Medium: Found book Pages: 215 x 285 x 70 Technique: Acrylic paint; Varnish Edition: Unique
Sub-type: Book shaped/sculpted object Theme(s): Symbol; Sign; Language
Place publication: Johannesburg Publisher: The artist Exhibition 2017
Reference note: Nieuwoudt's primary interest lies in text, books, symbols, signs and language and our subjective interpretation thereof. Furthermore his studies in alchemical theory and various occult tenets also help to inform his work as an artist. 'We suggest that the entirety of the culture in which we currently reside is no less than the dismembered corpse of magic (although somehow still with a seeming capacity for speech) and that this no doubt necessary process is exemplified by the alchemical principle of SOLVE, or analysis.' Extract from Alan Moore, The Art of Magic.
An altered book encased in glass and illuminated from below
Nieuwoudt also employs various forms of asemic writing in his work. Asemic writing is a wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic means 'having no specific semantic content'. With the non-specificity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret. The secret is that asemic writing is a shadow, impression, and abstraction of conventional writing. It uses the constraints of writerly gestures and the full developments of abstract art to divulge its main purpose: total freedom beyond literary expression.
Exhibition notes: ‘Booknesses: Contemporary South African Artist's Books’.