A Research Report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History of Art to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / In this research, I study the work by contemporary South African artist, Johannes Phokela, in relation to the Western art historical canon. I undertake a close analysis of his painting Candle Bathing (1997) that quotes Samson and Delilah (1609-1610) by the seventeenth century Flemish Baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens. Through a comparative analysis and close looking I read Candle Bathing’s ‘visual argument’ within a postcolonial context. To argue that Candle Bathing is not a mere ‘quotation’ I look closely from multiple angles. To deal with the complexity of a quotation that crosses socio-political time and space, I interpret the painting from various theoretical frameworks: poststructuralism (semiotics), postmodernism (irony); and postcolonial theory to situate my contextual analysis. I am interested in how we can read beyond the literal and how a close reading of this ironic quotation can surface the complexities of contemporary South African art in relation to the art historical canon and colonialism. Through close looking I read Candle Bathing as addressing the art canon, colonialism, critiquing issues of race, and marginalisation. This research contributes to filling a knowledge based gap by researching a previously marginalised artist and a close engagement with Candle Bathing. In addition, this research offers a way of looking and a method on how to begin looking closely at contemporary African art quoting canonical works. I illustrate the value of close looking to read multifaceted and layered interpretations. / MT2017

By researching the life and work of Thomas Baines (1820 - 1875) in relation to a broader discourse of painting and the lived experience of being a 'white' male in a post-apartheid South Africa, I explore the ways in which this figure from the past has provoked the three series of artworks I have produced for my Master of Fine Art exhibition. This study has been divided into two parts, represented by the two chapters contained herein. Chapter One includes a critical retelling of Baines' biography and a discussion of the primary ways in which I have engaged with both the life and the working practice of this artist. I also address my own personal complicity in the constructions of 'the figure of Baines' as I have framed him both visually and textually during my work for this degree. Chapter Two describes some of the practicalities of my working process as a visual artist, including how I understand the theoretical and conceptual concerns which I raise in Chapter One to be visually manifest in my work. In this chapter, I also discuss my work in relation to the work of the contemporary South African artists William Kentridge and Johannes Phokela. The artistic practice of one artist imitating another artist's work is also explored as a central conceptual thread which could be seen to weave my verbal and visual production together.