Exuberance is the best word to describe the work of multi-media artist Dion Monti. His practice in film, soundscapes, music and installations all share bright colours and warm tones. Operating out of Johannesburg, his various projects have the quality of being deceptively simple. For example, he produced a series of geometric human figures painted onto stark black backgrounds. At first it seems almost perfunctory. But the combination of the shapes and colours create an evocative mix, as if seeing some forgotten childhood cartoon character. In a similar way, his installation work creates spaces of explosive light. Full of torn fabrics and broken frames, they look like crime scenes redesigned as playpens.
A similar aesthetic is seen in his music. His main style is minimal house, which he tweaks and freaks out with all kinds of unexpected elements. Instead of focusing on the beat, his productions constantly shift and swirl, creating non-linear soundscapes to fall into. This year already he has dropped two eps. The first, Contortions, has thee tracks, including a homage to ‘Mrs. Ples’, the famous proto-human fossil discovered outside Johannesburg. The recent release The Wonderer is more conceptual. As the title suggests, it develops the deliberately naïve style that he has cultivated in his visual art. In a supporting text he describes the work as being about the ‘the one who is curious, no child but no adult either, never stops wondering, always inspiring’. Beginning with the opening ‘the kid’ we are lead on a metaphysical journey through the self. It ends on the other side with the gently rousing ‘the adult’, which climaxes with an optimistic flourish. While much contemporary electronic music is focused on darkness and anxiety, Monti is carving out a niche by looking toward the light.
