CHARACTER BUILDING
Justine Mahoney’s latest series is filled with self-assurance and introspection
In Florence’s Uffizi Gallery hangs a monumental painting from the 1400s by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli titled
The Birth of Venus. It depicts the Roman goddess of love, beauty and desire, already an adult, floating onto shore, standing in a scallop shell, her naked body covered by her hands and long strands of golden hair.
South African artist Justine Mahoney, for her current solo show at Southern Guild, has created a Venus for a modern age, a bronze sculpture that pays homage to her name with 21st century attributes. Her hands, clasped behind her head, fully expose her nudity as her hair is brushed back by headphones. Shiny C-3PO legs hold rocket warfare and feet hide in candy-coloured trainers.
As with Botticelli’s painting, made on two pieces of canvas stitched together, Mahoney’s Venus appears to have been broken apart and reassembled. The eight other sculptures in this Mage exhibition also manifest in unexpected convergences, each one an interpretation of the corresponding collage that hangs behind it — one collage has a helmeted Cosplayer riding an octopus; another sees a spider sporting a human head.
Such curious elements inform what Mahoney will mould into her clay before firing, bronze-casting, polishing and painting it. Mage is the artist’s third solo show with the design gallery, with every exhibition presenting nine limited-edition characters. Innocence, her inaugural series, portrayed the seemingly carefree period of childhood, while Tainted revealed the uncertainty of teenage years. Mahoney’s troubled teens have now grown up and, although they still carry the wounds of their journey, Mage’s cast is more self-assured and confident.
“I see it as my own personal progression,” she says of the development that has also had her working in larger scale (a mammoth 3m-high version of Venus presided over the Southern Guild booth at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair earlier this month). References to sexuality, self-harm, drugs and demons are evident in the work. “But the pieces are all about self-love,” she assures. “The idea of transformation was my guiding force.”
Forming the collages as her starting point, Mahoney collates images using a children’s app, putting heads onto bodies, adding symbolic accessories and 34 LifeStyle | Home manipulating background imagery, toying with her interests in pop culture, cartoons, science fiction and African art.
Sufferance’s long plaited hair is interwoven with the wisdom of her ancestors. She has been initiated with scarification marks, and although she had to experience things she was not yet ready for, she has gained complete selfacceptance. Pearl Diver alludes to Mahoney’s newfound interest in free diving. “I started diving a year ago in response to a difficult time. It was as if I Sunday Times was diving for pearls of wisdom that seemed elusive but then I had a significant moment with an octopus,” she states, not giving much more away.
The point of these works is that the viewer identify with their own stories, histories and references.
Just like the multitude of interpretations available for Botticelli’s Venus, Mahoney’s Mage is a self-reflective canvas inviting deep introspection.
‘Mage’ is on show at Southern Guild until May 13.