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Gerald Tabata painting
Oil on canvas
Unframed
Size: 150cm x 150cm
"Untitled" 2011
signed by the artist G. N. Tabata (bottom left corner)
Valued at R75 000 in 2010 by iArt in Cape Town.
About the artist
Born 19 February 1975 Gerald Tabata grew up in Gugulethu and Khayelitsha. In primary school he attended
afternoon art classes with Hamilton Bhudaza. Tabata recalls that he was always interested in art, in drawing and
making pictures. In high school he attended Gugulethu Comprehensive High School, where a friend then introduced
him to art classes at CAP (Community Arts Project). He received lessons in painting and drawing from a variety of
teachers and practising artists and printmaking classes with Mario Seku. In his 20’s Tabata struggled to find formal
employment, his parents supported him financially while he continued to draw and paint. He recollects that his
mother could not understand his interest in art and did not support his desire to make a career out of it. This
perception changed when Tabata began to sell his paintings.
Review: Gerald Tabata works on a large scale and in broad painterly strokes. He uses a sober, thoughtful palette in order to set the mood for the scenes he depicts – women sitting, men waiting, and boys walking on a Sunday afternoon. Taxi Rank in Site C1 (2011) is devoid of any hustle and bustle, and empty chairs await the participants in a prayer meeting. Tabata captures the destitution and fear that he observes among people by making them faceless and anonymous. Even the vibrant oranges, reds and pinks that form the background to Women in Site C1(2011) do not brighten the grey anonymity of their day; on the contrary, it emphasises the bleakness of their existence. Occasionally, as in Market Place (2011), the environment is more appealing and the colour stronger.
A number of paintings are ambitious in their themes and scale, as well as their reference to the great 16th century Italian painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-94). Tabata is interested in art history and has long admired Tintoretto, particularly The Last Supper (1592-94), but this is the first time that that Tintoretto has had a direct influence on his work. What attracted Tabata was the way in which the Venetian master changed the established iconography by making ordinary people participants in the sacred scene. As he puts it: 'Tintoretto included the poor with Jesus and his disciples.'
Tabata’s words find an echo, albeit distant, in those of the curator of the international exhibition of the 2011 Venice Biennale, Bice Curiger. She has decided to show three of Tintoretto’s paintings, includingThe Last Supper, because the artist broke with the conventions of his time and as a warning against the dangers of traditionalism. Referring to The Last Supper, she says: 'The artist took a scene that had dominated art for centuries and gave it a completely new perspective. The figures of the apostles are pushed to the side, angels inhabit the margins and a burst of light creates severe shadows.’ (The Art Newspaper, April 27, 2011)
Through Tintoretto, Tabata brings a new perspective to the depiction of township life. As in The Last Supper angels fly dramatically into his scenes and he uses the same colour range of browns and beiges made otherworldly by the flickering glow that emanates from a rush lamp. But they preside over entirely different situations. In Untitled I (from Tintoretto) (2011) the figures, as grey as the cold architectural setting and steps on which they sit or sleep, are oblivious to the heavenly visitors. There is nothing to celebrate, and the angels appear quite ominous and powerless in the face of the poverty and destitution of those gathered below. Is there the possibility of redemption for them, and for the single figures sleeping in a void while the angels swoop down on them in Untitled II (from Tintoretto) and Untitled III (from Tintoretto)? - Marilyn Martin (Artthrob)
