Angus Taylor - The Shape Of Things

Angus Taylor’s commanding creations have made a strong statement in artistic circles and leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Angus’s presence is still and resolute; it’s impossible not to note that his steadfast nature is reflected in the sculptures he forms, and vice versa.

I am because we are

The idea of the artist as lone creator is lost on the sculptor. Sitting in his large, dusty studio (a factory in Pretoria), Angus is all too well aware that he is part of a greater whole. “I have 25 permanent employees and 600m2 of space [in the studio]. The money generated here feeds 80 people. That requires a large overhead,” he explains pragmatically. “I’m South African. We are more collective as Africans than Europeans, if you buy into the Ubuntu thing, and I do.”

Angus’s motivation is guided by this strong sense of community. “The studio has a unique strategy. It’s not about an individual entity with its own likes and dislikes. We work as a collective. The team is greatly vaster than the individual.

“If you look at Maslow’s stupid little triangle (he pauses to add “and you can say it like that” in parenthesis) had some valid points. If you can self-actualise, those around you can self-actualise, and that’s a great success. I wanted to do an 8 meter statue and we did it and it works and we all get involved and break our backs.” The scale of the dimensions and labour intensive nature of these sculptures could not be achieved by a single person, and they stand testament to the potential realised by a common vision and collective enterprise.

Beginnings

Angus was born in Hillbrow and lived in Jo’burg for a while. His father, who worked for Die Beeld, was transferred and the family moved to the Vaal triangle. “Which I hated,” he elaborates, “as anyone who lives in small industrial towns would tell you”.

Angus describes himself as having grown up in a hippie family – his mother was a painter and his father a journalist. “So I was raised by quasi-intellectuals in the middle of Vereeniging. I don’t have any romanticised ideas about being an artist because of how I grew up, and yet if I don’t make art I’m not happy.

“While growing up we had to do one still life drawing every day, which my mother would mark. My parents set these tasks, such as building a completely round building, so I was welding at the age of seven. I grew up with a combination of creative and artistic and technical.”

Having travelled for a year, Angus did a year’s army service, and then stayed on for another year in order to save up a bit of money. “I did a short service as lieutenant in the armour core,” he explains, “It wasn’t bad – we were training for combat we never saw. We had fun in the sun with big cannons.”

Angus went on to study: “I did a year B. Comm and then I did my B. Algemeen. I first wanted to see if I was any good. I then studied art for 4 years. From my second year I was a tutor for drawing and sculpture. I still teach one class a year and advise to some tertiary institutions and the South African Artists Association.”

The art of the matter

“There have been many different influences over the past years as I have been in different phases. We make art when life is too
hard in order to escape it, or when we are calm and older your understanding is what is communicated through your work”.

The transitory nature of the inspiration and influence may explain why Angus remains interested in the piece during its shaping. “When I make things I don’t hang on to them. I make them and give them away. I grow tired of them one year later.”

“There have been so many challenges – I’m past the point where it’s extreme – I’ve made a bit of a name for myself and don’t need to prove a point anymore. People think art is just art. And sometimes it is. Someone small and fragile couldn’t make art like this; you have to be big and ugly.”

The artist feels a special connection with the materials he finds, and then manipulates to form his sculptures. “I’ve always loved stone – we have some of the best in this country. We don’t have marble – so we can’t work in that. I work with chunks of stone that are hard and dense (to give the men who may read this an idea of the density; it is 4 tonnes per cubic meter, he adds). And I work out. I use these as puzzle pieces which I stack together.”

The processes involved in the creation of the final piece of art are carefully directed and managed. “The bronze is very laborious and controlled, you manipulate the form and surface texture – nothing is left to chance. The found object lacks if it isn’t combined with the considered and modelled aspect. The contrast leads to a stronger piece.”

“I believe in understanding destination in broad abstract terms and not a physical thing like money or a place. It’s more ‘I think it should feel like this’. I would like to live between the Cape and here. I would like to spend more time on sculpturing than running the business. I want to make bigger sculptures; 10 and 15 meter. This will happen as it happens and there is no hurry,” he pauses, “If it is good it takes time.”