A Matter Of Time

Mysterious, melancholy and alluring in its beauty, A Matter of Time is a heartfelt, poetic work by the South African artist David Koloane. A diptych spanning two connected canvases, it portrays a richly ambiguous tableau from urban life. Koloane paints his scene in passionate and frenzied brushstrokes, which work together to form captivating, densely-wrought tapestries of textures and hues. A series of human figures, their features obscured, loom tall in what appears to be an interior space; in the distance, a further figure appears to stand outside, though Koloane collapses the boundary between within and without. Objects that can be used to measure time — a clock, a traffic light, a window onto the street — speckle the upper part of the canvases. Born 1938 in Johannesburg, Koloane has spent much of his life under apartheid, an experience which pervades his work. 'Apartheid was a politics of space more than anything,' explains Koloane, 'it’s all about restricting space. Claiming art is also reclaiming space.' A Matter of Time is a compelling example of such reclamation.