DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER .... at least in human years


BILL HART : DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH



Bill Hart's mural is monitored 24/7 by security cameras

From what I can gather, this mural in Kimberely is Bill's last surviving public artwork. It was commissioned by Hanns Bergs (see previous blog) for the De Beers diamond sorting building located in Kimberley and erected in 1974. Here it stands in it's full glory: 5 x 10 meters, resulting in 60 panels of sheer brilliance! Modelled in clay and cast in plaster, it is a fairly durable material (although disasterous if it ever were to fall from the wall!).

Bill's artwork always had a sense of timelessness about it: he would mold the shapes of his sculptures not with precision, instead, he welcomed imperfections. He would allow scrapes and jagged edges which would represent the weathered appeal of objects over space and time. It is for this reason that Bill's artwork, and I refer to this one in particular, stands proud and undarnished from the past 37 years.




setting up the panels for construction of the mural
 Bill is aided by friend & fellow artist, Keith Alexander



Bill models the clay to create his signature shapes





detail of the finished product

Hanns once told me a funny antidote about this mural:

   When Bill and Keith were finally assembling the enormous mural on site in Kimberley, I often went to supervise the building construction and watched Bill and Keith labour to lift up the heavy panels which were then fixed to the concrete wall. When I arrived on this day, I had the gut feeling that the mural was somehow smaller then Bill had promised and so after much discussion, Bill finished the argument by saying that as an artist he was entitled to change his mind and make the mural smaller!  "OK", I said, "but then we will will have to reduce the payment due to you!" He didn't like that at all and we finally agreed that the mural looked great and suited the design of the building.

   After some years, we all had a drink at my house when I showed Bill the maquette of the mural, which was decidedly longer than the mural in Kimberley. Bill then admitted that he and Keith had "f...d" up and had made the mural some 6 panels shorter and they were desparately hoping I wouldn't notice! Needless to say, we opened another bottle of wine and had a good laugh about the whole thing.

A short video pan of the building, designed with slanted & tinted windows to aid the sorting of precious diamonds. But the gem I admire most appears at the end of this clip...



a BIG THANKS to Hanns and the people of HOH who allowed me

to touch some REAL diamonds and spend time with Bill's mural.

On Tuesday last, Thabo & I decided to venture into the neighbourhood where my grandparents once owned some property, where my mum grew up on 3 Ayr Road in Atholl, Sandton, Johannesburg. 

 

I wanted to go there to see how the property had developped, who lives there now and if there were any remenants from the house my grandfather had designed. We travelled there by the standard cheap taxis (once known as KAFFIR taxis), ending up in a park where we had to squeeze through a gate and walk along the highway to the off-ramp...then another 30min trek up and down the hilly area called Atholl, finally to arrive at 3 Ayr Road, the last place I had seen my grandfather before his death in 2006.



enterance to 3 Ayr Road, the way it looked as I last saw it in 2001





as it stands today, 3 Ayr Road, surrounded by high security walls



To my surprise, the property had been split into 2 houses: 3A and 3B Ayr Road. I rang the doorbell at both and the domestic workers told me that the owners would be back shortly. Thabo & I waited outside the properties (that is to say outside the gates), only to discover that someone had pressed the "panic button" on us and so arrived the big black security truck with 2 big black men--armed with RIFLES--who stepped out of the truck to inform us: "we will use maximum force to remove you from this property", followed by: "I AM THE COMMANDER OF THIS AREA". I tried to explain the situation, but clearly we were without a car--no quick getaways--and these gorillas were not prepared to listen to any reasonable account of why we were there. So we up and left, walking down the path, me cursing under my breath, Thabo laughing from the absurdity of it all.

 

Just a few meters into our journey out of Athol, I realized that big black security truck was actually FOLLOWING us! We turned in disgust and demanded to know why they insisted on following us, and if they wanted us to leave so much, why not give us a lift to the nearest main road? They didn't give us any clear answer but instead told us to wait where we stood and they would come back to escort us out. Once they drove away, Thabo and I tried desparately to hail down any car which drove past. Finally one car stopped, 2 darkies in a beat-up toyota. We jumped in, and not a second to soon!--the security gorillas were driving in the opposite direction looking for us! We ducked our heads and breathed in a sigh of relief, knowing we had made our quick get-away afterall.

André and Charles reminisce after a superb lunch


Saturday February 19, 2011 : Lunch with André & Val van Vuuren in Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape

It was another scorcher as my father and I stepped into the car to travel an hour out of Cape Town to the house where André and Val now reside. It was clear that we were driving into the winelands, every intersection had a few locals selling off their access grapes: white, pink & red. Charles just waved , "nie vandag baas".

Previously the van Vuuren's lived in Jo'burg and were always in close proximity to Bill's house/studio in Sandton. André admits that Bill was one of his greatest influences and friends, encouraging André to continue in all his artistic endevours. André then dug into his archives and found an interview that Bill had conducted. The last question in particular made me chuckle (was Bill just fishing for compliments?) :


ARTLOOK, August 1971
André van Vuuren interviewed by Bill Hart





I was very pleased to find out that Val & André own one of the multiples of Tension Tower. When I asked André about how Bill might have acquired the commission, he responded that it was Linda Goodman, owner of the Goodman Gallery and Bill's longest running gallerist who had offered him the task. Linda is connected in the medical field as members of her family are (or were) practising doctors.

"Tension Tower" Bill Hart (date unknown)

André is presently exhibiting his work in Johannesburg at Graham's Fine Art Gallery

http://www.grahamsfineartgallery.co.za/view.asp?ItemID=36&tname=tblComponent2&oname=Exhibitions&pg=exhibitions

"Wildflowers" André van Vuuren, 2010
Oil on Canvas, 60 x 70 cm



PULL UP A CHAIR, acrylic & ink on paper, copyright M.Machèn, Feb 2011

 I once fell in love with a woman with a wooden leg and a tattoo on her chest. I know that sounds strange but it's true. I must have been 17 at the time, I was traveling down to see my grandma and grandpa in the Eastern Transvaal, they had a citrus farm there. It was an overnight journey by train. I used to smoke American Pall Mall unfiltered cigarettes, not many, just enough to make me look sophisicated. I really fancied myself by that stage. I also started drinking beer and had bought myself a pinstriped suit...very flash! I got into the train and ended up in a compartment by myself . It was quite late so I went to the saloon and had a drink, there was one other girl...well she wasn't really a girl, she was about 30 years old. I went up to her and asked if she would mind if I shared her table and she said "Certainly, sit down". We started talking and playing matches (that's when you guess how many matches are in the other's fist)...then we started playing for drinks and I think she deliberately let me win a few rounds because at the end she had bought me several beers... then she got up to go and I realized I hadn't ordered bedding for my compartment so she said: "Why don't you stay with me tonight?"...that's when I found out about the tattoo. The next morning bright and early I got my luggage and left the train. I kissed my grandma and took my grandpa's hand and all of a sudden I heard the lady shout down to me: "Goodbye, darling!" and my grandma said "Who's that?" and my grandpa smiled and I told them: "Well that's my Biology teacher. She is traveling to Mozambique and we meet on the train and we just had a long talk about my schoolwork". Grandma looked at me and grandpa looked at me and they looked at each other and they didn't say a word.

In August 1971, the Medical Chronicle announced:


In his total grasp of the Syndol [tablettes] briefing, Bill Hart has seemingly torn aside the visible exterior world to reveal the inner, invisible world of Modern Man.


Bill Hart was awarded the commission to interpret the "tensions" of "Modern Man" in a multiple sculpture.


The article concludes with:


Med-National's Tension Tower - a statement of tension but also an object of pleasurable contemplation.

hmmmmm...!

These two photographs were later super-imposed to create an advertisement for Syndol. I recovered the negetives and had them professionally scanned.

With technology today, it wouldn't be too difficult to re-create this exciting medical moment...!

*** ARTLOOK MAGAZINE 1971 ***

featuring TENSION TOWER by Bill Hart

study for sculpture depicting Bill Hart infront of his own work

First signs of life in the Greatmore Studios..!
I'm reluctant to start any comics strip stories without having spoken to a few key people from Bill's past. I would like to decifer what the main events were that helped shape his life.




Hanns Bergs, architect of de Beers building in Kimberley

  
 
  


Bill Hart, model for de Beers relief mural, circa 1970