Polite portraits of political figures should be an oxymoron, particularly if the sitter hasn’t commissioned the paintings.
Nevertheless, this is the case with Themba Shibase’s exhibition of paintings at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. His rendering of Julius “Juju” Malema is delicate.
He makes this notorious rabble-rouser appear like an easy-going man. Not exactly vulnerable, but human.
It is the watercolour medium that partly secures this feature. Of course, as the title of the exhibition, Slightly Off Centre, implies, there is a little twist to all these paintings that undercuts the poses struck by the leaders – Thabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe, FW de Klerk.
It’s the titles of the artworks that forces viewers to reconsider these men and their role in the history of this country and Africa’s post-colonial era.
They are generic labels referring to stereotypical characters that emerge in post-liberation states. It implies that this country is going in the same direction as others on the continent.
Tony Yengeni’s likeness, which depicts the notorious ANC politician in a baseball cap with dark glasses and a bowtie, is accompanied with the title Post Apartheid Chief Gangster.
Shibase doesn’t sugar-coat his opinions of South Africa’s political leaders in Slightly Off Centre, a collection of 22 paintings almost all featuring our country’s political elite that have become a talking point during this festival.
The Durban-based artist doesn’t use painting to draw attention to how twisted some of these politicians are beneath the surface, but rather uses this traditional medium to enhance their appearances as something artificial. We know them not through how they look, but their actions and how they will be remembered.
Artists who paint our politicians often end up in trouble. Brett Murray’s portrait of President Jacob Zuma landed him in court, and Ayanda Mabulu’s depiction of the president crushing the head of a miner at the Joburg Art Fair was initially prevented from being shown. There is a price for making portraits of political leaders.
But the attention from the media often softens the cost. Shibase, however, isn’t trying to cash in on this interest, as he has been painting political leaders for a while.
On the surface, Shibase’s exhibition fits in with the political satire theme that the organisers of the festival have been driving this year, though of course there is absolutely no trace of humour in these works.
Unlike Murray’s infamous portrait, Shibase doesn’t distort or subvert the appearance of the powerful men he portrays. He is interested in how they present themselves to the world and how they construct this façade of power that makes them untouchable.
Some of the figures he portrays might be quite delighted with how they have been rendered by Shibase – as long as they don’t read the titles.
It wasn’t quite a sell-out show – perhaps South Africans are waiting to see how history reflects on these leaders before banking on their portraits.
The Star