artSPACE durban

The Annual Affordable Art Show

2012-01-12T02:05:00.000-08:00

Cathy Peacock, Lady with Green Turban, Oil on canvas, 90cm x 90cm

Christie Rowse, Windows II, Oil on canvas, 60cm x 90cm

Clint Singh, Indian Shoes 2, Ink on paper, 82cm x 60cm

Everaldo Matonse, The Observation , Mixed media on paper, 61cm x 81cm

Jeannie Kinsler, Blue Light, Oil on canvas, 40cm x 40cm

Jenny Meyer, Catfish Rock, Mixed media on canvas, 80.5cm x 100cm

Ronnie Huber, Palmiet Tug in Cape Town Harbor & Steam Train, Mixed media on canvas, 100cm x 50cm each

The End (Of The World As We Know It)

2011-11-15T02:25:00.000-08:00

Andrew Verster, THE END, Digital print on paper, 97cm x 82cm (framed), Price on Request

The text is photographed from a Bible given to my grandfather, William Mossop on his 21st birthday on October 23 1895, by his sister Agnes Greenip, so it has strong personal connections.

THE END : This is the last verse of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is in every way THE END. It is the end of the old era.

The next book marks the beginning of OUR age.

Caroline Birch, Urban Angel Unbound, Oil, pencil, charcoal on canvas, Price on Request

This painting installation is the coming together of several considerations. Firstly there is the atom, and its essential make up of space and energy. The implication is that solid matter does not exist as solid matter; yet our thinking and awareness remains "solid". The next aspect is the blue of the sky. Looking at it, it isn't possible to see where the blue starts or finishes; one can see it is blue, yet it's impossible to look directly at the blue itself, rather like considering our Source or Creator. The spider creating its web out of its own substance, a Vedic metaphor for the creation, inspired the image of the hair shedding the whole creation. Then there is the urban angel - a very real mix of the spiritual, and the ordinary, sometimes grungy side of humanity. The process was more a questioning than an answer: what is an end? what defines it if not the progression to a beginning? How can a line be drawn between a beginning and an ending, or between any two things? Through this work, space and energy are considered in place of solid matter; and transformation in place of beginnings and endings. "The end" is an opportunity, an open door ..... a challenge.

Dee Donaldson, Zero Hour, Oil on Canvas, 120cm x 206cm, Sold

ZERO HOUR: a decisive point: climacteric, crisis, crossroad (used in plural), exigence, exigency, head, juncture, pass, turning point.

ZERO HOUR: the time at which a planned operation, typically a military one, is set to begin

ZERO HOUR: moment for commencement of plan; beginning of ordeal or crisis

ZERO HOUR: time at which Final Judgment occurs or one’s fate is determined

(Definitions sourced from Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus and Dictionary Online)

The process of making this work was a lengthy and convoluted one. In researching the theme: THE END (of the world as we know it), I uncovered a vast body of information, with thousands of perspectives and contradictions. And that’s before getting to grips with what the theme means to me, personally.

I do not wish to decode the meaning of the work in too literal a sense. The making of this work was a process of trying on many images (mundane, serious, humorous, tragic) and re-painting until something fit. There are many versions under this one. The image that you see is the one that finally resonated for me.

Grace Kotze, Still, Oil on Canvas, 80cm x 120cm, Price on Request

“Still” is a painting investigating the way in which momentous happenings freeze the passing of time. The work reflects on the manner in which the air around one quietens when faced with intense situations of loss, the death of a personal era.

Intense emotions cause spaces to become external reflectors, carrying emotional weight. Rooms are no longer empty structures but rather receptors of our emotions. The light, furniture etc. fall easily into their visual roles as metaphors when viewed by emotional spectators.

Jeannie Kinsler, Looking Towards, Oil on Canvas, 60cm x 90cm, Price on Request

The end is merely one part of a cycle – it must take place before the beginning of something new.

She turns 20 in the year 2012, sitting, looking towards the light – expression slightly hopeful, maybe the end signifies the start of something better you don’t need to see her hands to know they are resting in her lap, waiting to be used – she has not yet made her contribution to the world she sits in front of a shifting space, her flesh solid and real in contrast with the ethereal background – shadows of a nest and a cross overlap behind her – the nest speaks of the earth and beginnings, the cross a symbol of the spirit and life hereafter ‘but if in your thought you must measure time into seasons let each season encircle all other seasons and let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing’ kahlil gibran

Karen Bradtke, I couldn't hear you calling me, Mixed Media, 42.5cm x 52.5cm (framed), Price on Request

Perhaps I have watched too many Hollywood movies where, as someone lay dying, a dead relative comes along to coax that person into a positive way to keep on living. Not to give up.

Having been in hospital with a life threatening disease, I waited for the deceased relatives to come and ‘talk’ to me. I had no warning from them. No word at all.

This work “I couldn’t hear you calling me” speaks to my father who died when I was seven. I never heard him.

The grey mass hanging over my head represents the constant threat and frustration the disease has caused me. Also it represents the very dark spaces my mind has retreated to at times.

Now I understand Steve Jobs’ final words: oh, wow, oh, wow, oh wow.

Jenny Parsons, Passage, Oil on Canvas, 55cm x 105cm, Price on Request

This painting of an urban subway deals with the parallels between psychological and physical space.

This system of subways was originally intended for safe passage from one side of the road or railway line to the other. In later years, the subways have become menacing spaces, which have to be barricaded at night and closely monitored by day. The painting explores the juxtaposition of the seen and unseen, known and unknown, real and imagined.

Peter Bendheim, The End, Photographic Print on Fine Art Paper, Edition 1/1. Price on Request

It’s hard to know what the end really means. The end of one thing often means the beginning of another. There is only a finite amount of matter in the universe; it constantly takes on new shapes, new life forms and new dimensions.

I spent a considerable amount of time in some of the important Art Museums in Italy on a recent trip, and especially in the area of Renaissance Art in Florence. Religion is a dominant theme, perhaps accounting for 90 percent of the work on display.

There are some interesting observations to be made, both about the religious experience of the crucifixion in terms of the theme, “The End” and in terms of the dominant compositional structure of these paintings and frescoes.

Compositionally, the crucifix is always a central element in the paintings. There are almost always people gathered below the cross. In some paintings, Mary and other religious figures are portrayed, and in other images, soldiers, common folk, and other onlookers comprise the scene. Because of the centrality of the crucifix and the figures or faces on either side, the compositional structure is distinctly triangular.

The background landscape elements are often local or European in terms of vegetation and topography, rather than the desert-like barren landscapes of the actual Middle Eastern setting of the crucifixion.

Experientially, and while I am not at all religious, the experience of seeing so many similarly themed artworks had a profound effect on me, and led me to give deeper thought to the concept of endings. Even in Christianity, the notion that endings lead to beginnings is central to the belief system. In the crucifixion, Christ’s life came to an end, only for him to rise from the dead. The central tenets of religion are around new beginnings; forgiveness from sin (an end) to eternal life (a beginning); death to eternal life; the concept of a heaven and a hell, and so on.

I decided to reinterpret the classical form and structure of the Renaissance crucifixion in a 20^th Century context. The landscape is local, in a classical sense. The cross is a telecommunications pole, symbolic of the shrinking world of mass media where the modern crucifixion would have been on Twitter and Facebook in moments; as it was with Gaddafi, Saddam and 9/11. The watching people are naïve in the same way that the Renaissance faces are; they are androgynous mannequins in the theme of a modern classless and faceless society, in a world of numbers where the global population is now 7 billion.

Roz Cryer, What the Caterpillar calls the End...the Master calls a Butterfly, Mixed media, 40cm x 37cm, Price on Request

They call it anomalous heart anatomy and that it was unsustainable as it was. Hence having my most sacred inner space cut into, modified, reprogrammed and rebooted.

This could have been the end for me and it still could be. It’s certainly the end of life as I have experienced it for the last 45 years. I can’t take life for granted anymore. So do I live in fear or do I try and come to terms with my mortality. The masters say that by achieving the latter I will live my life more fully, with more awareness and appreciation, that the experience of living becomes sharper and more fully experienced. That one’s focus settles less on the trivial things of life, more on the things that really matter. But for me, the caterpillar, this is still all clouded with fear. I don’t want to die. There’s too much to live for. Too much I’ll battle letting go of. And what is this? After all you take nothing with you so what am I hanging on to? For me making sure, as far as is possible that the ones I love and the ones that are dependent on me will be ok and taken care of. But beyond this what is this fear? Those well used sayings like ‘life is so precious’ just touch so deeply. And ‘make it count’. I can no longer spend my days just getting through and getting what must get done, done. It’s got to me more than that because it might all end tomorrow.

As one of the many endings in life that may lead to or point the direction towards that final transition, this ending, this process of heart surgery has been one such transition for me and this piece of work is, I am hoping, part of the process I need to go through to get to that place that is the butterfly.

Bronwen Vaughn-Evans, THE END of the fairy-tale (the girl with something growing inside her), Gesso and Oil on Board, 2 Panels (10cm / 20cm & 40cm / 20cm), Price on Request

The works I have produced for this show examine the two words that close childhood fairy-tales: “THE END”. As far back as I can remember these words worried me because I was sure there was something that they were not telling me about the characters lives beyond the story.

“THE END of the fairy-tale (the girl with something growing inside her)” and “THE END of the fairy-tale (the girl who always felt foreign)” allude to a darker side beyond the fairy-tale ending. While I would like for their interpretation to remain fairly open-ended, they do make reference to gender distortions in the fairy-tale portrayal of life. And due to the European origin of most traditional fairy-tales, I am also obliquely making references to the results of a colonial (borrowed), cultural history.

Janet Solomon, The Vanishing Point, Oil on Canvas, 193cm x 184cm, Price on Request

The Vanishing Present is my take, inspired by both Giotto and Hitchcock, on a great revolutionary failure – Francis of Assisi’s proposition of the equality and spiritual autonomy of all aspects of nature. His advocacy of the particular over the universal, relationality over incorporation and difference over unity, while supporting interconnection within larger wholes, remains heretical - for the arrogance of the present anthropocentricism of so many of our belief systems ,our science and our technology.

The richness of Francis of Assisi’s offering gives a language through which to think about the alterity of empathy and care and to ask what prevents us achieving it? What creates a psychic numbing to empathetic relations with animals and nature, acceptance of mass violence against living beings and damaging perpetuations of all kinds chauvinism? Without a revision of our conception of self and its relation to the non-human other and a repudiation of allegiances to dominance of the human species, solidarity with other remains the stuff of legend and we are left with the devaluation of our selves.

Tony Starkey, ‘O’Jesu. ‘o’zokusiza ungaphinje ‘u’gule (Jesus will protect you from sickness), Digital Print on Archival Paper, 50cm x 46cm, Price on Request

This is an image of a site, called the Cornerstone church, which existed for almost a year on Roadhouse Crescent adjacent to the Connaught bridge interchange.

It is evidence of an unknown person’s creation of a place of worship in a piece of urban wasteland. The raised and ravaged altar-like couch and empty alcohol bottle evince the worship of material excess. The hand-painted sign is a forlorn appeal to Jesus to protect us from this sickness and resulting desolation, or THE END (Of The World As We Know It).

Terri Broll - Juxta Poses

2011-10-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

Sita Suzanne

2011-10-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

Communication is fragile, even more so in the digital age which opens up new and increased potential for both isolation and connectivity. The multiple streams of ideas can be overwhelming, and the more information that is consumed the more appetite there is. Constant chatter allows us to always reach out on a superficial level. Avatars offer us anonymity so that the internet can become our confessional, a place to confess our deepest darkest secrets for the consumption of anyone and everyone passing through. Empires can be built in the digital ether that cast long shadows in the material world. The evolution of systems of thought and belief are accelerated, gaining ascension and then crashing down at an exponential rate. The online self is continually redefined, recreated to to reflect the self of imagination and aspiration. Each online profile/avatar is a work of art, a layman self portrait, a constructed projection of the self. The avatars are more revealing than intended, exaggerations and exclusions revealing areas of insecurity and inadequacy. When I chat online, there are only words and symbols, all of which are easily lost, a broken connection is such an apt description. I use emoticons to substitute for facial expression, body language, voice tone. I watch for language patterns in the messages of my correspondent. Building up a vocabulary of wordplay, of pauses and turns of phrase.

I am a product of my environment, a hybrid, a 'survival machine', we fear our incorporation into the machine, and yet we are, and were always, already there. There is nothing left to fear.

always i am unfinished.Giclée Print.

60cm x 47cm.edition 10 + 1AP

nothing is sure, nothing is safe. Giclée Print

52cm x 85cm. edition 10 + 1AP

the light will swallow us whole.

Giclée Print.44cm x 57cm.

edition 10 + 1AP

forgive me if i seem distant. Giclée Print

45cm x 45cm. edition 10 + 1AP

you have a sexy brain, it curves

in all the right places

Giclée Print. 56cm x 62cm

edition 10 + 1AP

…and now you know everything...

Giclée Print. 52cm x 85cm

edition 10 + 1AP

tendrils of your presence

creep beneath my skull,

the invasion is complete

Giclée Print. 60cm x 52cm

edition 10 + 1AP

a carapace of sorts

was my final refuge

Giclée Print. 86cm x 54cm

edition 10 + 1AP

help me to breathe,

to speak is no longer

necessary. Giclée Print

44cm x 75cm

edition 10 + 1AP

while waiting for your message,

i became unpinned.

sometimes i am raw inside.

Giclée Print

52cm x 78cm

edition 10 + 1AP

Sifundakwabadala by Sibusiso Duma

2011-10-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

Bad Spirited House. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 60cm x 76cm. Price on Request

Worshipping on the Mountain. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 60cm x 76cm. Sold

Collecting Wood. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 61cm x 76cm. Price on Request

Identity. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 75cm x 61cm. Price on Request

Now You Are Mine. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 76cm x 60cm. Price on Request

Sun Rise. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 76cm x 60cm. Price on request

My First Guitar. 2011.Oil and Acrylic on Board. 60cm x 75cm. Price on Request

Caught. 2011. Acrylic and Oil on Board. 60cm x 75cm. Price on Request

Don’t Forget the people who Helped Pay for Your education. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 75cm x 60cm. Price on request

Old Men. 2011. Oil and acrylic on Board. 66cm x 81cm. Sold

Now You are a Woman. 2011. Oil and Acrylic on Board. 60cm x 75cm. Sold

Lance Freidlande

2011-09-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome Danca

2011-09-07T03:30:00.000-07:00

Naretha Pretorius

2011-09-07T03:29:00.000-07:00

Naretha Pretorius is a lecturer and vice principal at Vega The Brand Communications School, in Durban. Pretorius completed her BA in Fine Art at the University of Pretoria in 1997 where she majored in Painting. She is currently a practicing artist working in mixed media ranging from painting, drawing, giclee prints, found objects and jesmonite casts. Pretorius participated in numerous group exhibitions in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. She is in the process of completing her Mtech in Fine Art at the Durban University of Technology under the supervision of Professor Joan Conolly and co-supervision of Bronwen Vaughan-Evans.

ARTISTS STATEMENT: NARETHA PRETORIUS – ‘WAT DIE HART VAN VOL IS...’

I grew up as a white Afrikaans female East of Pretoria on a small holding in Kameeldrift. I was born into a conservative Calvinistic community during the Apartheid era. My ‘journey of awareness’ started in 1995 when my father suddenly passed away, I was 21 years old. This became the catalyst of my inquiry as it was a traumatic event in which I lost the patriarchal and leading figure in my life. My father’s death raised questions on my religion, my personal history, my family and especially wanting to know more about my father. I have lost a valuable source of information; my father’s life story and memories died with him. All I had left were family photographs, objects, places, spaces and my family to tell me his story and to learn more about my own. This served as the motivation behind embarking on my Masters Study.

My ‘journey of awareness’ became an intensive inquiry and process of critical reflection, what I first thought would be an investigation into my family’s history (with a focus on my father’s side), became an inquiry of extensive self-reflection on my lived experiences. My research process is that of an Auto/Ethnographic methodology by critically reflecting on and engaging with my personal history and the social and political context I grew up in. This was done through various means of reflection, especially through various forms of writing and making/creating. My inquiry also included visits to my place of birth, the church I used to attend (Kameeldrift Reformed Church), the primary school I attended, friends of our family, my family and most importantly my mother. It also required from me to participate in rituals or traditions I no longer followed, which were at times most uncomfortable, but, these actions triggered many memories that have lead to the body of work on display. The exhibition is a critical look into the traditions, religion, church and rituals I was exposed to as a child and young adult, the work comments on the gender roles, sexist stereotypes and racist behaviour within a conservative Afrikaner context, contradicted with strong notions of etiquette, aesthetics and good conduct.

The work is not only a journey into my childhood, which in many ways was a protected and very happy childhood, a time of oblivion to the social and political context that shaped my identity, and influenced my belief and value system. Breaking away from what you know is a difficult process of selection and elimination and the work comments on the critical issues embedded in this experience.

The exhibition takes the viewer on a journey of childhood memories, a nostalgic journey that is reminiscent of family, pleasant personal memories, rituals and rites of passage. The exhibition shifts to a critical look at tradition set within a white Afrikaner history. The Doily-series addresses dress code and good social conduct and etiquette situated in the 1950’s and 1960’s, with a specific focus on the female figure. The work speaks a language of subservient behaviour, framed within a doily, significant to the serving of food or tea, all visual codes related to the femininity of women and their subservient role within a patriarchal society.

The teaspoons follows on this conversation, but it now becomes more specific to the serving of tea, especially the serving of tea in large quantities such as serving tea to the community or congregation, but also suggests serving the family. This work refers to memories of the women (‘die susters’) of the congregation preparing, setting and serving the tea after the church service. A duty significant to women. Teaspoons are petite and feminine in it’s shape and purpose; they become a metaphor for women. What is unique about this work is the notion of how it is done: all the teaspoons need to be aligned to create a uniformed look, thus to conform.

In contrast to the collection of feminine teaspoons, follows ten heavy meat platters with portraits of members of the church council of the Reformed Church of Kameeldrift, the church I attended as a child. The style is formal, highlighting their dress code (suites and ties, conservative hairstyle, a posed and serious atmosphere). The role of men (‘die broeders’) within this context was to act as the ‘managers’ of the church. While the women’s duty was to serve tea and care for the children and community while the men were there to make important decisions and lead the church. The images also represent that of a conservative era during the Apartheid regime, when white men ruled the country and our society.

The little churches celebrate the beauty of the architecture, attention to detail and the divine power it represents... knowing that it is merely a beautiful facade for what it truly represents: social power, regulations and conformity.

The installation of teacups is a representation of the congregation, lead by the minister (teapot) and guided by the sacraments (writing on the wall). The title suggests that all the teacup’s ears must be pointed in the same direction, again the notion of etiquette (presentation) and conformation but also suggesting the act of listening. The text is a reference to the sacraments followed during a wedding ceremony, highlighting the gender roles and stereotypes reinforced through this practice.

The three legged cast iron pot is a familiar object to us as South Africans; known as the ‘potjie’. However, this installation brings in a racial language to the dialogue. A controversial juxtaposition and contradiction with the rest of the exhibition. The work refers to ‘forbidden’ language that reminds us harshly of Apartheid and the derogatory and racist language commonly used amongst most conservative Afrikaners, including my family and church community. It was a language known to me, but a language I have rejected, and no longer use. It is to me a reminder of where I come from. The objects are displayed as a ‘family’ of pots, an anthropomorphic approach by giving the pots human qualities. It was common to provide objects, situations, places, spaces or actions the name ‘kaffertjie’ or to describe it with the adjective ‘kaffer’ as a description of it’s hardship, labour, strength, it’s duty, or the pain it endures... to name a few. The pots are collected from friends of family, giving it a significant and personal meaning. The title translates as: I no longer call them the ‘kaffir’ pots (with a deliberate use of the word ‘them’, and not ‘it’).

The Reformed Church played a vital role in my developmental years and my young adult life, until the loss of my father where I questioned this religion, and later the practices and regulations governed by the church. I no longer supported their guidelines, their believes and practices. The work of the three large church drawings were an emotive response after I visited the ‘Gereformeerde Kerk Kameeldrift’, an uncomfortable experience, mixed with memories of joy but also of sadness and distress. The work speaks the language of ‘writing’ on the landscape, how church buildings and cathedrals speak a language of beauty, divine power, but also of ritual, religion, regulation, conformation and social power. The churches aim at provoking an emotive response from the viewer, the visuals, landscape and atmosphere is dark and in some way sinister. It is void of people, with the juxtaposition of the doily and teacup, suggesting the presence of humans, objects signifying class, ritual and etiquette.

Thank you for your interest in my exhibition. I would truly appreciate your feedback as it contributes to reflecting on my exhibition and by that contribute to the final part of my research paper. Please join in on the conversation and tell me what you think by writing in the book provided.

Grace Kotze

2011-09-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

Louise Jennings "My Life in 100 Objects"

2011-09-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Some of us surround ourselves with things, objects. our possessions. This exhibition is documentation through paint and clay of the things that form part of my history. They hold a comfortable link with the past… to people and places. The paintings and installations contain a concentrated stillness and inexhaustible presence. I would like the viewer to experience moments of mental and spiritual mindfulness.

These still lifes are of objects that I have grown up with; they have been around me most of my life. They hold memories of people and places but not only that; there are textures, smells and sounds that go with the memory. For reasons that no one else may grasp I treasure these collections of objects.

The paintings honour the object in a prayer-like way through the composition and muted palette. The grey tones are reminiscent of light filtering through steel framed windows in the late afternoon… bouncing off polished mahogany tables, the smell of freshly ironed linen lingering.

The ceramics are doing the same but they are at the beginning of their history. They are new… and hidden histories await! They are also about collections and form their own spatial narratives. The two disciplines (painting and ceramics) are so different in the making process but because it is the nature of the things that I am exploring the two are so completely inseparable for me.

This is my first solo exhibition. There are two (amongst many) artists whom I have to mention as I have learned so much from both of them along the way. They are the painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) and the ceramist and writer Edmund de Waal who lives and works in England.

Be still, there is no need for words, the meaning is in your gaze….

Inspiration - Durban Art Gallery Archive Show

2011-04-03T06:19:00.001-07:00

Opening Monday, March 28 at 6:30pm by Jenny Stretton from the Durban Art Gallery archives.

Closing Saturday, April 16 at 2:00pm

A group of KwaZulu-Natal-based artists met on December 9th at the Durban Art Gallery archives with the formidable task to find the one artwork that was most inspirational to each of them.

At the end of the day twenty-five artists came away with twenty-five images that have now become their foundations of a new artwork.

There were no restrictions as to the subject matter chosen nor are there any restrictions as to the interpretations.

The exhibition showcases both images of the original artworks and the interpretations.

Participating artists are:

Michele Silk, Nomcebo Sithole, Steve Mandy, Coral Spencer Domijan, Di van Wyk, Claude Chandler, Carla da Cruz, Pascale Chandler, Jane Oliver, Welcome Danca, Marlene Wasserman, Peter Rippon, Dee Donaldson, Grace Kotze, Chris de Beer, Sibusiso Duma, Marlene de Beer, Faye Spencer, Jackie Freer, Vulindlela Nyoni, Greg Bye, Nicole Eramus, Roz Cryer, Amy-Jo Windt, and Janet Solomon.

Pascale Chandler

2011-04-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pascal Chandler, Wrestle, 2011, Oil on Canvas, 103cm x 140cm, Price on Request

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Dying Beast by Isram Legae

Soap stone sculpture

I was moved by Legae’s interpretation of a “Dying Beast”. The fragile limbs pierce the space in a futile effort to vanquish death. The dusty black stone entombs the coldness of presence. The body is rigid and almost post rigormortis.

My Beast of choice is the horse. Traditionally the horse is associated with nobility, power, victory and virility. My horse wrestle’s with the notion of death. The animal’s robust frame erupts in a desperate attempt to concur death. The acid light collides and chisels the dark space in a riot of movement. The vertical and horizontal grid references the landscape and the plinth is a space of isolation and detachment.

Janet Solomon

2011-04-03T06:18:00.001-07:00

Janet Solomon, The Darkness Becomes Us,
2011, Oil on Canvas, 100cm x 150cm,
Price on Request

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Man in Space by Gait Catlyn

Mixed Media

More than a quarter of a century ago Gail Catlin painted Man in Space. Catlin experimented with gossamer and fragile surfaces of liquid crystal on perspex. Her man in space contrasts with male agency of the era , the power and the impetus , the drive for ‘progress’, voyages of discovery , exploring ‘new frontiers’, replaceable worlds. It was an era of hope and the ‘recovery myth’- which somehow humans could recreate or rediscover Eden, but Catlin’s traveller seems literally disarmed, half dissolved, space walking in a liminal world. My own paintings stress a post-colonial review of humanity’s ethical relationship to nature; a larger counter story of the loss of an evolved, earthly abundance.

My work explores absence, in relation to earth as other. It is an absence that comes from not being merged, or being-in-relation, or the rarity of what Michel Serres calls ’being there’. My work seeks to highlight the lack of shared reality, or the enlarging breach created by hyper-separated and alienated models of nature and human identity.

Notions of self are rendered dispossessed and disconnected from their vital surroundings. These newly embodied selves are ill-prepared, unable to master, without monopoly, anti-heroic and in denial of dependency. Self is recognised as an isolate, without human community, within a non-human biosphere. This self represents a normative Western human identity, since my aim is to raise the question of connectedness beyond the self – how western dualism (between human/nature; reason/ nature; human/animal; mind/body; reason/ emotion; civilized/primitive) makes the distinction between self and other as being one of distance, requiring dominance or subordination, limiting our way of relating to nature. My work makes the distinction between self and other as being one of distance and exclusion.

My technique is one conscious of mark-making and layering, willing the viewer closer, delaying their looking, engaging them with surface, wishing no misperception of particularity. My approach is to create a moment which is slightly illusive, between actions, involving dislocation, allowing glimpses of private spectacle; that are come upon. Notions of presence, diversity, variability, locality, absolute particularity are fundamental.

Vulindlela Nyoni

2011-04-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Vulindlela Nyoni, Ganymede, 2011, Lithograph, 77cm x 55cm, Sold

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Wounded Boy by G Minnie

Mixed Media

This work was inspired by a small bronze sculpture of a young man that I found in the DAG archive. The lithe youthful figure caught my attention immediately but I could find no information on the piece or its maker. I was drawn to the maker's sensitive handling of the little piece and more so to what seemed to me that the young figure was being subjected to. In working out a response to this piece I was reminded of a story of another beautiful young man, Ganymede, whose beauty was also a mysterious and as such resulted in his abduction by the god Zeus. Ganymede was offered a cockerel (a lover's gift between men) became known as the Cup Bearer on Mount Olympus or Aquarius.

Steve Mandy

2011-04-03T06:17:00.001-07:00

Steve Mandy, Warwick Circus, 2011, Mixed Media on Canvas, 79cm x 56cm, Price on Request

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Marionettes by A. Droesbeke

Oil on Canvas

It’s a frightening confrontation, a feeling of exposure and vulnerability. The female figure is incredibly naked without even pubic hair to provide any curtain from the viewer. The bright lights behind her give the impression of angel’s wings. The lace ceiling further adds to the innocence of the subject, it’s an attempt to brighten up a dark dangerous space; it also makes a connection to the Afrikaans doily and provides convenient curtains for the circus. The early morning commuters head off to the daily grudge completely unaware of the girl who feels such lurking danger.

In the foreground a trader sells a knife to the butcher across the hall from him. The butcher is pleased with his imminent purchase. They simultaneously notice the naked girl and wonder what she is doing there.

The texture that runs through the middle of the image represents the legacy of something left behind by a previous regime, barely visible now, a mere scar. Has it gone or just been replaced by an overconcentration of colours.

There is a triangle at the bottom of the image – this is the pyramid of knowledge, full of letters and numbers. Education lies at the root. It’s the lack of education which breeds such hysterical miscalculation of events.

The masses going to work, lured by the golden hue on the skyline are also unaware of the pyramid which is the doorway to a better life – so superior to the door they are trudging through now, which is the illusion of job creation through incentivisation. Its Warwick circus.

Inconspicuously, among the throng there is an Elephant – with its new metaphor for stupidity and ignorance, particularly in the context of Warwick Junction. Ironically, the old metaphor for a long memory is also poignant in the story line. A young boy is forcing the elephant out of the area with a crude stick. The emphasis of this image lies in ignorance, the fact that Warwick is incorrectly spelt, and that somehow it becomes more like’ work’, which is what is necessary to overcome ignorance. There is ignorance on both sides of the spectrum. The girl feels vulnerability where there is none. The boy chases the elephant which could make him a good living if he managed to understand it and everyone else just gets on with their business. It’s the circus of humanity.

Sibusiso Duma

2011-04-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sibusiso Duma, Uzomoudla Ngani Lomfazi, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, 100cm x 70cm, Price on Request

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Home near Sun City by Walter Meyer

Oil on Canvas

‘Uzomondla ngani umfazi’

Lomsebenzi umayelana nenkinga engihlangabezana nayo yoku thatha umfazi ngoba ngimthanda, ngenxa yokuba ngumdwebi. Abantu nezihlobo nabantu engisonta nabo banekinga ngomshafo wethu, ukuthi ngizomondla ngani umfazi ngingasebenzi. Bathi kumele ngiyofuna amatoho.

Lonfazi ngomlobola ngemali yeminye yemzebeni engayenza ngoyanka dlule. Ngomlobola ngoba ngiyamthanda. Sesithandane iminyaka eyisihlanu, ebunzimeni nase bumnadini saze saba nezingane ezimbili zamantombazane. Ngibondla ngibagqokis ngemali engithola ngemisebenzi yami, ngoba ngiyawuthanda umndeni wami.

Isithandwa sami asilali singangitshelanga ukuthi siyangithanda, nokuthi ngibaluleke kangakanami kuso. Ungigqugquzele njalo ngokuthingibekezele ngihlale ngazi ukuthi uyangithanda.

Ngizomondla nge art lo mfazi, umangisaphila!

‘How do you support your wife?’ (The problem of an artist)

Getting married, there were concern from the church, relatives and friends on how am I going support my wife. It was suggested that I should look for a full time job versus being a full time artist. Once I paid the lobola the questions went away for a while, but the concern remains over my financial stability.

Marlene de Beer

2011-04-03T06:16:00.001-07:00

Marlene de Beer, For King, and Country, 2011, Two objects consisting of
printed canvas over board and sterling silver medals on webbing,
including embroidery cotton, stoneware slip cast cameo and pearls,
Dimensions Variable, Price on Request

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Nell Gwynn by Sir Peter Lely

Oil on Canvas

In its metaphorical structure, we find a world where we encounter things not as facts to be discovered, or as screens for our mental projections, but as invitations, or even temptations, or as occasions to participate in the world’s continuous unfolding and realization (Brooke 2000: 39).

Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn (1650 –1687) is remembered for being a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England. She is regarded as being the typical rags to riches heroine such as depicted in fairy tales and popular myths; Cinderella, Pygmalion and Pretty Woman. She started her career by selling oranges to theatre audiences before becoming an actress at the age of fourteen. After having had numerous lovers she became the mistress of King Charles II whom she bore two children. As the illiterate child of an alcoholic brothel owning mother it provided her, as a woman of her time and standing, with a fairly reliable method to survival until her death from a stroke at the age of thirty seven. She is also remembered for an apparent remark made by her to her coachman while he was attempting to defend her honour; “I am a whore; find something else to fight about”.

My interpretation of the painting is in response to the subject matter and includes the metaphorical interpretation of a worldview and the cultural evolution of consciousness within a historical context. My intention is to create a dialogical interpretation of the historical roles of women. As experienced from an existential phenomenological perspective the individual finds herself temporally and spatially ‘thrown’ into a specific family, society, culture and historical epoch within which she has to ‘become herself’, as part of human possibility and existence as ‘Being-in-the-world’. Woman’s prescriptive and ‘glorified’ goal has traditionally been that of being a wife, lover and mother, as a producer, nurturer and container in sacrifice to the male and therefore also to country. Nell Gwynn was therefore presented as an offering to the male connoisseur gaze, a performance of a culturally constructed identity.

Carla da Cruz

2011-04-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Carla da Cruz, grey tree, dark rider, brown chickens , 2011, Ceramics and Glaze, 19cm x 19cm, Sold

Price on Request

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White Tree, Black Rider, Coloured Chickens by Ryan Arenson

Mixed Media

The white tree – at first it looked like a blank canvas in the dim light, but as I got closer I noticed the impasto paint on the surface, white on white. It was a Pierneef tree, without the landscape and the fluffy clouds.

I was not familiar with Ryan Arenson’s work, although I remember his portrait of Diana ten years ago that won him the ABSA L’Atelier Award and a six month’s stay in Paris.

This particular triptych is from a body of work that he produced shortly after returning from his Paris residency, where he extensively researched 19^th century western printmaking and engraving techniques.

What appealed to me was the intensity of his work - the obsessive pattern and texture, the monochromatic colours and the archetypal images,

To me, the triptych looked more like woodcuts and etchings and I thought I could try a similar technique in clay. I chose images from personal photographs as reference and transferred the drawings onto the tiles while the clay was still leather hard. The images were cut and etched into the clay surface and textures were used to create a subtle variation. I used a muted glaze palette except for intense red glaze used in the ‘dark rider’.

Nomcebo Sithole

2011-04-03T06:15:00.001-07:00

Nomcebo Sithole, They Take from us, But Give Nothing in Return, 2011, Mixed Media, Dimensions variable, Sold

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Inscribed by Rhetoric (1994) by Lola Frost

Oil on Canvas

“They Take From Society, But They Give Nothing In Return.”

My work is influenced by the socio-political landscape of South Africa. It questions the notion of liberation and freedom of expression. I looked at current issues that we face within society and also the governance of our country.

The two figures represent the two sides of human kind; feminine and the masculine. The materials used represent the state of mind. A bandage may cover a wound, but there is always a mark left behind as reminder. The news paper is a medium which informs and updates society on current issues that we’re faced with. If censored, the control of speech and other forms of human expression are affected and therefore it takes away from the notion of “progress and democracy”.

Welcome Danca

2011-04-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome Danca, The Pains, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, 61cm x 46cm, Price on Request

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At the clinic by George Pemba

Oil on Canvas

The painting is about waiting on a long day at the clinic, and ending up getting no help or treatment. At the Clinic you receive Panado tablets and get sent home. After all that you then need to go back and get a letter from the Councillor or nearby Clinic. The Pains.

Roz Cryer

2011-04-03T06:14:00.001-07:00

Roz Cryer, Indianesque Jar, 2011, Mixed Media, 112cm x 77cm, Price on Request

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Erotic Interiors by Andrew Verster

Oil on Canvas

It was the boldness, the quality of line and the bright color that revealed itself from beneath the dominant black in this painting that appealed to me.

Having not lived in KZN for long, or having studied here I didn’t know too much about Andrew Verster.

My original ideas on how to proceed with my inspiration piece changed dramatically on obtaining some of his catalogues on past and present works. His use of color in his Indianesque work is so striking and so different to how I lean towards using color. This and the fact that Verster has been greatly influenced by Matisse coincided with ideas I had been having on how to move forward with my own work. To challenge my color palette, to be bright and bold but to continue indulging in my love of textiles. This all within the context of the still life.

And of course as I have a tattoo it had to appear in the painting.

Greg Bye

2011-04-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Greg Bye, Interior, 2011, Pencil on Paper, 84cm x 65cm, Price on Request

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Interior by Leon de Smet

Oil on Canvas

What appealed to me in this work, and what I felt was relevant to my own interests, was that this painting appeared to be done from life; and was a subject which appeared to be part of the artist’s everyday experience. It is simply and directly observed with a subtle and balanced organization of space. I have found, in my own practice of drawing, that working from life forces me to be working in the moment – not distracted by theory or self-consciousness. The process of looking and simultaneously laying down a mark on paper is so direct that it obliges one to be honest. Because the subject in a work is everyday does not mean that a work becomes everyday and devoid of imagination. A careful look at Mr. de Smet’s painting shows a thoughtful and elegant composition with a restrained sense of pictorial activity and even some sense of drama. I have taken the opportunity this exhibition has provided to follow this example.

Di Van Wyk

2011-04-03T06:13:00.001-07:00

Di Van Wyk, 16 Days are Not Enough, 2011, Mixed Media on Canvas, 100cm x 75cm, Price on Request

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Inscribed by Rhetoric by Lola Frost

Oil on Canvas

The painting I chose as my inspiration had a strong political stance. I wanted to keep to a protest theme which evolved into a painting making a stand against women abuse. This is only focused on in a" 16 days against women abuse" campaign once a year. I feel very strongly about it not being given enough attention in this country with the result it continues unabated.
I have used the dressmakers dummy as a metaphor for the women who daily have to face this horror.

Nicole Erasmus

2011-04-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

Nicole Erasmus, 29, 49’S 31, 01’E, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, 50.5cm x 101.5cm, Price on Request

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Atlantis by Georgia Ormiston

Oil on Board

I was initially inspired by the style of the original artwork, but as I began preparing for the project I became more interested in the subject matter. The original work is titled ‘Atlantis’ referencing a lost city under sea. I began exploring the idea that due to natural cycles in climate and global shifts, one day Durban could potentially end up as a ‘lost city’ under sea. I have used an image of the Durban cityscape which has been placed at the ‘bottom of the ocean’, isolated and ‘lost’.

My work is usually subtle and nostalgic, using found objects to comment on memory and history but I saw this as an opportunity to explore with the medium and subject matter in creating a work that is humorous, but carries serious undertones referencing the magnitude of recent global disasters involving tsunamis and flooding.

Michele Silk

2011-04-03T06:12:00.001-07:00

Michele Silk, Portrait of a woman with Siamese Fighters, 2011, Oil on Canvas, 92cm x 152cm, Price on Request

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Man holding the devil’s face by Oskar Kokoschka

Lithograph

Before I went to the DAG archives to select a painting, I already felt that I wanted to do a portrait and I had even selected the person…a friend with a unique face and a passion for collecting Siamese Fighters.

So although I was open to whatever inspired my senses at the DAG archives, I was also looking for something that might visually and conceptually connect to the portrait painting I wanted to do.

I was immediately attracted to Oskar Kokoschka’s sketch “Man holding the devil’s face” because of its spontaneity and I wanted to translate this into paint and create a surface that combines the spontaneity of mark and texture using a limited palette of colours, essentially comprising black and white.

I was intrigued that Oskar’s sketch showed the man holding the face of the devil, and this directed the portrait that I wanted to paint of the woman with Siamese fighters. In my mind it also sparked interesting analogies, interpretations and questions.

Previously my work has centred on the human condition and tends to reflect on themes of human frailty , vulnerability and mortality and I have used imagery of old age and street children, often incorporating collaged elements of recyclable materials.

Amy-Jo Windt

2011-04-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

Amy-Jo Windt, Light Relief II, 2011, Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable, Price on Request

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Light Relief by AD Swarz

Mixed Media

I was drawn to this work due to its medium being primarily of paper and minimal drawing techniques. Paper being my main medium of working I felt comfortable pursuing this challenge.

However, later on examining the work I discovered that the subject matter of the work was highly masculine, with images of nudity and quite sharp lines.

Seeing this I decided to stay with the idea of framing shown in the peice but wanted to put forward my own little world of feminine object and figures.

Like Swarz achieved in this work I hoped to highlight the materials I have chosen to work with. Here I have used magazine cut outs and stitching, which I have tried to use to its full extent.

This turned out to be more challenging than expected, however I am pleased with the turn out.

Marlene Wasserman

2011-04-03T06:11:00.001-07:00

Marlene Wasserman, Flight, 2011, Oil on Canvas, 40cm x 40cm, Sold

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Dog and Magpie by Whytock

Oil on Canvas

“Dog and Magpie” was a ‘gut-response’- selection from the DAG archives –I had no idea what would come from it. Circumstances do not allow me to be busy with a body of work at present so this invitation was a welcome blessing to escape for a brief moment.

The painting started in response to an image of our family’s beast Bella - her beautiful bulk curling in a familiar position while recovering from an operation, her chunky form and white coat reminiscent of the dog in the painting. The bird had to wait.

Bella died while I was working on the painting. Now liberated from this earth, I turned her space around to let her go - to a space where one cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. Somewhere ‘in between’ the magpie’s contribution was the gift of flight.