Thursday, January 20, 2011

Organic installation at HumanEarth: Conversation











My artist statement for the exhibition:

My art is heavily inspired by nature in some way or another, whether in response to environmental issues and land degradation, or as a tribute and representation of my appreciation for the balance, peace and beauty of the landscape. The artworks “Choking Tree”, “Our Legacy” and “Peinsend oor More” are all works done a year or more ago and can be seen as quite literal reflections on what is happening in our environment. A dead tree - drowned by polluted groundwater and air pollution from factories. A barren landscape with dead trees flanking it. A man worried about the future of our planet, our species, our children and the legacy we are leaving...

“Organic: death or life, or something inbetween” and “Fingers vs. branches” , more recent works, are leaning towards being 'abstract' in the sense that I don't do literal representations or renderings, but rather focus on form, shape and the way that it interacts with things around it, including the viewer – depending on when or which angle you view it from. Playing with organic shapes and the shapes of trees I am allowing the sculptures to almost shape themselves with me only being the facilitating force - very much in the way that dunes are shaped and moved in a desert by the wind. These installations allow for more personal reflection and subjective interpretation in contrast to the more representational works, landscape paintings and drawings.

Lately my focus has once again turned to land art, using naturally occurring materials in the landscape to create transient, temporary art pieces documented photographically, these latest installations being inspired by that time spent outdoors. The natural materials used in the installations were found, however, not only in the forests, beaches, and mountain trails around Cape Town, but also in urban areas where we can still walk among the trees and catch fleeting glimpses of sunlight through their leaves. I think one of the biggest challenges and goals that we have at the moment is to reconnect with nature, no matter who/where we are.

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