Hall of fame | Frederik Eksteen

Frederik Eksteen completed his Master’s degree at the University of Pretoria in 2000. In addition to exhibiting both locally and internationally, he has won several awards including the Judges’ Prize in the 1997 Sasol New Signatures competition. Inspired by the interface between digital technology and traditional oil painting, Eksteen’s works are visually complex and conceptually layered, often referencing art historical traditions, while simultaneously harnessing new technology to create his haunting works.  His work is represented in several collections, including that of the Pretoria Art Museum, University of Pretoria, UNISA, Sasol, ABSA and MTN.   In this interview, we are given some insight into his artistic journey over the past twenty odd years.

Tell us a bit about your winning work, conceptual concerns and processes.

It was a large painting entitled Human Cargo in Transit. It was part of a series of experimental pieces I was busy with where trompe l’oeil effects were combined with figure painting. I remember being very excited about the riskiness and uncertainty of the process, which entailed carefully painting the figure and then spraying a layer of white paint over it. The challenge was to retain just enough of the figure to suggest a presence behind the picture surface, while, at the same time, not hiding too much. The prospect that things could go horribly wrong and that the underpainting would be completely lost was very real. After this layer was applied, I painted the trompe l’oeil hands of the figure breaking through the surface on top of it.

When I think of it now, the painting seems like a desperate illusion. It tries to make painting do things that are obviously not possible. I was reading a lot about the significance of pictorial flatness in modernism at the time and I think the work tried to say something about the strange contradiction that painting became in twentieth-century art. Modernist paintings are really bad illusions. They announce themselves as objects first and what they depict – if they show recognisable imagery at all – is a self-conscious negotiation between the material, the subject and the artist. Although my painting may at first appear to do the exact opposite, its illusionism is so audacious that it cancels itself out the moment one tries to believe in it. It is an inflated illusion; maybe even an illusion of an illusion. It might have more in common with the deception of peep shows and dioramas than the material-first predilections of modernist painting.

Did winning the competition assist in launching your career as an artist?

It definitely was a confidence boost and increased the visibility of my work. It not only advanced my career as an artist, but also most likely contributed to my appointment as a university lecturer shortly thereafter.

How has your art making changed over the years?

My art has changed in many ways, but I am still very much interested in the role of painting, and more specifically, illusionism, in contemporary art, media and culture. My interests are in large part ‘mechanistic’ if I can put it that way. The medium’s relationship to what it represents should not just be a means to an end. It is in the strategic layering of materials, techniques, genres and subject matter that something more evocative can happen.  

How important a platform is Sasol New Signatures?

It seems as if art competitions like Sasol’s New Signatures are becoming ever more important as a way of launching careers. Much more so now I would say than twenty years ago. The art industry definitely takes heed of what happens on the competition circuit, and will co-opt the exposure and recognition artists may receive from having their work celebrated on a curated national platform.

How many times did you enter the competition?

I remember entering three times. I received a merit award prior to the 1997 Judges’ prize.

What have you achieved since the competition? 

That is a really difficult question. How is achievement as an artist really measured? My work has been exhibited widely, but in terms of making art I feel as if I’m just beginning to find my way. Hopefully my work has also kept evolving and has found new audiences. The long haul is perhaps much more important – the constant chipping away at the block. Success should be measured in the work rather than the résumé, or so I would like to believe.

Are you involved in any mentorships, community projects or other developmental opportunities?

I have done, and still do, my fair share of lecturing. Although I no longer teach full time, I am involved in a mentorship capacity with final year fine arts students at the University of Pretoria. I was also previously involved with community projects as a full time lecturer at UNISA.

What advice do you have for other artists young or old wanting to make their career as an artist?

Art is many different things to many different people. There is also no homogenous aim or end point to an artist’s career. Make sure that what you want to get out of art is really what you need and that it will sustain you in your life, whether creatively, socially, financially, motivationally. Apart from making the work, being an artist involves marketing. It is a business even though we’d sometimes like to pretend differently and your work is arguably only as successful as the exposure it receives.

What is your biggest take-out since 1997?

My biggest take-out is that making art is not easy. Even after being at it for more than 20 years it can still feel daunting in most respects. It takes a lot of effort and ingenuity to keep things interesting, both for yourself and your audience. When things work out it can feel like the best job in the world, but the flipside is that it can also be rather lonely and with its fair share of obstacles. It is very much up to you to create and sustain some kind of meaningful momentum.