Fok Vergangklikheid (Fuck Perishableness)

Fok Vergangklikheid 2018 (Fuck Perishableness) 47 x 64 cm Cotton thread and rubber

I thought that this will be appropriate to share this image of a new work today, since I am ‘celebrating’ my birthday,…a prime number birthday, mixed with midlife-crises feelings….

Fok vergangklikheid detail

Anyway, another reason why I share this today is because this is a new work for an upcoming group exhibition: Black Humour, which opens at the end of this month at Fried Contemporary gallery in Pretoria.

With all that said….it’s time to make another wish, like I do every year..

p.s (yep, it is a Humpty Dumpty cake 😉

P.S.S…did you know:

Humpty Dumpty dates back to the early 19th century. At its origins it was a riddle, and the egg was probably the riddle’s answer.

In 17th century “humpty dumpty” was the name of a kind of brandy (source: Oxford English Dictionary) and the term was also used as a slang to describe a dull person. Exactly like an egg, if such a clumsy person would fall down from a wall, this would be an irremediable thing.

P.S.S the boys surprised me with a cake this morning for breakfast 🙂

I will end this post with two quotes by John Berger from his book: About Looking, which i am currently reading:

“The ideal of photography, aesthetics apart, is to seize a ‘historic’ moment.”

and

“The omnipresence of cameras suggest that time consists of interesting events, events worth photographing”

Minutes to Midnight and World Embroidery Day

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

Minutes to midnight 215 x 106 cm cotton thread, doillies and rubber 2018

Minutes to Midnight is the title of the work above as well as the title for my upcoming solo exhibition at 99 Loop Gallery in Cape Town.

minutes to midnight detail

For a long time my thoughts centered around the words “Minutes to midnight” as a title for a possible solo show, and after many attempts, planning, and discussions the works of the past few years (some new, some reworked) all fit together and finally I am looking forward to present the body of work soon (October 2018).

“Minutes to Midnight” is basically a continuation of my investigation of fear, which in turn lead me to the notion of time and eventually to the meaning behind the words: “Minutes to midnight” which actually refers to the symbolic clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This symbolic clock represents the countdown to a potential global catastrophe, and refers to this catastrophe as “Midnight”. It is currently standing on 2 minutes to Midnight.

Midnight in turn also reminded me about all the fairytales in which when the clock strikes 12 the magic disappears.

Minutes to midnight detail

But before you think it is all gloom and doom in this post, I have something uplifting to share with you as well:

I found out this morning, that it is World Embroidery Day today! I saw it on a fellow embroiderer’s Instagram account*, and decided to google it to find out more.

The origins of the World Embroidery Day date back to 30 June 2011 and was an initiative of the Swedish Embroidery Guild, to celebrate embroidery (what a wonderful idea). I even found their Embroidery Manifesto which I would like to share with you:

embroidery_manifesto_-english (1)

Or you can visit this website to Download in 5 other languages:

http://www.broderiakademin.nu/worldembroideryday/

minutes to midnight detail

So I would like to celebrate and wish you a wonderful “World Embroidery Day”. Until we speak again – happy stitching!

Footnotes and links:

*The fellow embroiderer I mentioned is: Nicole O’ Loughlin and there is a lovely interview with her on the Fiber Studio’s blog. click here

*Early this year the “Doomsday Clock” reach 2 Minutes to Midnight…the closest ever…you can read more about it here

or visit the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website… here

*You may download the Embroidery Manifesto here

*For more details about my upcoming solo you can watch this space or contact the gallery 99 Loop, see here

*The photographer of my artwork is Kleinjan Groenewald, you can visit his website here

Courage and a “Hazmat Z” story…

Studio news/blog

detail of my artwork photographed by Kleinjan Groenewald

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says: I’ll try again tomorrow” – Mary Anne Radmacher

with that said, personally it takes courage to look at the news or at twitter and see what is happening in the real world.

It takes courage to raise children, to be the parent, an adult, a wife, a friend and it takes courage to make decisions.

I read somewhere that Ernest Hemingway said: “You must be prepared to work always without applause”. Well that takes courage too.

It takes courage to socialize, and to share your inner thoughts with others.

but, hell yeah, we’ll keep on trying…..tomorrow 😉

On another note…..My son Etienne gave me permission to share a story he wrote, (it is still a work in progress, and please ignore the spelling mistakes….at age 10 spelling is not a priority for him, but we’ll work on it ;-))

that’s a wrap for now….

wishing you all a courageous day and beware of the zombies!

Flux – a group exhibition

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Dear friends,

A group of South-African Artists from conceptual Art, Design and Craft disciplines were invited to exhibit together. The exhibition explores instances where the boundaries between art, design and craft flow into one another. It focuses on artists who reinvent traditional techniques of “crafts” like embroidery, bead-work, weaving, carpentry and paper cutting. It also explores the meaning and importance of craftsmanship in contemporary art practices.

so…..

I decided to submit ‘self-/portraits’ for this exhibition since portraiture is a very old art form and was probably pioneered by the Egyptians and the Greeks, but in the Middle-ages Self-portraiture was a starting point because it was an age preoccupied by personal salvation and self-scrutiny.

Today self-portraits flood the internet and children in school are required to make them.

I am using a traditional craft technique= embroidery, in conjunction with the age old art-form of portraits onto an unconventional material =rubber.

Upon closer inspection, you will also notice that there is a difference in the way the “rubber canvas” (so to speak) of all 3 portraits were prepared:

In the piece titled: “Safe”

the rubber canvas consists of tiny hexagon rubber shapes which were stitched together by hand to form the basis of this work.

detail of the work titled “Safe”

“I’ll be watching you” cotton thread, rubber, batting and wood (photo Alex Hamilton)

In the piece above “I’ll be watching you” you’ll notice that once piece of a big tractor inner tube were used;

and in the piece below “Don’t make waves”, rubber squares were stitched together with an industrial sewing machine to form the ‘rubber-canvas’

Don’t make waves 54 x 35 cm Cotton thread, batting, rubber and wood – framed (Photographer Kleinjan Groenewald) 2017

Anyway, so if you are in the Bloemfontein area, feel free to pop in at the Flux group exhibition xxx

Winter Update (studio news)

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

Whew, since we last spoke, I decided to embrace change!

My studio is my happy place

Studio view (photographer Kleinjan Groenewald)

so I will focus on that and use my time and space wisely. But since it is school holidays, I aim to go out and have fun with my boys too!

Normally winter is for hibernating, but I feel relieved that I finally got around to sort the files on the computer, re-arrange the studio, and to meet up with a professional photographer to document my work…

Above is Kleinjan Groenewald in action. He can do magic with light, and agreed to document my work at my house in Stilbaai…all the way form Cape Town. I met him through a mutual friend and then things just happened from there., but I think it was fate…anyway, You can also check out his other work at: www.kleinjangroenewald.com

So with new photos of most recent work…I started to update my website!

It is still a work in progress. I decided to have less labels and to upload the more recent work. In the future I would like to add a section for ‘installation images’ as well. I am open to comments, suggestions, criticism and feedback.

The line-up with regards to exhibitions is very exciting until October this year, and I hope to keep you up to date with good quality images.

best wishes until we speak again.

xxx