Strauss & co - 17 February 2018, Cape Town

170 Strauss & co contemporary art auction Schism I and II , 1993, pastel and sprayed pigment on bonded fibre fabric, diptych, each panel 174 by 230 cm, Collection of Karel Nel. The later Schism works individually present two explorations of the same reality – as a form of synergy and difference, but each manifestation is complete and contained in its own right. Nel often remarks that any analysis of reality is easier to comprehend by contrasting or comparing two elements simultaneously rather than trying to make sense of either one on its own. Nel grapples with the question of how we insert ourselves into the intimate space between observation and the perception of reality. Spatially and metaphorically, it would be like taking an old polaroid photograph, waiting for it to develop and then stripping off the covering film to reveal two matching symmetrical images in hand. The question then arises as to where we exist in relation to or in between these two ‘mirrored images’, alerting us to a potential abstracted axis of ‘being’ or consciousness. In the russet haze of Schism I , the layered levels of mental and diagrammatic representation in the original drawings are included in the later work, as are accurate optical renditions of both objects and the represented space. This multiplicity of levels of representation encourages the viewer to engage with the complex and questioning process of perception and representation. Nel’s work constantly attempts to locate this process of grappling with the nature of visual and eidetic reality in notatory form within the presence of the every day. Awaiting , 1988, signed, pastel and sprayed pigment on bonded fibre fabric, 183 by 181 cm, Collection of Bel, Dewar & Hall, Johannesburg. House of the Initiate , 1988, signed, pastel and sprayed pigment on bonded fibre fabric, 183 by 181 cm, Collection of Bel, Dewar & Hall, Johannesburg.