Leonard Matsoso
Matsoso’s art is an enigmatic one, an art imbued with presence that frequently makes no obvious literal statement. Matsoso is also a painter and graphic artist and since c.1973 has also produced drawings in colour, although he is best known for his monochromatic drawings from the early 1970s. Typically these consist of finely drawn figures stripped of superfluous details and offset against blank backgrounds. There is an emphasis on form which assumes an almost sculptural presence. Frequently, as with these three examples in the Campbell Smith Collection (plates 214–216), the figures overlap, taking on a composite character, their hybrid nature suggesting a synthesis of opposing or contrasting, archetypal elements (man/beast, man/woman, mother/child). A graphic sensibility expresses itself through linear precision and tonal contrast with the latter reinforcing the sense of opposing elements unified and embodied within the whole. Accordingly these works could be interpreted as referring to external conflict and reconciliation between opposing forces, as well as the internalization or embodiment of these contestations within the human form. Read More…
