The evolution of an artist’s landscape

It’s 8am on a Saturday morning. The Swartland is quiet and crisp. It’s almost impossible to think that the temperature will reach a high of 30 degrees at midday.

Nestled in the east of the Swartland is Riebeek Kasteel – a quaint little colony, home to 43 acclaimed professional artists, making it the town with the highest concentration of artists in South Africa.

A new addition to the colony, Natal-born Anthony Harris, settles in a wicker chair on the stoep of the playfully pink “palace” which he shares with his partner of 30 years, Pieter Swart.

Tucked away just off the Main Road in Maree Street, the treasure box of a home is filled with a jaw-dropping art collection. One cannot help but be struck by a “Guggenheim-esque” energy that flows through each space.

Two towering maquettes of a dancing boy and girl, sculpted by Anton Momberg for an upcoming project sponsored by international business giants – Richard Branson and the Clintons, were in company during the interview.

Harris takes a sip of coffee, lights a cigarette, crosses his legs – his feet snug in worn, navy blue, sheep-skin slippers, and with an animated smile says: “So, where shall we start skattebol?”

Harris’s past is as textured as his art. Born in the Marianhill Monastery in what is now Kwazulu-Natal in 1952, Harris’s (67) life did not always feature an easel and a number 1 paintbrush.

“I was born in a monastery,” the corner of his mouth curling slyly as he adds: “which is quite kinky. They all said I’d turn to the cloth and now possibly I am turning to the cloth, painting all these churches”.

Harris attended school at Durban High School (DHS) where the second catalyst for his love for art could be found walking the halls – his art teacher, a Mrs Maggie Strachan.

Despite his report card donning a dismal “D” for Art, Strachan influenced him enormously: “The strength of enjoying art with her, moved me towards art,” comments Harris.

Harris studied Fine Art for 4 years at then Natal Technicon, under the calibre of lecturer like Dan Cook and Paul Stopforth.

Harris taught fine art for 14 years at Port Shepstone and Glenwood High Schools, before returning to lecture at his alma mater.

However, disappointment in the education system pushed Harris to abandon the paintbrush for well over a decade, trying his hand at a colourful array of trades:

From estate agent in Johannesburg, to National Marketing Manager at Gundle Plastics, to kitchen and bedroom cupboard store owner and manufacturer of Mr Cupboard and Cupboard Warehouse in the Mother City, to restaurateur of Trawler’s Restaurant Seafood Takeaway in Gordon’s Bay, art slowly crept back into Harris’ life after purchasing the Rialto Art’s Centre and opening his first art galleries, The Rialto, in the Strand and Somerset Mall.

30 years ago, at a unit bought for his retired father in Gordon’s Bay, Harris picked up the paintbrush once again, making his way to his first National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 1989.

Harris explains that the exhibiting process works on a simple “approach basis”. He adds that, “the artist either approaches a gallery to see if the gallery will show his/her work, or, once the artist has built up a name and reputation, galleries start to approach the artist. A gallery will usually take 4 to 5 of the artist’s pieces on consignment and if the pieces sell, the ball is set in motion and more galleries will want to see and showcase the work”.

The National Arts Festival was one of his biggest breaks which also happens to be one his favourite places to exhibit for its diversity to gain both a national and international profile. There, he exhibited in Trinity Hall with Port Elizabeth-based potter, Donve Branch and sculptor, Werner Lemmer.

From the National Arts Festival, in 2008, Harris was invited to exhibit in New York (his first overseas exhibition) and later, at the Beijing Biennale in 2010.

Coupled with the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), the National Arts Festival acted as a launch pad into his first solo exhibition at the Knysna Fine Art Festival. There, Harris was approached by gallery owner and fine art curator, Trent Read.

The evolution of Harris’s style, beginning with his first exhibition based on “surreal botanical”, inspired by gross, sexual flowers, into landscapes, became a socio-political statement, using topographical maps to send the message of “direction” as maps are “human manifestations of themselves,” according to Harris.

From flowers to figures, the brutal beauty of the expansive “nothingness” in the form of the Karoo and the Richtersveld, seduced Harris and his audience alike.

What fascinated him was the abuse of the landscape by humanity, hinting at a total lack of respect for the land. “They started eating at the artistic soul as it were,” adds Harris.

The late, renowned herpetologist (study of snakes, lizards and frogs), William “Bill” Branch and very close friend of Harris’s was another major influence on his art through the philosophical ideology of “deep time” and the environment. An ideology which still hems Harris’s pieces today.

Harris is currently working on a landscape, but this time, a church is present in the distant, deep purple backdrop, summoning a call to treat the earth as one’s holy place.

“If only the landscape could be treated as sacred a place as the church,” says Harris.

Harris doesn’t use photographs to paint. His art is born from memory and “feeling” in  order to keep it as authentic as possible.

“When I start painting, I have nothing on my mind, it’s all an experience and essentially making marks on a two-dimensional surface and letting the paint and surface dictate to you”.

49 exhibitions later, Harris is torn between sentiment and scale when deciding where to host his 50^th exhibition. Read’s Knysna gallery, where his first solo exhibition took place holds a special corner in his heart, however, Circa Gallery in Johannesburg (also Read) boasts a much bigger market.

Since relocating to Riebeek Kasteel from Port Elizabeth in April 2018, Harris’s sales have trebled.

Harris and Swart are in the process of building a new sanctuary at the end of a tranquil street overlooking the Kasteelberg Mountain. Their house will be complete just in time for Solo Studios in August – a unique experience where artists all over Riebeek Kasteel open their in-house studios for the town to visit.

With Art Journalism in South Africa being replaced by popular politics and negating the very essence of culture, of life and of artistic expression, Harris’s advice to the new generation of artists and creatives jostling for their place in the big, wide world is as follows:

“Don’t be afraid of constructive criticism. Everyone is open to negative criticism more than constructive criticism because the negative digs at the soul and the trick is to try and just knock that out of your brain […] my advice to the youngsters is to differentiate. Do what you want and what you need to do. Your soul will guide you. A lot of artists fear the unknown. We like our comfort zones. Get out of that comfort zone and challenge yourself”.