Parody Art

Nicholas Mapplebeck

Brett Murray was an artist who studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Brett was born in Pretoria in 1961, he began attending University of Cape Town in 1985, and he left in 1989 with a Master’s of Fine Arts degree. He was both an artist and a sculptor, although he was mainly interested in sculpture as he opened up his own sculpting department in 1992 at Stellenbosch University. From this time to 98’, Brett had entered many exhibitions including Venice Bienalle in 1995 and 40 Sculptures of the Western Cape, which he curated. He had begun to develop his name as an artist in South Africa.

            Brett mostly took his place in apartheid by making fun of it, and looking at things from a humorous standpoint. His art comes in form of parody, mocking the idea of it with obscene gestures and exaggerations. He does more than one thing that most others have not, first of all, he tackles apartheid with his art, and second of all, he does it from a white viewpoint. He developed a personal style by using popular characters such as the Simpsons, and the Pink Panther, and he implements these into his art. One of Brett’s artworks shows an African sculpture with Bart Simpsons head rupturing out many sides of the statue. You can see two cultures colliding, and especially shows how much he sticks out as a white artist. His work is widely regarded as inappropriate and an outrage, especially his painting, “Spear”. He got a lot of public and media hate for this portrayal of a president, some even calling him racist. Although, this did give him publicity.

            I think Brett had a very interesting style to approaching apartheid, it was different. The art he creates is well made and look great, but also carries a lot of meaning. He attacks apartheid with a very subtle tactic, in order to see what he portrays and envisions, you have to look closely and for other meanings. What is on paper isn’t always what it seems like. He was also very persistent; he has been creating art since the 80’s to modern days. All of the work he has created is all so different as well, you don’t see many repeats and old ideas; when you look at Brett’s art it feels fresh and new.  I think that Brett Murray was one of the most influencial artists in South America and his art is widely recognized, even if it’s not recognized for the best reason.

            There’s a lot more you can peer into with this artist, Brett has 100’s of pieces of works, all available to view. He is worth searching and looking into, some of his art is very interesting and it will have you questioning what it means. One of the best things about researching Brett is that he has his own website; you can find it easily by searching his name. If you take a look at some of his work, I would recommend his African Simpson statue, and his other piece of art, “Warrior”.

Brett Murray's Statue, in Cape Town

http://www.brettmurray.co.za/