Tactility: denial and desire is an exhibition made up predominantly of bronze sculpture by Cobus Haupt, with painting by Thomasin Dewhurst.
Intallation view 3
Cobus Haupt works figuratively in bronze, stepping precariously in the fine path between reality and representation. His remarkable ability to capture the human form in its tangibility convinces one to suspend disbelief – these figures, chosen out of his everyday life, exist in reality exactly as they appear. However, simultaneously Haupt does not commit to a particular formula when working. This means that, ultimately, the figures are fundamentally flawed as exact representations by the processes of Haupt’s own hand and by the mechanics of his imagination as he works. For Haupt, his primary concern is ample tactility in his work, through which he maintains and amplifies the delicate balance between the real and the symbolic in a tradition of production that has stood the test of time.
Thomasin Dewhurst focuses on theatrical figures whose separation from an implied audience is undermined by the tactile presence of these figures, exploring the theme of desire and denial. The figures are representative of imagined characters in a performance that is intimate, confidential, exposed, with the audience’s response being one of wanting to possess the unpossessible. Similarly to Haupt, Dewhurst also advocates the great importance of traditional media such as painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture as contemporary art forms.