DIRECTOR'S SELECTION | April May 2022
BEEZY BAILEY, Striped Forest Cat
Copperplate Etching, 33 x 27 cm
ARABELLA CACCIA, Blue Planet III (unique)
Bronze and ultra marine blue, 32 x 27 x 27 cm
ARON DEMETZ, Ruben
Limewood, 64 x 23 x 15 cm
Aron Demetz has achieved international prominence with exhibitions at the Venice Biennale in 2009, PAC in Milan, MACRO in Rome and the Arp Museum in Rolandseck, Germany.
‘For me, the act of burning is so important; for what remains is Truth, clear and unmistakably raw. It’s a way of not only being clear and unequivocal, but a means by which one reverts back to zero.’ – Aron Demetz
The process of working with wood is the foundation of Demetz’s oeuvre and aesthetic. Using an ancient woodcarving technique that originated in the 17th century in South Tyrol, Demetz explores the possibilities and limitations of wood as a material and celebrates its textures and ability for transformation by deploying a range of innovative techniques, including controlled burning, lacerating the wood or applying layers of natural resin. Indeed, his sculptures evoke themes of injury and healing; of metamorphosis.
The stark contrast between the smoothly carved figures and the highly textured distressed wood surfaces; the pale limewood and charred wood cast in bronze, serves as a visual metaphor for this ambivalent relationship between humanity and nature, our coexistence with the natural world and our alienation from it. Through Demetz’ craftsmanship, his figures and the material from which they are hewn become an inseparable whole.
LIZA GROBLER, Prom Persuasions
Oil and mixed media on handspun cotton and board, 40 x 40 cm
Liza Grobler’s paintings spill over with runaway scribbles and vigorous mark-making, their composition evoking morphing landscapes - perhaps echoing the artist’s own relocation from urban to rural - and the immediacy of their energetic brushstrokes and dribbles of paint harking back to Abstract Expressionism.
In Grobler’s words, “These landscapes are directly related to my recent body of work, Disobedient Landscapes, but the works point - at least in spirit - to the very tactile textures of the Klein Karoo.*
The most valuable lesson I have learnt from the Covid landscape is: 'the only constant is change'. And as I have always been preoccupied with the route, rather than the destination, the uncertainty of the present has brought about a heightened sense of awareness of our actions and environments. It is this quality that I wish to capture - momentous fractions of the present. We became aware of the temporal nature of all our 'securities' and in a sense this is liberating!
The work is also a final curtsy from my urban studio. For the past 20 years, the suburb of Woodstock, Cape Town has been my base camp. In May 2021, my family and I relocated to Oudtshoorn, the capitol of the Klein Karoo. It seems that the emotional shifts in our environment necessitated a physical shift too. This work marks the start of that journey.”
* The Klein Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa -the southern sibling of the larger Karoo - the Great or Groot Karoo.
Contact: info@everardlondon.com
Image credit: Dan Weill Photography / Artist portrait: Frans Smit
LUCINDA MUDGE, Never R.I.P (Fight Fight Fight) (after Sonia Delaunay)
Glazed ceramic, gold lustre, 64 cm
BRETT MURRAY, Omen
Bronze, 25 x 18 x 28 cm
ELIZE VOSSGÁTTER, Mutation II
Beeswax and oil pigment on canvas, 130 x 80 cm
Elize Vossgatter makes her debut at Everard Read London with two new paintings. “Painting is an instinctive, observational reaction to the natural patterns of the world,” she says. Vossgätter’s relationship with paint involves an ongoing quest to push the limits of the material, by engaging the oil pigments with various solvents and additives, in an effort to find new streams to convey meaning. In these two works the surface of the canvases is transformed with beeswax mixed with both synthetic and organic pigments. By carving into the wax, the artist creates a multi-layered relief, evoking the physical laws of nature from which she draws her visual vocabulary.
Contact: info@everardlondon.com
Specialists in contemporary art from South Africa. Established in 1913. South African artists are part of the global conversation. We seek to make their voices heard.