Rip, Mix, Stitch and Burn – Zavick and Ulric Remix Sculpture

Supadog's underpants go up in flames
Supadog's underpants go up in flames

WHEN early 20th Century critic of psychoanalysis Karl Kraus proclaimed, in his attack against Freud and the Austrian school: “From now only piracy will be permitted,” he was merely answering the terrifying problematic which American, Ralph Waldo Emerson had  previously

delineated: “It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others, as it is to invent,” consequently all forms of appropriation, whether they be the outright theft of the remix pirate, the anti-hierarchic nomadism of the schizophrenic or the mashup culture of the hiphop musician, are all really just comments on the artistic process we call invention.

To be alive in the maelstrom of today’s insanely literary pop culture, to write about art, is to risk offending highbrow critics who maintain theory is the sole prerogative of the academic, that any discourse is invariably that of the Western Canon vs the Other and all activities, including the activity of art should, and can only be, understood from within the realm of polite bourgeois society, through a lens  provided by domestic homeland safety security regulations, 2010 soccer stadiums and a city by-law prohibiting urination, belching, farting in public and noxious odours?

Marianne Pinotage Africa – work of art proclaims Zavick

CAPE TOWN: “Christian Dauriac has produced a work of art,” says artist Zavick Zaroff Botha who in conjunction with Marianne, the premier French Wine estate in Africa, and Franck Malassigne, has created a startling new piece that will be forever associated with the estate’s 2004 Pinotage.

The Marianne Pinotage won an award at the ABSA Top 10 Pinotage ceremony held at Cape Town’s Castle on Thursday, March 6 2008. The award, sponsored by the Pinotage Association in conjunction with ABSA, saw Zavick’s original artwork commended for its innovative interpretation of the wine-making process.
The collaboration is a natural development for Botha, who stumbled upon the vineyard in 2007. “I could taste the fullness of the berries and Mr Duriac explained that they were 100% Pinotage. I immediately fell in love with the estate.” Zavick believes he has captured the very essence of Marianne in a select artwork produced exclusively for Mr Duriac.