Jeanne Hoffman
Jeanne Hoffman’s œuvre as a whole posits reality as a collage of the
attractions of the terrain, terrain both tangible and psychological.
Her creative process begins with collage, an assemblage of fragments
collected and recollected throughout the day, and continues through a
series of poetic responses and gestures in paint. At times, references are
recognisable; at others, they are illegible, preverbal marks and traces
that speak of the untamed – of peripheral glimpses, fugitive presences
hovering in the corner of the eye, burgeoning suggestions on the tip of the
tongue. These fragments of experience and sensation make impressions
on the unconscious mind and continue materialising on the canvas.
In her latest exhibition, Raft, Hoffman further explores the emotional and
socio-cultural dimensions of place. This body of work offers a compelling
testament to the profound effect of environment on our experience of
– and functioning in – the world. The paintings were executed on site
during her residency at Leeu Estates, with the experience becoming a
laboratory of sorts. The resultant works are the first to be played out in a
studio space not her own – in a distinct terrain offering new, unusual and
endemic specimens and encounters for contemplation.
photographer: Ivana Maarschalk
How would this significant change in place – a relocation to a geography of grand architecture, meticulously manicured gardens, unfamiliar daily movements and encounters, and relative solitude – play out on the canvas? In an environment where the senses are still adjusting to new light and sound, and the body is immersed in dimensions not yet felt out, how would a sense of the foreign and exotic prompt or paralyse the act of making itself?
A new context, however stimulating and promising, is nevertheless one of
disorientation, a state that can lead to a sense of being stranded. Refuge is needed: space within the space; room to regroup, to pivot; a vessel that can function as a “temporary shelter” for engaging with a new landscape.
A raft symbolises such refuge. Constructed through a process that parallels Hoffman’s creative one, a raft is an assemblage, a collection of what is there, of objects found in the environment – whether foreign or familiar; whether planks or branches, hollow barrels or grasses and reeds. And although it is assembled with great care and attention, a raft is, nevertheless, makeshift. It is fundamentally temporary, provisional, interim.
A raft is thus a refuge that is nomadic, and it is in this ability to both hold and move, to stabilise without stagnating, to be both ever-connected and continuously moving – that a raft allows for new spaces and possibilities to open up, for new meaning to emerge. As such, it speaks not only of Hoffman’s exploration of new terrain, but also of the tension between motion and stillness inherent in painting and drawing – the process or movement of being formed, of becoming, which inhabits – though nomadically – the spaces and relationships between discrete elements of an artwork. The life of the work itself is in the intermezzo.
Raft
The sea rushes home
-taken from Hoffman's catalogue
