" when, a good many years ago now , i first happened upon magazines that specialized in stories of the kind,
(science fiction) their proprietors had already concocted the formula which they knew, with that conviction that sustains minor showmen everywhere , to be ............" get the book to get the full forward - john Wyndham is a brilliant writer , a true genius and worth reading. another author i really enjoy is tom wolfe , however i digress.
i must say i really enjoyed this little extract from Mr Wyndham's forward - So the ideals of wildetecture, wilde-art , wilde-furn , wilde-lit, wilde-sculpt, wilde-sic, wilde-sion, wilde-phic, wilde-crossing have no formula for minor showmen. - no one to say this is how it should be done. the concepts for this wild african fauvistic style have not fully been established yet. it is suffice to say that the like minded wildetects who are part of this avant-garde African design style - are establishing the template for this out of Africa style as we speak. the students of this style come from every socio economic and cultural group in south africa. from my students at the academy to the students im currently teaching in khayalitsha.
surprise shako mkhize being the first wilde-artist to champion this cause. creating fusion african wildlife sculpture. eagles verging on griffins and horses closely likened to apocalyptic riderless mustangs. which radically deviates from the technically correct , no life sculpture clogging up the african tourist markets. regrettably my friend shako has past away - i miss our conversations and his wild excited ideas sparking across his truelly creative mind.
during the wild cape wind storm we experienced a few days ago i was fortunate enough to come across a poster advertising a tretchikoff exhibition at the national gallery. naturally not wanting this poster to get damaged i safely popped it in the car for safe delivery back to the museum. now a few years back if you had a poster or a print on your wall of a tretchikoff. or dared to mention you absolutely loved his work - the minor showmen of the day would have your guts for artistic garters. well done to a brilliant showman - tretchikoff - i have always loved your work and enjoyed the way you persisted even whilst enduring the spitting artistic vitriole of the minor showmen of the day.
