The flowering of good lives
Raél Jero Salley’s paintings defy the tired motif of misery being black people’s lot
In War of Roses, artist, academic, cultural theorist and art historian Raél Jero Salley links seemingly unrelated, mundane moments together through the constant depiction of flowers. Whether in a garden, a bouquet in a vase, or in a print on the subjects’ clothes, flowers quietly sit in each of the artist’s paintings, almost unnoticed, witnessing the subjects’ stories unfold.
This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at Gallery Momo. The show has come to Johannesburg after its run at the gallery’s Cape Town quarters a few months ago.
Coming from the United States, Salley is a contemporary artist, teacher and an art scholar at doctoral level. His interest in oil on canvas lies in re-visualising black experiences in a form that was historically white. After living in South Africa long enough to get permanent residency, his recent works have been in relation to the country’s sociopolitical landscape. Painted in Cape Town between 2014 and 2019, his most recent body of work, War of Roses is no different in its focus.
The exhibition’s title comes from the history of roses and how they have been symbols of love, beauty, war and politics. As an example Salley points to the 15th century, a time when “the rose was used as a symbol for warring factions in the territory that becomes Europe.”
Instead of expressing his sentiments about the poor sociopolitical circumstances, his work is more comfortable in defying notions that the black person’s experience is devoid of joy.
In Gloria (2017) a woman with a statuesque figure makes her way through a lush garden.
She wears her Afro in a halo that draws attention to her face. Even though we cannot see her features, she appears to look straight at the viewer with a defiant, childlike calmness. Although she is dressed simply, her stance outshines that of the grand water feature and wellgroomed landscape surrounding her.
With the flowers being the feature that has to be sought to be seen, their role in the paintings allude to the lives of marginalised people. In capturing black people in a celebratory mode, Salley positions the flowers in the background, almost as if to argue that invisibility is not synonymous with nonexistence.
Even though his depictions of the subjects’ surroundings play out in quiet hues of brown, grey, blue and black, the colours dance with one another to create a vibrant mood that is raised by the pop of white, yellow, peach and lavender on the subjects’ clothes.
The reason he paints these somewhat peaceful, mundane scenes is to clarify “the difference between the good and the beautiful”, which we easily ignore in our everyday.
The scenes in War of Roses play out in familiar settings such as bedrooms, public gardens, dance halls and alleyways.
In a bid to expand their resonance, Salley’s depiction of subjects sees him softening their facial features beyond recognition. The subjects’ haziness is reminiscent of the works of artists such as Karin Preller and Mashudu Nevhutalu. By obscuring them, there arises an opportunity for these representations to resonate with the viewer’s personal set of experiences.
At a time when contemporary art’s attention favours the risqué and outwardly confrontational, Salley’s focus on black people’s ability to exist joyously in spite of harsh circumstances is a safe and welcomed approach.
War of Roses runs at Gallery Momo, 52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg until December 13