(Collen Maswanganyi)
Deadline: between April
24 & 28, 2017
The power of the L’Atelier art competition (www.LAtelierCompetition.com) to
open doors for young, emerging artists and provide them with a platform to
share their art with the world, is highlighted in a new short film on L’Atelier
Merit Award winner, Collen Maswanganyi.
The L’Atelier presents life-changing opportunities for
artists in 10 African countries. The 2017 competition is now open and looking
for other self-taught or professional African artists just like Collen who have
a passion for contemporary visual arts.
Titled Mbatlo, the
film traces Collen’s love affair with wood material, and his deep desire to
continue his family’s legacy of sculpting wood using the traditional mbatlo
tool.
“This is a tool used to carve and shape wood. But it’s not
just any tool. It’s special. It has been handed down from one generation to
another. It has allowed me, my father and my grandfather to not only shape
wood, but shape the future of African artists,” Collen tells viewers in the
poignant film.
As the film moves through the significance of the mbatlo in
Collen’s work, it shows how this special tool has come to symbolise the
Maswanganyi family as artists – Collen’s father, Johannes Maswanganyi is an
acclaimed South African sculptor who has exhibited both locally and
internationally – and how it has given Collen himself a voice to express his
views through his sculptures.
The inspiration for this expression is seen in the visual
feast the film offers up; a smorgasbord of snapshots of Collen’s world that
sees him marvelling at the unconventional beauty and ‘madness’ around him.
“I find inspiration all around me. I see beauty where others
don’t, and bring this to life through every cut, scrape and scratch,” Collen
explains, as the viewer is taken on a visual journey through South Africa, from
the hustle and bustle of the township where Collen lives, to the traffic and
trampling feet of the city, and finally to the tranquillity of his family’s
homestead where he sits on the banks of a still lake at dawn, carving his next
piece.
More than just demonstrating how Collen is able to transform
rough, cast-off wood into engaging sculptures with stories to tell, the film
shows how Collen has been able to share his talent through the opportunities
afforded to him by winning a L’Atelier Merit Award in 2010.
L’Atelier organisers are now calling on young artists across
the continent to enter the L’Atelier 2017 art competition, which promises the
winner and finalists’ access to unparalleled exposure and opportunities to grow
their careers both in South Africa and abroad.
L’Atelier 2017 is hosted by Barclays Africa (www.BarclaysAfrica.com) in
conjunction with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA).
It enters its 32nd year this year, and is aimed at young, up and coming
contemporary visual artists aged 21 to 35.
The competition aims to nurture young talent, and serves as
a platform for emerging artists to make their mark in the African art arena. As
such it is open to young artists in the 10 African countries where Barclays
Africa has a footprint, namely, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles and, for the first time in 2017,
Mozambique.
Artists can submit up to a maximum of three artworks, with
works being physically delivered to collection points for initial adjudication.
Physical works will not be accepted at the collection points if artists have
not completed their online registration.
Independent adjudicators at the various collection points
will select the works that will go forward to the final adjudication round,
which will be held in Johannesburg in June 2017.
Registration for L’Atelier is now open, and can be completed
online at www.LAtelierCompetition.com.
All artworks must be completed and submitted to their nearest collection point
(see the website for details) between April 24 and 28, 2017.
The L’Atelier competition has been instrumental in launching
many significant careers in the visual arts. Once again, it features a string
of highly coveted art residency prizes for the top two winners and top three
merit award recipients, in addition to a significantly increased first place
cash prize of R300,000. The top 10 finalists are placed on a two-day art
professionalism course to assist them in managing their careers.
Full competition details can be found at www.LAtelierCompetition.com
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