Jacobus Kloppers

It is ironic that the notion of “places” not only implies the “empty spaces” between them, but also depends on it. Without these “voids” the concept of “place” would be incomprehensible. We order the physical world as a set of places, connected by paths – spaces that seem “empty” and “less important”, but which we have to travel in order to reach a destination.

For some time now, Jacobus Kloppers’ work focuses on the concept of travel, the realisation and discovery of landmarks and indicators along the way, and, especially, how it impacts on the psyche. He has walked a long way – initially through depictions of objects (dams, drinking troughs, gates, etc.) along roads leading through the Karoo landscape, later the road itself as a (non) place, and, more recently, by focusing on road signs as indicators of place, distance and direction. Now he enters what he calls a “second world” - to extend his investigation into the “continuous interaction between the experience of place as a physical phenomenon and of place as a moment in the world of thought”.

By superimposing illustrations of clouds on road maps and using aerial photographs as reference, Kloppers is now involving the virtually immeasurable space above the landscape – the atmosphere, the true place of “nothing”.

On a clear day the sky is an empty space where distance, relativity and three-dimensionality dissolve in a borderless vacuum. Only physical objects, such as birds, aeroplanes and, especially, clouds, sometimes give (limited) insight into the dimensions of the immense expanse above us earth-bound beings. Without these indicators, of which the landscape is part, we would not be able to grasp the concept of space.

The human psyche – the universe of the spirit - is as boundless as the atmosphere. It is only defined, and limited, by thoughts, stemming from experiences of happenings, of places and the journeys between them.

In this series of works, Kloppers employs, amongst other, the cloud as a metaphor for the wandering spirit. Clouds drift over landscapes, carved by time and incidence, as thoughts and dreams travel through psychological spaces above past and future experiences. The human spirit may not be without will, but, as clouds, we have no control over our origin, and relatively little control over how and where we end up. It is the winds of time and change that ultimately determine our route and final destination. We can be little more than observers en route.

Travellers never stay for long in one place. They love movement, especially for the sake of movement. In the process, travellers usually develop a firm concept of space and place - and especially the absence of the latter - because to travel, means to be in the “nowhere” between two points on a map. It is these vacuums that Zen Buddhists long to visit in an attempt to escape the hold that place and experience have on the psyche. To them the “non-place” is the true destination.

This sounds paradoxical. For what is to be found in the noman’s- land between places - an ill-defined space, where little is certain and most things are in a constant state of flux? What are we searching for along these strange routes of uncertainty and transcendence? Do we ever discover anything?

Sometimes. Kloppers points to this. Through the metaphor of the physical road, the landmarks and signposts along the way, the road map, the endless sky and the floating clouds, he again focuses on a certain, but universal, aspect of the human condition. Like nomadic clouds that glide over the seemingly empty spaces between the dots on a map, we see, hear and experience many things during our journey over the psychological landscape. We may learn a lot, and later know many things, but what we eventually discover during our travels through lesser-known spaces, is nothing but ourselves.

Cobus van Bosch
November 2005

Born 13 June 1959, Nelspruit, Mapumalanga.
1976
Matriculated Empangeni High School, Natal.
1980
BA (Fine Arts), University of Pretoria under Nico Roos, Keith Dietrich and John Clarke.
1990
Higher Education Diploma (Art), Unisa.
1988 - 2000
Art teacher at the Johan Carinus Art Centre, Grahamstown.
Studios in Nieu Bethesda and Johannesburg since 2001.

National Exhibitions
New Signatures, SA Association of Arts, Pretoria 1980.
Group Exhibitions, including Zink Shop I and II, Pretoria 1981 - 1983.
Group Exhibition Gallery 21, Johannesburg, April 1987.
Group Exhibition SA Association of Arts, Pretoria, 1987.
Group Exhibitions Grahamstown Arts Festival 1988 - 1992.
EPSFA Annual Exhibition, Port Elizabeth, 1990 and 1991.
Exhibits with the GAP group since 1991.
Volkskas Atelier, Johannesburg 1991, Durban 1992, Pretoria 1993 and Johannesburg 1994. Cape Town Arts Festival (Waterfront), December 1992.
One-man Exhibition Ann Bryant Gallery, East London, March 1993.
One-man Exhibition Grahamstown Arts Festival, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Momentum Art 1993, Pretoria, September 1993.
South African Art, Strydom Gallery, George, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
One-man Exhibition IBIS Gallery, Nieu-Bethesda, April 1995.
One-man Exhibition Guild Gallery, Pretoria, September 1996.
Two-man Exhibition with Carl Becker, Karin McKerron Gallery, Johannesburg, May 1997. One-man Exhibition Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn , April 1998.
“Die Landskap: Eenheid en Diversiteit“ Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, 1998.
“Land, History and Self“ Exhibition Grahamstown Arts Festival, Dakawa, 1998.
“Xoe Site Specific Project” Nieu Bethesda, 1998.
Group Exhibition Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, 1999.
Two-person Exhibition with Giselle Baillie, Cuyler Street Gallery, Port Elizabeth, 1999.
One-man Exhibition Dakawa, Grahamstown, 1999.
One-man Exhibition “Tussenruimte“, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 1999.
One-man Exhibition, Ou Lettere Galery, Preotoria, 2000.
One-man Exhibition, Dorpstraat Galery, Stellenbosch, 2001.
Spier Sculpture Biennale, Stellenbosch, 2002.
One-man Exhibition as part of the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria Open lecture series 2002. “The SA Landscape”, University of Pretoria, 2002.
Two-man Exhibition with Etienne de Kock, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2002.
One-man Exhibition, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, BCI Fine Art, Johannesburg 2003.
Three-man Exhibition with Walter Meyer and Erik Laubscher, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2004.
One-man Exhibition, “Eskaders”, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2007
Anniversary Exhibition, ‘Art that inspires’, Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2009
One-man Exhibition, “Seebriewe” Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2010

International Exhibitions
8th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition, R.O.C. Taipei, Taiwan 1997.

Collections
Haenggi Foundation Pietersburg Art Museum
ABSA Bank
Pretoria Art Museum
SASOL Collection
SANLAM
Telkom
BMW, Pretoria
University of Pretoria
SA Reserve Bank
University of Stellenbosch
Saldana Steel
Rupert Art Foundation
Expedutors

Awards
First Prize, New Signatures, SA Association of Arts (Tvl) 1980.

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