Abstract
The basic concern of this article is to offer an interpretation of artworks by a selected group of artists who contributed to the “Creative creatures” project. The original creatures created by the artist, Ian Marley, based on narration by his son, Joshua, seem at first glance to suggest an underlying theme of fantasy. However, certain interpretative artworks by artists such as those by Diane Victor, Flip Hattingh and Angus Taylor seem to display a shift from the originally perceived element of fantasy. The artworks rather each represents their own fictional worlds, far removed from the original composite creatures created by Marley who each seems to function in its own fictional world. The superimposition of the incongruous worlds suggests a measure of tension that hinges on progressive notions of archaeology, history and possible worlds.
Highlights
An artwork from each of the three artists (Victor, Hattingh and Taylor) was selected for this investigation on the basis of their unexpected peculiarities in terms of narration, physiological concerns, as well as a sense of history and archaeology
Diane Victor’s The Janus frog is a blind embossing executed on paper, whereas Flip Hattingh’s Kunstenaarsboek binne takbeeld (“Artist’s book within twig sculpture”) entails an animal-like structure constructed with twigs which contains a book
The combination of various animals/humans into fantastic new creatures suggests conflict among their respective worlds, which may relate to the narrative concept of “worlds colliding”
Summary
An artwork from each of the three artists (Victor, Hattingh and Taylor) was selected for this investigation on the basis of their unexpected peculiarities in terms of narration, physiological concerns, as well as a sense of history and archaeology. In terms of the interpretation of the original creatures, who each seems to function in their own prehistoric or futuristic fantasy worlds, Victor, Hattingh and Taylor seem to introduce new worlds, which will be further explored in this article. The physical world of the original creatures is not evident, mainly because of a lack of setting, the implied world of the original creatures does not reflect stability. Rather, it is presented as a fragile constructed world containing fragments (whether overtly or covertly) of both imagination and scientific fact; in itself created knowledge. The fictionalised narratives in the three artworks by Victor, Hattingh and Taylor respectively, that derive from. How can these concepts be applied to an interpretation of the selected artworks?
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