Department of Visual Arts

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Fallosentrisme in Suid-Afrikaanse fotoverhale : 'n ondersoek in geslag en ras as stelsels van dominansie
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1998-03) Botes, Conrad; Kerr, Gregory; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study assumes that the phenomenon of South African-published "photo-stories" which were popular between c. 1950 and the early 1980's reflects the socio-political ( power structures which were in place at that time. An image/textual analystis is made of four cardinal race and gender figures in such publications and conclusions are drawn regarding hierarchies of domination and suppression.
Fantasy illustration as an expression of postmodern 'primitivism' : the green man and the forest
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006-04) Tolson, Emily Rosalind; Van Robbroeck, Lize; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study demonstrates that Fantasy in general, and the Green Man in particular, is a postmodern manifestation of a long tradition of modernity critique. The first chapter focuses on outlining the history of 'primitivist' thought in the West, while Chapter Two discusses the implications of Fantasy as postmodern 'primitivism', with a brief discussion of examples. Chapter Three provides an in-depth look at the Green Man as an example of Fantasy as postmodern 'primitivism'. The fmal chapter further explores the invented tradition of the Green Man within the context of New Age spirituality and religion. The study aims to demonstrate that, like the Romantic counterculture that preceded it, Fantasy is a revolt against increased secularisation, industrialisation and nihilism. The discussion argues that in postmodernism the Wilderness (in the form of the forest) is embraced through the iconography of the Green Man. The Green Man is a pre-Christian symbol found carved in wood and stone, in temples and churches and on graves throughout Europe, but his origins and original meaning are unknown, and remain a controversial topic. The figure of the Green Man most commonly appears in Fantasy art as a humanoid male head disgorging leaves from its mouth; a composite of man and foliage. In contemporary Fantasy the Green Man has come to signify what Terri Windling terms "the Mythic Forest" and " ... mythic rebirth and regeneration ... ". The study concludes that the prevalence and pervasiveness of Green Man and forest imagery in Fantasy is indicative of a wider trend in modernised society - that of nostalgia for a mythic and imagined past, and of dissatisfaction with modernity. The discussion demonstrates that postmodern 'primitivism' continues certain Modernist characteristics and brings them to their logical/extreme conclusion. Thus postmodemism takes modem 'primitivism' to the extremes of escapism and consumerism. Hence, like most counter discourses of modernity, Fantasy remains caught in the very paradigm it sets out to critique.
Ikonoklastiese strip, polemiek en Bitterkomix
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 1997-12) Kannemeyer, Anton; Bouma, Paddy; Kerr, G. J.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study considers the history and problematics of the contemporary comic strip, particularly in regard to issues of controversy and iconoclasm. Special attention is paid to the local magazine, Bitterkomix as an example. In Chapter One, the comic medium is identified and discussed as a homogeneous art form. Its independence from both fine arts and literature is explained and the identifying, intrinsic characteristics of the medium are used as a basis for the analysis of form and meaning in selected contemporary comics. Chapter Two provides a brief history of iconoclasm, subversion and controversy surrounding selected comics from the 1950's up to the present. The emphasis is placed on pivotal developments in the medium, particularly in the United States. A link is suggested between the post-war affluence of the American society and the conservative values which underpin it. Because of the many similarities which exist between the value systems of white South Africa and those of the more conservative states of the U.S., a contextual parallel is mooted which identifies the development and impact of controversial comics abroad and the reception which Bitterkomix encountered in South Africa. Chapter Three outlines and analyses this connection, emphasising that Bitterkomix has to be seen in the wider historical context and not simply as an expression of a parochial, "alternative"culture among young Afrikaners. In the final two chapters, satire and the use of stereotypes in the comic form is considered. The study pays particular attention to the publications, Gif, Afrikaner Sekskomix and Loslyf(an Afrikaans skin magazine) in order to establish connections between deviant sexual behaviour in a repressive society.
'n Ondersoek na betekenis in prenteboeke vanuit 'n vertaalteoretiese perspektief : met spesiale verwysing na illustrasies vir die werk van Annie M.G. Schmidt en ander herskrywing tussen Afrikaans en Nederlands
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004-03) Grobler, Piet; Dietrich, Keith; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Illustration and translation have so much in common that the theoretical "instruments" used to describe, substantiate and evaluate translated works, can also be used where picture books are concerned. These similarities include the fact that illustrations as well as translations function semiotically - both relay narratives by means of systems of signs or codes. As signs, the contents of translations and illustrations have meaning or obtain significance only once they are read by an individual - homo significons - in a specific context. Another significant similarity between translation and illustration is the fact that both deal with the intercultural transfer of a narrative. The theory of translation takes cognisance of the contextual and, from the perspective of gender and postcolonial studies, points to the fact that cultural differences (and the power imbalances and ideologies they often imply) are closely linked to translation strategies. The literary environment and the circumstances in which the translation (or picture book) is produced, are also relevant for the meaning that can be ascribed to the picture book. In the literary environment (and indeed in most academic disciplines) the didactic benefit of picture books is accentuated more or takes precedence over the aesthetic qualities which these may have. Key concepts and theorists for this study are: • illustrations and translations as rewritings can be worthy and influential renderings of the source text • intertextuality will be the undisputed starting point for the (inevitably interdisciplinary) study of picture books • the skopos-theory according to which the objective of the book greatly determines the appearance and meaning thereof • Riitta Oittinen's theory of translation according to carnivalism which focuses on the child receptor Geoff Moss' and Jens Thiele's reference to ambiguity and experimentation in picture books Edward Venuti's reference to two (apparently opposing) translation strategies, namely domestication and foreignization. With this study I conclude that meaning in translated picture books is brought to the text by all participants and can therefore never be completed. Picture book illustrations as aesthetic products demand that the rewriter experiment with the narrative in a carnavalistic and unrestricted manner. At the same time, however, the illustrator or tranlator should anchor this experimentation in reality by meeting other role players (publishers, educationalists, literary theorists, authors and readers) in dialogical rewriting.
'n Ondersoek na en dekonstruksie van die taal (beeld en teks) vervat in die visuele narratief met spesiale verwysing na die komiekstripmedium
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-03) Ferreira, Rikus; Dietrich, Keith; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is concerned with a study of the two basic elements of communication, namely image and text. How these basic communication tools function in the genre of the visual narrative with regard to their roles in the comic strip and the artist's book, will be examined. Both genres, the comic book and the artist's book, consist of complex structures regarding their workings in the framework of the visual narrative, and this work explores these complexities by analysing how image and text function in the visual narrative. The area of semiotics is used as a basis on which the arguments in this thesis are built. The principles contained in semiotics act as useful guidelines in the reading and understanding of communication in general, but in this study these principles give focus and structure to the research of especially the comic strip and the artist's book. Concepts that are discussed in depth include the interesting interactions which occur between image and text when they are used together. Signs, icons, symbols and how they function with (or without) text, are also examined. Text can also function as image, and this visualisation of text is explored. The role of concepts like interpretation, perception, the study of images and image-association, are all very important in the visual communicator's eventual success with his/her communication. How these concepts influence the creation and forming of one's visual intelligence and visual literacy, and the eventual effect it has on the process of communication, make up a very important part of this study. These arguments lead to a discussion of the dynamics contained in the visual narrative when looked at from a semiotic perspective. Central to the discussion on the visual narrative in this thesis, is the differentiation between two similar genres: 1) Firstly, a discussion of the functioning of the comic strip medium. Important aspects of this subject are the interactions of image and text, and how the comic medium consists of a unique set of symbols, which influence the specific communication in this genre. 2) Secondly, the genre of the artist's book, and how the medium of the book functions as a unique phenomenon in communication. The systems of meaning contained in the medium of the book are looked at against the light of a semiotic analysis of text and image. This research supports the importance of a semiotic approach as a helpful aid in the interpretation of any piece of communication, but especially that of the comic strip medium and the artist's book. The theories of Charles Peirce, Ferdinand de Saussure, Roman Jakobson, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Umberto Eco are used as basis of the arguments in this thesis and serve as valuable ground for a useful discourse. The implementation of above mentioned theories lead to an indication of the complexities involved in the special visual language of the comic strip and the artist's book.
A renewed viewer-reader condition : mediating between semiotics and counter-semiotics
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006-12) Taylor, Michael (John Michael); Dietrich, Keith; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As the title of this thesis anticipates, two modes for interpretation are discussed: visual semiotics and pictorial counter-semiotics. Rooted in and conceived from an established linguistic methodology for learning the significance of signs, visual semiotics constitutes an interpretative mindset which affords only a confined set of theories for the viewer. These conceptions, directing the codes by which, for example, visual narratives are created and understood, hold certain limits for the viewer's full appreciation and formation of the selfhood of pictures. Visual semiotics presents images to viewers as a form of text, implying that they be read and studied in a particular fashion - an attitude advancing the idea that images are subsidiary to text. This limited theory is investigated here. Pictorial counter-semiotics, a misrecognized counterpart of semiotic study, offers a paradigmatic shift in the recognition and understanding of visual signification. By exposing a number of visual paradoxes, it enables the viewer to evaluate and reconsider his I her position on the construction and cultural implementation of pictures. Three particular instances of image-making, namely anti-splendor, 'exfoliation', and 'multistability', are brought in line with my own art and image-making processes to elucidate a counter means for picture interpretation. Counter-semiotics is not an anti-semiotic stance. It is instead a conjoining feature of a viewer's interpretative mindset and effects the constant transference between pictorial convention and pictorial discovery.
South African botanical art : a study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century imagery
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-03) Blake, Tamlin; Arnold, Marion; Bouma, Paddy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Botanical art consists of a complex combination of scientific fact and aesthetic awareness, and is concerned with more than the realistic representation of a plant and its flowers. It goes beyond the visual description of scientific information and speaks about the contributions artists have made through history to the conventions of both art and science. It contains a unique visual language, conventions which we read intelligently and an evolved tradition, and it is this language and the development of these conventions within the genre of South African botanical art, which this thesis investigates. In South Africa botanical art developed as a direct result of European interest in the flora and the colonisation of this country by the West. A brief history of responses to South African plants is discussed in the Introduction in order to begin to establish an understanding of this tradition and to contextualise the contributions made by 19th-and 20th -century South African botanical artists. Now that postmodernity has called for the reassessment and questioning of 'given truths', alternative ways of assessing botanical art are slowly evolving. Through study and the comparison of botanical art and artists of South Africa their evaluation as artists is reconsidered. This issue of defining art and artists is the subject of Chapter One of this study. Some of the factors that have a bearing on this include: relationships between text and image; art and science; art and illustration; and how society's expectations of gender roles affect the production of botanical art. In order to establish a context from which to discuss plant imagery in South Africa, it is important to study the history and development of botanical art in this country. Chapter Two discusses the emergence and development of this art form and its artists, starting with a short description of people and events from the 1600s and then takes a comprehensive look at developments in the 19th and 20m centuries. For the artists working within the genre of botanical art, the conventions and inventions are often explicitly formulated. It is an art based on the logic, scrutiny and informative tradition of science, where the main objective is to represent a plant's structural essence. Fundamental to our response to botanical art, however, is the style and technique employed by the artist. Chapter Three is devoted to a detailed discussion of the work of selected contemporary South African botanical art and artists. By comparing their work it is possible to establish trends and developments in representation and the role played by mediums and techniques in this highly skilled art form. Since this research has both a theoretical and a practical component, Chapter Four is devoted to discussion of my own work within the botanical art genre. I describe and illustrate several related series of paintings and explore established conventions and ways of developing my own stylistic identity as a botanical artist.

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