William Sweetlove | Dadaism with Pop Art
William Sweetlove (born 1949) is a contemporary Belgian sculptor and a member of the Cracking Art Group, a collective based in Italy.
Sweetlove's work marries the cultural commentary of Dadaism with Pop Art, in a similar vein to the artist Julien Marinetti.
“Art is not a message, art is art,” he has said. “But if you have a message, why not?”
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Sweetlove creates plastic sculptures or “clones” of animals, painted in different colours, carrying water bottles, and wearing rain boots.
In adorning the animals, the artist asks viewers to consider a potential future of climate change, without drinking water or coastal cities.
RECLAIMING
March the 27th 2020 was a day that took many South Africans by surprise. Along with the rest of the world, we were being told to stay inside while our Country got ready for the spread of the Coronavirus. In a world that is always on the move, we were being told to stop. For many of us lockdown created uncertainty, fear of the foreseeable future, as well as the purchase of a large number of books and puzzles.
However, while South Africans were tucked away three Cape Town residents ignored Cyril Ramaphosa’s instructions to say home and they decided to take to the streets of Simon’s Town (Fig 1). This trio dressed in black and white set out to explore a part of the world that once belonged to them but has since been paved, built over and is now busy with cars and people, keeping them to the confines of Boulders Beach. Ronnis Daniels, from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) who was following the penguins during their walk, stated: that the penguins were “enjoying having their territory back”.
Three Penguins walking the streets of Simons Town on April 17 2020. SANNCOB/ Insider.
African Penguins are found in South Africa and Namibia and since the 20th century, they have become an endangered species.
These waddling wonders were not the only animals reclaiming their now peaceful surroundings. In California, when the Yosemite National Park was closed, there were reports of bobcats, bears, and coyotes exploring campsites and administrative buildings.
In our very own Kruger National Park, where ordinarily on game drives one has to sit and wait patiently to catch a glimpse of a lion, during lockdown they were found sleeping right in the middle of the road and not hiding away in the grass.
Looking into these stories the word ‘reclaiming ’becomes prominent. This is quite a powerful word for an image of three cute penguins wondering the streets but the truth is we have started to take more than our fair share and as the world starts to open up again, we need to remind ourselves that it should not take a pandemic for animals to roam happily, that humans and nature should be able to live as one.
These two images below are of the same story but from different sides, the one shows animals in man-made territories while the other is man-made objects in animal territories. So now is our time to decide which side of the narrative we want to be on. Do we want to look back at what was; or look forward to what could be?
