Art review
More than meets the eye

TRANSMIGRATIONS: RITUALS AND ITEMS, at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery.

TO FULLY appreciate the Dasart exhibition at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery, you need to have lots of time.

The show, entitled Transmigrations: Rituals and Items, is a collection of social and political messages reflecting a mixture of cultures, and the rituals and objects which exist both literally and symbolically in those cultures.

It is by no means a commercial exhibition -- chances are slim that you'd want much of it on your lounge wall ­ but that's the point, and as a vehicle of expression, it is dynamic.

The aim of the exhibition is to create a dialogue between viewer and artist -- the works aren't always obvious. They take thought -- ideas are suggested by the artists in their works, which are constructed out of anything from oils to fibreglass to video to latex to food ­ leaving the viewer free to toy with the notions.

And if you still don't get it, don't feel dumb: there are typed explanations for each work. For instance, you'd have to be told that Wim Botha's Wild Life (Heroes go so lo) is carved from prison and other documents, or you just wouldn't know.

As in all the works, there are a multitude of references in the piece, mostly around the complex topic of the human condition.

And like most of the others too, even without the explanation, it's still visually intriguing.

It's not often that East Londoners get to see national and international work -- Transmigrations is a worthwhile peep into how this group of contemporary artists view the world, and communicate their ideas.

Technically, the quality of the art on display varies from artist to artist. Diane Victor's charcoal on paper Vastrap (Long Arm Foxtrot) pieces are not only powerful in their message -- the messy links between victims and perpetrators, and how truth depends largely on context -- they are also brilliantly drawn, all the more ominous thanks to their prodigious proportions.

The drawings are supported by a trio of icy-spine meat cleavers, two of which depict macabre dancing skeletons, on the last of which is engraved a delicate pair of ballet pumps.

Fusing traditional Africa with the inevitability of progress and construction, Daniel Mosako skillfully demonstrates the conflicts and paradoxes found in South African society.

His oil Industrial Landscape is a remarkable interpretation of his surroundings ­ not only in the actual concrete and steel infrastructure springing up in his environment, but culturally, by using circular, triangular, rectangular and square African designs; hazy colours symbolising the social and political confusion, and compositional congestion, depicting population density in the cities.

An aesthetic treat is James de Villiers' The Architecture of Air -- an absolutely beautiful expression of the artist's fascination with clouds -- not only in our atmosphere, but also in space.

His work is refreshingly non-indulgent -- it focuses on something other than the artist's psyche and immediate surroundings, and for a change looks beyond mind and body, combining the spiritual with something more scientific.

It reminds viewers to look further than the everyday; to appreciate the magnificent beauty of what is out of our control. Not everything has to be about us.

His exhibit is accompanied by eerie cloud sounds -- do clouds make sounds? -- which give his paintings an even more mystical feel.

Transmigrations: Rituals and Items is up until January, so take some time over the Christmas break to ponder on the many ideas posed by these artists.

Andrea Jonker-Bryce