Before the year was over….

A great joy was announced!

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“Before the year was over a great joy was announced” is the title of a recent work I completed for my upcoming solo next year, but I also posted a video on social media in ‘conversation’ with COP26 this year. I was really hoping for a great joy to be announced, realizing later that it was indeed wishful thinking.

For an interesting article on what COP26 is and what is being discussed and agreed to – check out this link:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56901261

Here follows a couple of things that disturbed me:

“Leaders from more than 100 world countries, representing about 85% of the world’s forests, promised to stop deforestation by 2030.” Why only 2030…and not 2025?

2. “Similar previous initiatives haven’t stopped deforestation, but this one’s better funded. However, it’s unclear how the pledge will be policed or monitored. And Indonesia, one of the main signatories, later said the plan was “unfair”. Unfair?? WTF?

3. Another thing that worries me is that the ocean wasn’t mentioned here. Wouldn’t it be grand if people can leave the ocean alone for at least 5 years…and clean it up?

Earlier this month I found a wonderful book at the library:

After reading it I realized that ‘climate change’ is not new…as a matter of fact they saw it coming in the 1800’s already!!

While learning a lot about Alexander von Humboldt I also learned about George Marsh who wrote Man and Nature published in 1864:

“Marsh’s vision of the future was bleak. If nothing changed, he believed the planet would be reduced to a condition of shattered surface, of climatic excess… perhaps even extinction of the [human] species’. p294

AND

“Man has long forgotten that the earth was not given to him for ‘consumption’. The produce of the earth was squandered, Marsh argued, with wild cattle killed for their hides, ostriches for their feathers, elephants for their tusks and whales for their oil. Humans were responsible for the extinction of animals and plants, while the unrestrained use of water was just another example of ruthless greed.” p293

Pity that Marsh isn’t alive today to see how close he came to predicting the future!

“Marsh believed that the lessons were buried in the scars that the human species had left on the landscape for thousands of years. The future” he said, “is more uncertain than the past.” By looking back, Marsh was looking forward.” p297

What is even more a pity is that it seems we have learned NOTHING since the 1800s! Except for some technological advances, which will only help us in a Metaverse’ right? 😉

Not that I think Zuckerberg’s idea for social media in this Metaverse is bad, I actually had a similar idea for Art Fairs. I thought it would be great if a Fair could function like a game of Fortnite. It could be interesting if the map hosted galleries for eg: Weeping Woods is WhatiftheWorld, Steamy Stacks is Stevenson and Holly Hedges perhaps the Goodman gallery and so forth. And you go on the computer or playstation, meet with other collectors in the lobby, buy skins made by artists you want to support (see footnote*)…and jump the bus to visit the art in the gallery located on the map. Could be fun.

Anyway back to Humboldt:

“Humboldt insisted that there were no superior or inferior races. No matter what nationality , colour or religion, all humans came from one root. Much like plant families.” p108

Which made me think of Family Trees and led to this work (not available yet):

Die granaat val nie ver van die boom nie (granaat as in pomegranate) or as they say in English: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree but directly translated it reads as: The grenade doesn’t fall far from the tree. 😉

On this note I will leave you with a reminder that the Doomsday clock is now 100 seconds to midnight

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Which brings me to the:

*footnote : If I could make my own Fornite skin it would look something like this:

but in reality it currently looks like this :

Because “remember you are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously.”

I will love you and leave you with this wonderful quote from the book about Alexander von Humboldt:

“Imagination soothed the deep wounds that pure ‘reason’ sometimes created.” p84

Gallery visit…

Studio news/blog

Dear friends,

If you are, like me, unable to visit MContemporary gallery in Australia…

well don’t despair, because the gallery was so kind as to send us a couple of installation photographs of their space with my work currently hanging together with the stunning works and wallpaper designs of fellow artist Jodi Clark!

If you do find yourself in Australia, feel free to visit the gallery and see for yourself! 😉 or feel free to contact them for a full catalogue.

This exhibition runs until the 21st of March 2020 at

MContemporary

37 Ocean Street
Woollahra, Sydney
NSW, Australia

Monday – Friday | 9 – 5
Saturday – Sunday | 10 – 4

Telephone: +61 2 9328 0922
Email: gallery@mcontemp.com

“nothing to gain and nothing to lose”

Studio news/blog

The play-pretend queen found a story about a ‘flute player”, and she would like to share it with you….

“A new flute was invented in China. A Japanese master musician discovered the subtle beauties of its tone and brought it back home, where he gave concerts all around the country. One evening he played with a community of musicians and music lovers who lived in a certain town. At the end of the concert, his name was called. He took out the new flute and played one piece. When he was finished, there was silence in the room for a long moment. There the voice of the oldest man was heard from the back of the room: “Like a god!”

Sketchbook page. Mixed media

The next day, as this master was packing to leave, the musicians approached him and asked how long it would take a skilled player to learn the new flute. “Years,” he said. They asked if he would take a pupil, and he agreed. After he left, they decided among themselves to send a young man, a brilliantly talented flutist, sensitive to beauty, diligent and trustworthy. They gave him money for the living expenses and for the master’s tuition, and sent him on his way to the capital, where the master lived.

The student arrived and was accepted by his teacher, who assigned him a single, simple tune. At first he received systematic instruction, but he easily mastered all the technical problems. Now he arrived for his daily lesson, sat down, and played his tune – and all the master could say was, “Something lacking.” The student exerted himself in every possible way, he practiced for endless hours, yet day after day, week after week, all the master said was, “something lacking.” He begged the master to change the tune, but the master said no. The daily playing , the daily “something lacking” continued for months on end. The student’s hope of success and fear of failure became ever magnified, and he swung from agitation to despondency.

Finally the frustration became too much for him. One night he packed his bag and slinked out. He continued to live in the capital city for some time, longer, until his money ran dry. He began drinking. Finally, impoverished, he drifted back to his own part of the country. Ashamed to show his face to his former colleagues, he found a bat far out in the countryside. He still possessed his flutes, still played, but found no new inspiration in music. Passing farmers heard him play and send their children to him for beginners’s lessons. He lived this way for years.

One morning there was a knock at his door. It was the oldest past-master from his town, along with the youngest student. They told him that tonight they were going to have a concert, and they had all decided it would not take place without him. With some effort they overcame his feelings of fear and shame, and almost in a trance he picked up a flute and went with them. The concert began. As he waited behind the stage, no one intruded on his inner silence. Finally, at the end of the concert, his name was called. He stepped out the stage in his rags. He looked down at his hands, and realised that he had chosen the new flute.

Now he realized that he had nothing to gain and nothing to lose. He sat down and played the same tune he had played so many times for his teacher in the past. When he finished, there was silence for a long moment. Then the voice of the oldest man was heard speaking softly from the back of the room: ” Like a god!”

quoted from a book I received as a gift recently called: “Free Play” by Stephen Nachmanovitch

Sketchbook page. Mixed media

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter-weekend! Take care…xxx

Rabbit! where did you hide those eggs, girl? (detail of a work which I will tell you more about later)

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 ;-))