In the Present Tense

In their radical flatness, confectionery colours and crisp precision, the works present a fantasy-like, uncanny vision of reality. Gerrard’s figures are imposed upon juxtaposing fields of dense, bright colour. A minimal, circular dot is used across the works as a formal link between them: in some, the dot operates as a representational stand-in – mimicking an orange in a shopping bag or the sun against the sky; in others, the orb is a purer abstraction, merely a form of solid colour. The device plays on optics of vision and perspective, drawing awareness to the semiotics embedded in our ways of seeing.

Gerrard’s practice acts as a self-reflexive contemplation and response to our current post-digital landscape, negotiating the pervasive force that is our relationship with social media. Born in Cape Town in 2001, he forms part of a generation conditioned to pay rapt attention to the experiences that give them pleasure, turning them into stylised rituals for virtual display. His work is informed by a confluence of lived experience, influences from American Pop Art and French Nouveau Réalisme, and the algorithmic consumption of digital imagery. With their smooth consistency and saturated lacquer of paint beneath reflective glass, his paintings deftly recall the screens we interact with daily.

In the Present Tense is marked by a distinct development of the mask that is the artist’s signature motif. While figures in Gerrard’s earlier paintings all bore a red, horned mask, the new series depicts masks without horns or bared teeth, rendered in a softer shade of coral pink. Though each subject’s face remains largely obscured, psychological narratives are suggested through an economy of subtle bodily expression. The softening of a mouth, the tilt of a head or the pronounced positioning of hands signal to the emotionality of these characters’ interior worlds. Gerrard utilises ambiguity as a seductive experience for both maker and viewer. Far from ambivalence, his figures are inclined to hold pluralities: they are inclusive, rejecting traditional binary prescriptions of what is this or that, suggesting more space for change, self-formation and discovery.

The figures’ solitude within each work echoes the singular nature of the artist’s own commitment to the act of self-enquiry and observation. The paintings’ tightly cropped frames lend a voyeuristic accessibility to each subject. This intimacy imitates the parasocial connection and illusory sense of closeness one might develop with a favoured celebrity or social media personality. The viewer becomes privy to these mundane joys. In one painting, a women sits on what we might discern as her own bedroom floor, her hair wrapped in a bath towel. Her obscured face and the restful slope in her shoulders allude to the serenity experienced in quotidian moments of self-care. Another work renders a figure against a rolling green hill and blue sky that simulate the wallpaper of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, proliferated into collective visual consciousness since its introduction in 2000. Commonly referenced as the most viewed photograph in history, the image is imprinted as the nostalgic landscape of the artist’s childhood.

The hyper-stylisation of each painting elicits the sense that these bodies are conscious of being observed, posing as they would for the lens of a camera. Gerrard’s practice is permeated by varying processes of digital image-making. The series originates from reference photographs composed by the artist. Models and friends served as subjects for each image, meticulously curated with Gerrard’s desired props and backdrops. The photographs are digitally recreated on an iPad, then reconstructed again by Gerrard’s hand, finding their final material form in enamel paint on glass. In this way, the works act as simulacra of their original reference images, looping against themselves to become an idealised version of the now-removed initial form. Simulacra challenge our perceptions of authenticity and reality, encouraging a reflection on the impact of media, technology, and culture on our understanding of the world. Even the most commonplace object – created through Gerrard’s deliberate process of synthesis – is considered with heightened sensitivity and presence.

In the Present Tense draws its title from a quote by American painter Alex Katz – a seminal influence of the artist. Katz speaks of attempting to “paint in the present tense”, compressing the energetic flux and colour of life into a single frame. Gerrard’s body of work is a perceptive exploration of themes of identity formation and nostalgia, tracing our evolving relationship with the virtual realm.

Gerrard's In the Present Tense runs concurrently with Invisible Hand by Xanthe Somers and An Open Letter by Mmangaliso Nzuza at Southern Guild Cape Town, from 29 August to 7 November 2024.