For the first time in seven years, SA artist, printmaker, political cartoonist and teacher Jeff Rankin is exhibiting a body of his colourful prints and paintings in his hometown.
His solo exhibition opened in East London on Friday at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery and comprises a series of Rankin’s linocut artworks as well as ink and acrylic paintings.
Rankin, 70, says the exhibition is, in many ways, a celebration.
“It’s important that I show my work. East London is home and artists here should encourage the creative spirit.
“I also turned 70 this year, having survived a serious heart attack a few years ago. On both counts, this is a celebration with friends and art lovers,” Rankin said.
Best known in the Eastern Cape for his woodcut artworks, a creative focus of his for the past 20 years, Rankin says his latest exhibition is made up of two main components — one focusing on his autobiographical work and the other his editorial linocut prints.
“The one component is autobiographical, the second comprises images from my work for the online publication Vrye Weekblad during the past four years.
“So they’re separate entities really, but I have always valued the connection between my ‘own’ and my editorial work,” Rankin said.
The title of the exhibition, A Portrait of the Artist as Almost Anything (and other work), leaves much to be imagined and it is imagination that has led Rankin to create some fantastical pieces.
Though not depicting himself in a literal sense, he has intertwined parts of his identity onto his canvases.
“One part of the exhibition is made up of painted canvases — unusually large works for me — which are definitely autobiographical but not literal self-portraits.
“I’ve always tried to embed my identity within my subject matter, because my experiences and emotions are undoubtedly shared. I’m sure the viewer will identify, consciously or not, with elements of the work.
“I guess turning 70, and surviving the heart attack, were turning points for me in the need to explore me, more than I have in the past,” Rankin said.
He described these larger-format autobiographical canvases as a space where his “imagination and narrative are free to play”.
“Multiple fantasies of who and where I am have evolved in ink and paint on a scale I have seldom used. I am/we are many things we do not know or realise.
“That’s how these pieces have evolved. I have a seed of an idea and watch it grow, unpredictable flowers of visual metaphor blooming.
“And, as always, my cynical voice speaks through this work,” Rankin said.
His prints, which also form part of the exhibition, are from a collection made for national weekly online current affairs publication Vrye Weekblad over the past four years.
“This work has been done mainly in linocut, collaborating with one of several writers.
“I have one day in which to learn my subject, create the linocut, print it by hand, scan it and complete the digital colouring, then send the finished piece for online publication.
“I love the work, even the pressure is a positive element, and I’ve always enjoyed a partnership between image and text.
“The exhibition includes many of these images, which can be ordered as hand-printed, hand-coloured originals,” he said.
Though much of Rankin’s training and work has revolved around printmaking, painting is a new medium he has enjoyed exploring.
“Linocut is linked to all my printmaking work, including woodcut, etching, screen print and so on, and it’s the physicality of the process, its strong graphic effect and the close connection to my drawing that I enjoy.
“The paintings are a new direction and I’m really loving the freedom and the scale and challenge of colour. Using drawing inks as the base for these paintings started this journey.”
He said though the two different mediums had produced varied works, they had been equally rewarding.
“As the large canvases have evolved I have loved them all, and the linocut prints done for Vrye Weekblad are equally rewarding.”
One of his favourite canvases was an artwork titled Correspondent with Spare Ribs.
“It says a lot for me. But really, they all belong in my room of joy.”
Asked about the importance of art exhibitions, Rankin says: “To quote a brilliant movie I watched just the other day, ‘Come as you are, leave as you always wanted to be’. That sums it up perfectly for me, and for the satisfied viewer.”
- Jeff Rankin’s solo exhibition, A Portrait of the Artist as Almost Anything (and other work), will be on display at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery until October 29. The gallery is open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays and from 9am to noon on Saturdays.
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