • PERFORMANCE
  • VIDEO/INSTALLATIONS
  • OBJECTS
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT

Feeds:
Posts
Comments

…….Sculptures with Guy Du Toit

Johan Thom

These bronze and mixed media sculptures were all made from a mould drawn directly from the elephant skull.

For FLAY I, II & III Thom and Du Toit used a single section of the mould to create a series of new, organic forms that they loosely referred to as ‘in’ and ‘out’ shapes: These shapes are in fact simply reverse cast of the same area of the skull – the backside of the head, to be precise. In this way the artists created a central negative shape flanked on either side by two positive shapes. These negative and positive shapes act like spouts from or into which grey polyurethane foam liquid could run and grow into solid shapes.  In this way a section of bone is animated, becoming alive in a sculptural, almost visceral materiality.

Johan Thom

Johan Thom and Guy du Toit

Flay I, II and III (2013)

Bronze and Polyurethane foam

Dimensions as shown here: 1550 x 2800 x 50cm

Johan Thom

Johan Thom and Guy du Toit

Elephant Skull Plate I

Bronze

Dimensions: 145 (h) x 170 (w) x 50 cm (b)

For ELEPHANT SKULL PLATE I Thom and Du Toit recast the entire elephant skull as a flat, relief type shape: the sillicone mould of the skull was literally opened up and folded out like one might do with a rectangular paper box. At this point the shape was cast in wax and recast in bronze. The final work is both wholly abstract and quite sexually suggestive: the shape resembles a massive flower of sorts, a Rorschach pattern and so on. However, it remains very much an elephant skull as the various section of it are all still intact and, upon closer inspection, still clearly recognizable to the trained eye.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

  • Archives

  • Pages

    • PERFORMANCE
      • 2003: Bind/Ontbind Series
      • 2004-6: Outpost Series
      • 2006: The Theory of Gravity
      • 2008/9: Vox Populis/ Vox Dei
      • 2008: Come in peace/ Go to pieces (2008)
      • 2008: Traffic
      • 2008: Twilight
      • 2010-12: Incantation Series
      • 2010/11: Recital
      • 2010: Biblioclast (Action with Afrikaans/Dutch Dictionary)
      • 2010: Figurehead
      • 2010: Host 1
      • 2011: Container
      • 2011: Licked Colony
      • 2011: Thank you
      • 2013: For Linnaeus
      • Fountain (Date Withheld)
      • …other performances
    • VIDEO/INSTALLATIONS
      • 2002: The pencil test series
      • 2003: Violence and Happiness
      • 2004: The Labyrinth
      • 2005: The Minotaur Series 12
      • 2006: The Theory of Evolution
      • 2006: The Theory of Flight
      • 2007: Ascension
      • 2007: Birth of a Tyrant (2007)
      • 2007: Terms of endearment
      • 2008: Challenging Mud (After Kazuo Shiraga)
      • 2008: Outpost 4
      • 2008: The Theory of Displacement
      • 2009: Panopticon
      • 2010: blood rites/ eat your words
      • 2010: Host II
      • 2010: Illumination
      • 2010: Shellshock
      • 2011: Flow
      • 2019: Recital: Decoy
    • OBJECTS
      • 2007: Looking for Lucy
      • 2007: Molotovmammas
      • 2007: Philistine rules/ Did you know?
      • 2007: The OK Revolution
      • 2009: Vessel – Perfect Lovers
      • 2010: Gold works
      • 2010: Knobkierie
      • 2010: Recital (Lend me your ears)
      • 2010: Songbirds
      • 2011: Workhorse (with Guy Du Toit)
      • 2012: Fallen – monument for throwing…
      • 2013: The Animal Series
        • …….Collaborative large-scale etchings
        • …….Drawings
        • …….Mahout (video)
        • …….Photographs
        • …….Sculptures with Guy Du Toit
      • 2014-15: Faust the African Series
      • 2016: Promises, promises…
      • 2016: Selfportrait as an ass
      • 2016: Selfportrait with skull
      • 2017: The Hanging Garden
      • 2019: Houseboat
      • 2020: Houseboat #2
    • ABOUT
      • Artist statement
      • Press
      • Shortened CV
      • Interviews
        • 2003: Interview with Carine Zaayman
        • 2006: Interview with Willem Boshoff
        • 2007: Interview with David Koloane (2007)
        • 2008: Interview with Peter Machen
        • 2008: Radio Papesse Interview as part of ‘.za: Young Art From South Africa’
        • 2009: Johan Thom interviewed by Sarah Claire Picton
        • 2010: The ghosts wish to remember: Interview with Petra Zemljič
        • 2018: The Aestheticized Interview with Johan Thom (South Africa) – Kisito Assangni for ArtDependence
      • Authored
        • David Koloane (1938–2019) – Artforum International
        • Kendell Geers at the Steven Friedman, London
        • Life intimidating art, The Diplomat, Sept/Oct 2007
        • Roger Ballen at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, 2007
        • The sleeping monster produces reasons : Diane Victor
        • Santu Mofokeng (2010)
        • The sense of fresh air (2010)
        • Taming the Trojan Horse: Disarming the Politics of Otherness in a Postcolonial (African) Context
    • CONTACT
  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • johanthom.com
    • Join 38 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • johanthom.com
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: