R400 000 nail for sale at Blank

Two weeks ago, I ambled into a white cube corner at Blank Projects in Woodstock. 

At first the room appeared to be empty, but upon closer inspection a silver 10cm nail was wedged slap bang in the centre of the rear wall.

At first I thought the nail was meant to mount a late artwork or just left there fortuitously and the space was meant to be empty. But no, the nail was the actual artwork. By Sweden-based South African artist, James Webb. Priced at a whopping €20 000 or R411 042.40.

This took me back to Martin Creed's 2007 ‘Work No 701’ which featured seven nails of decreasing sizes jammed into London’s Hayward Gallery wall. The installation was successfully auctioned off for an undisclosed six-figure amount.

I am not sure if James Webb was referencing Martin Creed's subversion of nails as sculpture. If not, great. If so, let's make citation fashionable again.

"The nail you are looking at is forged from a Second World War African Service Medal, similar to the one issued to the artist's grandfather.  This may mean nothing to you, an arcane piece of military history that doesn’t strike a common chord. World War II, after all, ended eighty years ago, long before your time," read a statement by B.K at Blank on Webb's nail.

I've known James Webb as a sound artist for many years, but he is not a newbie to conceptual art. He was quite excited to be back in South Africa as he told me about Stockholm's dreary weather and his other worldly travels. 

‘See you in happiness’ is his solo exhibition at Blank and features four new works; the nail, a photograph of the sky over Nagasaki shot from the Atomic Bomb Hypocentre, a text piece prompting us to conceive of a memorial as a social action and a sound installation that features a rearranged ‘The Mermaid’ folksong.

Also on show at Blank, occupying a significant portion of the main gallery, is Donna Kukama's ‘Fire on the mountain’ solo exhibition.

I was caught off guard by the abstract imagery reminiscent of Kemang Wa Lehulere's recent ‘Amarhoqololo’ exhibition which was a play on scribbling or child drawings that represent general failure.

Donna Kukama, who is now based in Germany, takes amarhoqololo to another level by ascribing historic colonial violence to her scrawls. She 'draws' these with water-based enamel, acrylic, graphite and solace on aluminium.

The plasma cut steel installation titled ‘Over and over, all over again’ stands out as an aesthetically pleasing look-at-me piece in the midst of all the abstraction happening around it at Blank.

The work on show is not easily accessible nor mainstream. It is not something you buy to decorate a room. It is more something you would buy to garner “What on earth is that?” remarks.

James Webb and Donna Kukama are on show at Blank until October 4.

As minimalist and whimsical as their work might seem there is deeper meaning behind each piece. Read the titles carefully. They each reference the past with hints of tragedy.

The nail, albeit loaded with history, was quite a hit at the opening with almost everyone in attendance taking a picture alongside it. It would be very interesting to see who dislodges it and takes it home for R400 000. 

Cape Times