Blonde on Blonde

Die Burger quotes David Kramer on Saturday’s Astor-Solms Oesfees (harvest festival). “This is history” said the veldskoened one, and he wasn’t joking. As befits the perceived status of some of the media in attendance, special parking on the lawn of the Mark Solms homestead – or should that be solmstead – was arranged for the horseless carriages of the fourth estate. Which meant that many of their number missed out on a special treat – Joachim Schönfeldt’s blonde on blonde frieze on the wall of the cellar.

joa1.jpg

Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan’s 7th studio album released in 1966, is widely regarded as one of his benchmarks. Reputedly the first double album in rock history, it is also a revolutionary contribution to music. Johannesburg artist Joachim Schönfeldt has also produced a benchmark of sorts with his frieze. In two sections (the cellar is a double-barreled affair) it resurrects the glorious tradition of winery friezes by such masters as the 18th century sculptor Anton Anreith and his frieze at Groot Constantia.

The Schönfeldt work is a synoptic GoogleEarth-like vision of the winemaking terroirs of the Western Cape with baked circular medallions emphasizing specific themes. The work has a temporal component as the colours of the map change during the day as the sun adjusts its angle with respect to the work as it charges across the sky – Apollo’s flaming chariot etc. We were celebrity stalking the writer André P Brink as he made his way to his car (not all celebs parked at the solmstead it seems) and the topographic features were burnished gold. The effect was so dramatic, we forgot to ask André how many stars he’d score the work.

joa2.jpg