Often called South Africa’s “King of the Canvas” and self-described as “an optimistic old sod,” Robert Hodgins occupies a hallowed place in South African contemporary art. Massively prolific, his works, characterized by fluid brush strokes, seem like visual versions of stream-of-consciousness language, occurring almost as compulsively as thought itself pours from the brain. Yet they consist of complex themes and sophisticated painting techniques.
Although he had been painting since the 1950s, British-born Hodgins came to prominence on the South African art scene during the 1980s. His acerbic, Francis Bacon–influenced critiques of power like A Beast Slouches 1986 presented an image of the apartheid state as a lumbering colossus, taxed by guilt and uncertainty.
As the nineties and the end of apartheid brought seismic shifts in the kinds of social transactions that occurred in South Africa, so too did Hodgins’s approach morph into a humorous mode of critique. It was less dark than his earlier work, and was subtler but no less incisive. Socialites, pin-striped businessmen, puffed-up officials and soldiers became an endlessly circulating retinue of fools for mocking, their self-importance grist for the painter’s mill.
In A Cadet Watching TV (2005–06), Hodgins takes a spontaneous approach to his canvas, using spray paint, the medium of rebellious street artists. Hodgins develops his image from an amorphous haze of seemingly randomly applied splotches. Accents of blue and red suggest a group of figures. The depiction of sadly lumpen, graceless bodies suggests a cruel humor. On the right, a narrow vertical strip contains the daubed-in cadet dressed in mustard and navy blue, any sense of haughtiness tempered by the cartoony style in which Hodgins draws this figure.
Tourists in the Wrong Country (2005–07) presents the viewer with a back view of two hefty figures, the one on the left with a bull-like head. Both appear to be looking desperately for a way of escape from whatever unpleasant situation it is that faces them. The dark, inky colors of the figures suggest an ominous outcome.
As in many of Hodgins’s works, the figures in both paintings seem like victims of their own indulgent vices, whether watching too much TV or not being sufficiently sensitive to local danger spots when traveling. Precisely what the situation is in each painting is anybody’s guess, but for Hodgins, keeping his audience guessing is part of the game.
The satire in Hodgins’s images is as much in technique as in iconography: Pathologically loose, he’s playing with painting and its rules. Updating the old journalistic adage “speaking truth to power,” Hodgins seems to want to tell power truthfully how funny it looks.
A Cadet Watching TV 2005–06
Oil on canvas
90 x 120 cm
Image courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Photographer: John Hodgkiss
© Robert Hodgins
A Beast Slouches 1986
Acrylic on canvas
122 x 173 cm
Collection: University of Witwatersland
Photographer: Athol Franz
© Robert Hodgins
Tourists in the Wrong Country 2005–07
Oil on canvas
60 x 50 cm
Image courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Photographer: John Hodgkiss
© Robert Hodgins