Welgemeend August Art Month - 2019

32 ROBERT HODGINS Night of the Awards, triptych 1997/8 each panel signed, dated, inscribed with the title and order of display on the reverse; inscribed ‘Just as “Mr. W.H.” was the “onlie begetter” of Shakespeare’s sonnets, so Mr Kendall Geer [sic] is the “onlie begetter” of This triptych. He declares in public “Hodgins will never no a painting as big as “The Triple Gates of Hell at the Joubert Park Gallery”. He challenges. I accept. This is the result. With affection for K.G., Robert Hodgins, May 98.’ [sic] on a label on the reverse oil on canvas 198 x 444 cm Private Collection “… the work also has a satirical point to make about the artist’s thoughts on awards in the arts. Hodgins said of this work at a walkabout he gave in 1998: ‘One winner at the Oscars, the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Young Artist of the Year Awards, or an annual Music Awards night, cannot truly represent and acknowledge the breadth of the culture which gave rise to them, the wealth of talent giving judges a difficult choice, the endeavours of that year’s artists in whichever field it is, or the disappointment of those who did not win, but had nonetheless given of their hearts, minds and souls in making their works worthy of contention.’” Neil Dundas