Sein und Zeit – 2015

Oil on canvas 61 x 83cm

Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) is the title of Martin Heidegger’s 1927 book.

In essence philosopher Simon Critchley summarizes as follows: “the basic idea of Being and Time is extremely simple: being is time. That is, what it means for a human being to be is to exist temporally in the stretch between birth and death. Being is time and time is finite, it comes to an end with our death. Therefore, if we want to understand what it means to be an authentic human being, then it is essential that we constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death.”

The painting comprises an enigmatic hieratic still life.

These reference boundaries and enclosure ( the milk crate), the nature of life  (ostrich egg), Life’s pursuits reflected in objects of high & low art – the milk crate, the Nigerian IFE bronze head and the South African SAN bushman decoration of the egg or water vessel. Furthermore the possibility for reflecting on the nature of our death – symbolized as martyrdom – the gruesome necklacing (halsnoor) – a car tyre placed around the neck of the victim deployed as a political weapon against State informers during the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa.

The objects are surrounded by an halo-like aura

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