EXAMINING the working world of today, Faye Spencer’s solo exhibition, Office Politics – scenes from the sinking ship – is on display at the Tatham Art Gallery.
The exhibition “represents a body of work comprising draw-ings, prints, and paintings that explore power-plays and idio-syncrasies of the working world. As an artist and lecturer, she believes that given the consider-able amount of time most people spend at work, the absurd and humorous engagements that occur in the office are worth reflecting on and exploring”.
Tonight chatted to the artist to get a better understanding of what the exhibition symbolises: “The exhibition is a means through which I examine and comment on the working world of today. It is a lens through which the current social paradigm is explored.
“The Office Politics series itself is an ongoing and evolving body of images that comment on the tyranny, absurdity and politics of the work environment.
“These pieces speak of both the idiosyncratic and typical behaviours of people in the workspace and of the dynamics within large groups of individuals, of power relationships, plays for territory, and reference the disturbing (sometimes quirky) interactions between individuals with varying agendas.
“The pressure placed on individuals within the working world – a space that brings people of varying agendas together – results often in violence, aggression and bizarre behaviour- (coupled with man’s fear of the stranger).
“The series is a mechanism through which I explore ideas of threat and contact, as well as reflecting on the present socio-economic climate,” she said.
For the paintings in this series Spencer used oils, acrylic, charcoal and wax which have evocative, erratic (and occasionally anta-gonistic) responses to one another in order to reference the often violent and unpredictable nature of these kinds of human interaction.
Reminiscing on how her love for art developed, the artists says she enjoyed drawing when she was young and is lucky her passion did not fade as she aged: “Family legend has it that my first word was ‘picture’ but I hardly think that can be true,” she laughs.
As a full-time lecture at the Centre for Visual Art (CVA) at UKZN, Spencer says she is very privileged to work in an arena in which she feels so passionately about.
“We also have fantastic, diverse, bright and lovely students at the CVA which makes teaching really rewarding and being in a tertiary institution allows me to pursue and develop my own creative practice in a challenging environment.”
In addition to the exhibition, Spencer has also conducted an interactive walkabout with the audience at the gallery. She explained: “I met and spoke with a group of interested students, art lovers and artists about the work on exhibition.
“I also chatted about various aspects of the painting and drawings on the exhibition: the imagery, technical aspects of the work and the general thematic that underlies the pieces.”
• The exhibition runs until December 2 at the Tatham Art Gallery. Call 033 392 2811