Carla Busuttil
31 Mar - 28 Apr 2012
CARLA BUSUTTIL
Exit Mode
31 March - 28 April, 2012
Berlin-based and South African born painter Carla Busuttil will present her first major solo show in her home country at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg. Fast establishing herself in Europe and the United States, Busuttil has gained attention through her bold use of colour and brushstroke, depicting curious figures that embody and fuse manifold histories of conflict. In Exit Mode, she returns home to exhibit a series of paintings that traverse her exit from the country, and what she discovered when she left.
A dedicated painter, Busuttil’s point of departure and ultimate concern is always her medium. “Within my work, it is the quality of painting that matters,” she explains. “Content is secondary – always secondary. I am not interested in constructing images that shock or dictate, and doubt whether painting, or any other medium, retains the power to do so.” For the artist, it is not only the medium of paint that is crucial, but the hue that it manifests – and the essential poignancy of this manifestation. Singular and outlandish characters, each one defined by its ascribed palette, inhabit her canvases. “Colour plays an important role in both the process and outcome of my work. Colour guides emotional response – it can bind a painting. As with Matisse’s use of single-hued blocks, I find colour a superior stand-in for detail. And this is how my figures develop.”
At the same time, Busuttil admits that external references are unavoidable, quoting Candice Breitz: “If we consume something, we have to shit it out”. Busuttil expands on this by saying “and to shit, we must consume. So, content there must be.” While she works with photographic sources commonly found in library archives or newspapers and magazines, Busuttil explains that she merges “features from a number of photos (possibly spanning both era and geography) in order to construct a single painting, or single character. And, despite this collection of sourced material, the final canvas seldom resembles the photographs used. The result is more a process of working towards a strong painting, constantly degrading the weight of the foundation imagery. That movement towards a final image is driven emotionally, rather than intellectually. Colour and brushstrokes pull towards the desired result.”
On the surface, Busuttil’s paintings may appear as confrontations of contemporary politics, yet this is not her binding intention, but rather something more intuitive. “In many cases, the images I choose are those of recent war or conflict. For some reason, I find it easy look at images of violence. Perhaps most people do. It is just not easy to admit. Having said that, anything from Victorian clergy to modern day sportsmen could catch my attention. I choose images through instinctual immediacy, composition and feeling – without pre-intended message or meaning. I do not commentate, or intend to commentate. Yet, the themes of violence and power seem to regularly surface.” She continues to explain that “this process of source-gathering can result in my playing games with the underlying imagery – like some visual strand of ‘God Monopoly Charades’; placing seemingly non-connected historical events and figures alongside one another and seeing what kind of dialogue results. I think, if we draw a line through diverse histories, we could find commonalities – something that reveals a bit more about what it is to be human.”
While the title of the show – Exit Mode – stems from a conversation about immigration, Busuttil explains that it has an open interpretation. “This broad potential application, its ambiguity, is what I like about it. For example, in the context of American foreign policy, it could stem from the desire to extract forces from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq – operations for which strong arguments had previously been put forward. Or, within a failing relationship, it could describe the state of mind of the partner with the ‘itchiest feet’... Exit Mode can be applied universally and operates like an instinctual switch – a defence mechanism that clouds thought, destroys objectivity and slays optimism.” At the same time, in reference to her leaving South Africa, Busuttil questions: “Did I experience a kind of Exit Mode?”
Carla Busuttil was born in 1982 in Johannesburg and lives and works in Berlin. Busuttil received a BA (Hons.) in Fine Art at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, followed by her Masters in painting at the Royal Academy Schools, London (2005-2008). As well having work featured on Newspeak: British Art Now, at the Saatchi Gallery, London (2010), and Saatchi Adelaide (2011), Busuttil’s paintings have been seen on various group exhibitions and fairs in Europe, the United States and Asia. She has won numerous awards including the Jerwood Contemporary Painters Prize 2009 and the Deutsche Bank Award 2008. She has held solo shows in London at Gimpel Fils (2009) and Josh Lilley Gallery (2011).
Exit Mode
31 March - 28 April, 2012
Berlin-based and South African born painter Carla Busuttil will present her first major solo show in her home country at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg. Fast establishing herself in Europe and the United States, Busuttil has gained attention through her bold use of colour and brushstroke, depicting curious figures that embody and fuse manifold histories of conflict. In Exit Mode, she returns home to exhibit a series of paintings that traverse her exit from the country, and what she discovered when she left.
A dedicated painter, Busuttil’s point of departure and ultimate concern is always her medium. “Within my work, it is the quality of painting that matters,” she explains. “Content is secondary – always secondary. I am not interested in constructing images that shock or dictate, and doubt whether painting, or any other medium, retains the power to do so.” For the artist, it is not only the medium of paint that is crucial, but the hue that it manifests – and the essential poignancy of this manifestation. Singular and outlandish characters, each one defined by its ascribed palette, inhabit her canvases. “Colour plays an important role in both the process and outcome of my work. Colour guides emotional response – it can bind a painting. As with Matisse’s use of single-hued blocks, I find colour a superior stand-in for detail. And this is how my figures develop.”
At the same time, Busuttil admits that external references are unavoidable, quoting Candice Breitz: “If we consume something, we have to shit it out”. Busuttil expands on this by saying “and to shit, we must consume. So, content there must be.” While she works with photographic sources commonly found in library archives or newspapers and magazines, Busuttil explains that she merges “features from a number of photos (possibly spanning both era and geography) in order to construct a single painting, or single character. And, despite this collection of sourced material, the final canvas seldom resembles the photographs used. The result is more a process of working towards a strong painting, constantly degrading the weight of the foundation imagery. That movement towards a final image is driven emotionally, rather than intellectually. Colour and brushstrokes pull towards the desired result.”
On the surface, Busuttil’s paintings may appear as confrontations of contemporary politics, yet this is not her binding intention, but rather something more intuitive. “In many cases, the images I choose are those of recent war or conflict. For some reason, I find it easy look at images of violence. Perhaps most people do. It is just not easy to admit. Having said that, anything from Victorian clergy to modern day sportsmen could catch my attention. I choose images through instinctual immediacy, composition and feeling – without pre-intended message or meaning. I do not commentate, or intend to commentate. Yet, the themes of violence and power seem to regularly surface.” She continues to explain that “this process of source-gathering can result in my playing games with the underlying imagery – like some visual strand of ‘God Monopoly Charades’; placing seemingly non-connected historical events and figures alongside one another and seeing what kind of dialogue results. I think, if we draw a line through diverse histories, we could find commonalities – something that reveals a bit more about what it is to be human.”
While the title of the show – Exit Mode – stems from a conversation about immigration, Busuttil explains that it has an open interpretation. “This broad potential application, its ambiguity, is what I like about it. For example, in the context of American foreign policy, it could stem from the desire to extract forces from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq – operations for which strong arguments had previously been put forward. Or, within a failing relationship, it could describe the state of mind of the partner with the ‘itchiest feet’... Exit Mode can be applied universally and operates like an instinctual switch – a defence mechanism that clouds thought, destroys objectivity and slays optimism.” At the same time, in reference to her leaving South Africa, Busuttil questions: “Did I experience a kind of Exit Mode?”
Carla Busuttil was born in 1982 in Johannesburg and lives and works in Berlin. Busuttil received a BA (Hons.) in Fine Art at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, followed by her Masters in painting at the Royal Academy Schools, London (2005-2008). As well having work featured on Newspeak: British Art Now, at the Saatchi Gallery, London (2010), and Saatchi Adelaide (2011), Busuttil’s paintings have been seen on various group exhibitions and fairs in Europe, the United States and Asia. She has won numerous awards including the Jerwood Contemporary Painters Prize 2009 and the Deutsche Bank Award 2008. She has held solo shows in London at Gimpel Fils (2009) and Josh Lilley Gallery (2011).