the accidental minimalist

on saturday, a friend took me to the constitutional court hill gallery in braamfontein, johannesburg. it was my first time there. the large concrete construct leaves no doubt as to the austere nature of the business there, but the place didn't have that drab feel of yester-century apartheid architecture. none of the overt phallisism and grey drabness of say the unisa building in pretoria. there was something instantly warm and welcoming about the constitutional court building, warm but serious i guess. i'm not sure how many court houses around the world can boast the vast array of artworks we saw on saturday. the court is better stocked than most galleries i've been to. i discovered a new artist on sat, a chap i had never heard of until then. dumile feni was born in worscter in the western cape. the pieces we saw on saturday provided a 20th century narrative of apartheid south africa, without necessarily making or stressing (with heightened hyperbole) any huge political statement. they just were, but somehow the historical narrative remains clean and unambiguous. he draws on paper - often note pad paper - and does so using pen. very simple, some may call it minimalism. i remember reading an article where gerald sekoto was being interviewed, he said that whenever he was broke he used to draw with materials that were most readily available to him; pens and note pad paper. so maybe the same applies to dumile feni. maybe he is the accidental minimalist, his pieces are so drenched in message and innuendo that i couldn't help but get the sense that had the time allowed, he would have had so much more to say.