Appolis's romance in colour

Work's stunning colours and cryptic visions highlight the scars of racial segregation

- Zanele S Maduma

Alexander Appolis sounds like a name one would find among historical figures in art history books. It has that “ring to it”.

I was given a brief history lesson when I shared this impression with Alex himself.

“I found out that Appolis is a slave name as slave owners would give slaves classical names like Apollo or Zeus,” he said.

The 31-year-old artist says he fell in and out of love with art until he discovered the powerful potential of fine arts through Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi’s art in high school. It was the raw energy of her work that inspired him.

As you descend the stairs into the basement from the ground floor of the Wits Art Museum, on the left-hand wall it reads: Alexander Appolis: A Neo-Arcadian Tale: BLACK Pan in South Africa’s Pastoral Romance. Even as an art enthusiast or a curious visitor, this title is quite a mouthful and cause for a pause to think.

Alex, as he prefers to be called, who grew up in Kensington, Joburg, is a PhD candidate in Creative Work and Research at Wits University.

He employs complexity and ambiguity in his paintings, drawings and installations. The complexity and ambiguous nature of art leaves a lot for the imagination in a spectator. It often leaves one dissociating with the painting in front of one even if the subject is a familiar one.

“I spent a lot of time trying to simplify it,” says Appolis. “I would say that what people must take out is the pastoral and romance.