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De(con)struction

2019 Competition entry

Lana Combrinck

Details:
Signed
Digital print, acrylic, pastel, and spraypaint on lino
100 x 54 cm
R7 000

Description:
In “De(con)struction” we see a photograph that the artist took of a farmer’s land where an attempted land grab took place in her surrounding area.  The land grabbers destructively burnt down part of the field and marked their supposed property with rocks and whatever they could find lying around.

The artist acted in a similar destructive nature during the artworks’ construction by turning the landscape into a house plan.  The artist drew lines over the landscape, turning the landscape into a construction site, this is also apparent in Photoshop.  The artist drew lines where the attempted land grabbers marked their property and constructed a 3D drawing of a house in the lines via Photoshop.  At the bottom of the landscape and the construction drawing you can see grids with text.  This resembles draughtsman drawing for a proposed new dwelling.  In this artwork the artist is the architect and the person that ruins the landscape in a destructive manner by constructing her new dwelling imaginatively on top of a farmer’s private property without permission or a signature (in the grid below at signature the text reads: “not required”)  and also cutting away into the landscape (lino).

On top of the landscape you can not only see the ‘new dwellings’ construction lines but also the artists’ construction lines and marks that she used during her construction process.  As part of the farms’ borderline the artist placed the fence in such a way that forms the borderline of the artworks as well.  This excludes the viewer, making the viewer aware that he/she is entering private property.  This is ironic as it didn’t stop the land grabbers or artist to cross the borderlines whether physically or imaginatively.