Lockdown Monotype Series, Days 1 – 242

2020
Monotypes on paper

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At the same time picture magazines begin to put up signposts for him, right ones or wrong ones, no matter. For the first time, captions have become obligatory. And it is clear that they have an altogether different character than the title of a painting. The directives which the captions give to those looking at pictures in illustrated magazines soon become even more explicit and more imperative in the film where the meaning of each single picture appears to be prescribed by the sequence of all preceding ones.

The works from this series, a collection of monotypes made during lockdown in South Africa in 2020, aspire to form a sort of time capsule. The art made at a moment in history when everything presumed known was thrown into perceived uncertainty has the potential to provide remarkable insight to future generations into the mindsets of the people present. In this instance, at a time when commerce, aspiration, industry pressure, lip service and cynicism all momentarily vanished, and when the near future was so uncertain that all plans and designs had to be suspended, what endeavours did people find worthy to fill their time? What happened when all you assumed about the future ceased to be possible, or relevant? What do you do when you suddenly found yourself with time to spare? What did you do with all that uncertainty? Among other things, I made monotypes.