Smokey Taboo

These paintings were inspired by the song. Smokey Taboo by Cocorosie.

Allen and the waterfall

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Watercolour on plastic

Cumulopestis pigmentus (Sasol New Signatures finalist)

cumulo/cumulus (Latin) – to heap, surplus

pestis (Latin) – destruction

pigmentum (Latin) - pigment

A Cumulopestis pigmentus cloud is a dark, gritty cloud, formed by the build-up and wiping of dark matter, composed of oil and pigment as opposed to water and air.

The act of painting is a continuous and exasperating cycle of forming and destroying, adding and removing, building and erasing, accumulation and evaporation. It is the heaping of pigments and the foreseeable destruction thereof.

Palming (series I)

These are visual interpretations of my virtual travels or palm tree hunting sessions on Google Earth. I visit and explore distant locations, “walking” around until I find a palm tree (commonly associated with exoticness, extravagance and escape) retaining and emphasizing the distortions or digital artefacts present in the computer stitched version of reality. I couple these “travel snapshots” with subtitles, appropriated from A Handbook of Travel-talk by J Murray, 1871.

Coping

Some new works.

More recent work here

Orangejuicing for ladies and Balancing for birds

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These paintings are at Turbine Art fair, Lizamore & Associates booth

New Work

For most recent work, see the new 2014 page

Small Changes (Animated GIFS) - Please be patient while loading

Small Changes is a series of small paintings which, when shown consecutively, creates moving instances of extreme close-ups of a swimming pool. When fragmented, the differences between frames are not easily discerned, but the gradual metamorphosis become visible when animated. The viewer is enabled to mentally fill the gaps as the paintings reel on the screen, as well as perceive the sleight of hand of the painter, where differences are too discordant.

A domestic swimming pool, along with its creepy crawly is an eminent signifier of the South African middle class. Its environment is completely controlled, monitored and artificial. Its biological activity is carefully regulated by the rhythmic pulsation of the pump, which forms perpetual artificial waves on the water’s surface, which then musically distorts the perfectly patterned mosaic perimeters.

Small changes hypnotically uncovers the progression of time in the quiet corners of the world, where nothing particularly noteworthy happens, the spaces that we humans have completely under control and suited to our covetous needs, and the to and fro cycling between blue and green, alive and sterile and light and dark.

(This work (49 paintings framed together + mp4 video) is still available at Lizamore and Associates Gallery - 011 880 8802)

Nako at work

When working from my solitary studio at home, the dogs are my only colleagues. They are going about their business, as am I. They have almost everything taken care of for them, as do I.

The dogs are animals, driven by instinct, but they are also human, adapted to act as the perfect companions and we have methods by which we control them as we control our entire living environment to fit our needs.

The main characters in the paintings are the dog (Nako) and the pool cleaner. It is uncertain whether Nako is intrigued or afraid of the suburban monster lurking beneath the surface, whether he is driven by instinct, obligation or folly and it is uncertain who is invading whose space. As they constantly hinder each other from performing their daily duties, they have to find a way to co-exist in their brave new world.

The works show the perpetual play-fight between animal and machine, between work and leisure and between obligation and time.

Nako at peace

Nako at rest I

Nako on Duty I

Nako at Rest II

Nako at Play

Swimming Nako

Nako in Doubt

Nako by herself

Nako in Fear

Nako to be Brave

Joburg Spiderman

These works were exhibited at the Joburg Joburg Exhibition, Cornerhouse, Johannesburg CBD. Read more about the event here

In November 2013, there were numerous reports of a wild baboon on the loose in Johannesburg. The streetwise baboon, named Spiderman, was feared by many although he never caused any harm. He was a flaneur, adventurer and an outsider in a city that is as afraid of him as he was of it.

These are places that I perhaps would have visited if I were him.

Spiderman on Display

Spiderman at the Christian shop window

Spiderman on the roof