Showing posts with label installation. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Golden Mean Installation Artwork - Stefanie Schoeman

Artwork: Stefanie Schoeman with the help of Jaydon Meidlinger
Video: Christiaan Pretorius with the help of Emelia Steenekamp

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

NESTING by Danien Esselen

Look at these fabulous works by Danien Esselen! Nests, bark hideouts and bulb-like art habitats. I first saw her work at the Gallery @ Grande Provence in Franschhoek, Western Cape, as part of the Walk This Earth Alone exhibition, and recently saw these photographs from her "Nesting" exhibition. Danien Esselen completed a BA (Hon) Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, but have lived in the country side all her life - growing up with a strong connection to the land and nature.

Herewith images from the exhibition and excerpts from Danien's artist statement:

"The Nest artworks are a subjective reflection of myself as a woman becoming a mother. The work therefore has a strong feminine quality and focuses significantly on the Maternal. The Nests symbolise a maternal womb; a place of safety, shelter and protection. Each Nest becomes a sacred place where any mother can safely shield and nurture her infant. The intense detail and aesthetic quality in the Nests reflect this fetish and compulsive nature of the female -The Maternal."

"The creation process of these Nests are also very significant. The natural materials are delicately collected, gathered and rummaged for. The material is then delicately handled further and processed until fitting. Then only is that material woven, platted, entwined and manipulated into a Nest structure. All these processes are essential and a significant feminine act. The natural media which is used in creating these nests is very metaphorical, referring to the notion of the caring and nurturing mother/ Mother Earth. "

"These Nest artworks become a symbol of protection and to “memorise a loss and also defend against it.” It is symbolical that nature and the environment are disappearing and being destroyed daily and that it is essential that we protect it. Viewers can interact with these Nest artworks and explore nature at a closer and more intense and spiritual level as one can touch, feel and smell the works, highlighting the sacred and almost spiritual powers nature embodies and what an essential part it is of life and our daily lives.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Artist Feature: Imke Rust

Keep an eye open for work by Imke Rust, who is making waves... Her work casts a critical eye on the controversial mining and industrial developments on the Namibian coast, and her exhibition showing this work has been rejected by the Swakopmund Arts Association due to it being labeled as "an irrelevant and scientifically dubious campaign against the economically important uranium mining in Namibia". Rust works in a variety of mediums and techniques to express her views and raise awareness towards the concerns and feelings of the community. Find out more on her website: imkerust.com.

Dorob (NOT) 4Sale 2013

Temporary installation of 15 signs at 5 different locations along

the C34 road in the Dorob National Park, Namibia.

Dimensions of Signs: 60 x 80cm

Correx Board, digital prints, spray paint, iron poles & cable binders

11 – 29 January 2013

Permanent webpage: www.dorob4sale.wordpress.com and

life cellular phone number with prerecorded answering message.

Tokoloshe Trap 2012

Temporary installation of 1521 white thorn pairs from the Acacia Karroo tree arranged into 39 circles in a side tributary of the Swakop river bed, Namib Desert.

22° 38’ 10” S – 14° 43’ 40” E, April 2012

Original dimensions: 5 x 600 x 250 cm

Medium: Acacia thorns

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

"Imagine the Unthinkable" installation by Strijdom van der Merwe

"Imagine the Unthinkable", Strijdom van der Merwe, Installation View, exhibited at Circa on Jellicoe, JHB. Photograph from the BEELD.

Land artist Strijdom van der Merwe created an art installation entitled "Imagine the Unthinkable" as part of his exhibition 'Drawing clouds in the Karoo' at Circa on Jellicoe, Johannesburg. The installation comments and expresses the effects or nature of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, planned for the arid and beautiful Karoo basin. Fracking entails drilling into the earth, and extracting natural gas from the shale layers by flushing a cocktail of chemicals and water down the shaft and into the rock layers to fracture the shale and release the gas captured in these layers. Strijdom's work makes use of maps of the actual sites for which drilling and fracking is planned, and uses sound as a device to accentuate the unnatural and disturbing nature of the process.

As with most industrial and mining processes, there is a lot of money to be made, and the companies who benefit from this have no qualms in doing what is needed to stake their claim and make their profits. At the cost of the environment, and the local people who need to live with the consequences - in this case the very high risk of contaminated ground water and reduced air quality caused by toxic pollution (particularly from the spent fracking fluid 'dams' and from cracks in the drilling shaft).

Van der Merwe does not perceive himself as a protest artist. His work usually rather enhances or encouarges an appreciation for nature's beauty. He aims to strengthen or accentuate the landscape's inherent beauty, and through this sometimes make people more aware about desertification, global warming and nature conservation. He often works in the Karoo, and therefore the risks or threat that fracking poses are a very real and personal matter.

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