“My work celebrates the art of reinvention, the resilience of forgotten materials, and the symbolic relationship between the artist, the medium and the viewer.”
Mark Hilltout (1948-2024) was a South African artist with a restless soul. His journey through various career paths culminated in a shift into art-making in the final period of his life. Ever drawn to the discarded and imperfect, Hilltout found great inspiration in corrugated iron, a material that became more than just a canvas – in the artist’s hands, it became a storyteller, whispering tales of bygone eras and forgotten landscapes.
Hilltout's artistic process involved seeking out discarded sheets from a metal scrapyard in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, some of which might be over a century old. Out of a hundred sheets, only a handful were deemed suitable for his studio, chosen for their intriguing changes in colour, pattern, texture, grain and patina. Each sheet holds a hidden history, revealed only after being flattened and cleaned, adding layers of depth and character to the artist's creations.
In his studio, Hilltout and collaborating craftsman Nyasha Mashumba curated a “library of iron”, sorting sheets by hue to create a harmonious blend of colours and textures. The neutral dull-silvery grey of the iron contrasts with the vibrant hues of gnawing rust, ranging from warm orange to near-black umber. This juxtaposition of colours and textures reflects the artist's keen eye for detail and appreciation of the unpredictable beauty found in the imperfections of corrugated iron.
“Having learnt to sew with metal, I started a metal workshop in Woodstock in 2010. My medium is old rusted corrugated iron, and with this material, I made frames, table tops, sculptures, and signage. It was only after four years that I took painting with flattened corrugated iron seriously. And I haven’t stopped since. Because my medium is unique, so is my work. My style comes from the decay and patina of the corrugated iron itself. My artistic process is about finding the corrugated iron – not an easy task (it must have aged for at least 100 years).
“The unseen, the overlooked and the glory of imperfection – that’s my favourite subject matter. It surrounds me in Woodstock every day. And every day I see something different.”
Hilltout's artistic process involved seeking out discarded sheets from a metal scrapyard in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, some of which might be over a century old. Out of a hundred sheets, only a handful were deemed suitable for his studio, chosen for their intriguing changes in colour, pattern, texture, grain and patina. Each sheet holds a hidden history, revealed only after being flattened and cleaned, adding layers of depth and character to the artist's creations.
In his studio, Hilltout and collaborating craftsman Nyasha Mashumba curated a “library of iron”, sorting sheets by hue to create a harmonious blend of colours and textures. The neutral dull-silvery grey of the iron contrasts with the vibrant hues of gnawing rust, ranging from warm orange to near-black umber. This juxtaposition of colours and textures reflects the artist's keen eye for detail and appreciation of the unpredictable beauty found in the imperfections of corrugated iron.
“Having learnt to sew with metal, I started a metal workshop in Woodstock in 2010. My medium is old rusted corrugated iron, and with this material, I made frames, table tops, sculptures, and signage. It was only after four years that I took painting with flattened corrugated iron seriously. And I haven’t stopped since. Because my medium is unique, so is my work. My style comes from the decay and patina of the corrugated iron itself. My artistic process is about finding the corrugated iron – not an easy task (it must have aged for at least 100 years).
“The unseen, the overlooked and the glory of imperfection – that’s my favourite subject matter. It surrounds me in Woodstock every day. And every day I see something different.”