This exhibition presents sculptural and photographic works by Roelof Louw (b. 1936, Cape Town, South Africa) who showed here in 1969, alongside material from the archive and a number of rare articles and books related to Louw’s work.
Louw began to develop new environmental forms of practice as seen in his 1969 site-specific installation Location at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art (as it was then known). In a letter held in the gallery’s archive, which is on display here, he expresses surprise that Caro approved of his Oxford installation. Struck by the distinctive architecture of the Upper Gallery, Louw stretched a large, black rubber band and attached it to the gallery walls so that the band surrounded the viewer on all sides and at constant eye-level. The effect if this was said to be so intense that some visitors experienced panic attacks.
Roelof Louw
South African sculptor Roelof Louw's Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967), comprises 6,000 oranges arranged in the shape of a pyramid that depletes as visitors help themselves to the fruit. This interactive element runs through Louw's oeuvre, with many of his sculptural works from the 1960s and 1970s being site-specific as well as audience-specific. Louw studied and later taught at Central St Martin's School of Art, London. His work is directed toward developing a new understanding and definition of sculpture and has been featured in seminal exhibitions such as When Attitudes Become Form (1969) and Between Man and Matter (1970). He continues to provoke debate and dialogue whether by incorporating the Stars and Stripes, animal bones, or fluorescent tubes into his work, to make his political and social commentaries. Louw's work is included in the Tate Collection. Biography from Richard Saltoun website: http://www.richardsaltoun.com/artists/41-roelof-louw/overview/
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