Heidi Fourie

Thursday, 23 July 2015

Last night I had the strangest dream

I recently took part in an exciting group exhibition called "Last night I had the strangest dream", curated by Layla Leimans. The exhibition took place in a beautiful old house in Bertrams, converted into artists' studios, called Twilsharp studios.

Looming Large I, oil on canvas, 28 x 28 cm

Looming Large II, oil on canvas, 28 x 38 cm

Looming Large III, oil on paper, 16 x 22 cm

The strange shifts and impending disasters in dreams create as much excitement as fear, as it rapidly approaches but never seems to reach the dreamer. Philosopher Emmanuel Kant explains the sublime as fear fulness without being afraid.

The limited waking imagination renders the dreamer unable to rightfully grasp or explain the magnitude of the spectacle. Familiar signifiers are rearranged, inverted, magnified and illuminated, but remains in the periphery.

The liquid, nature of paint is emphasized in this series, to suggest a paused state within rapid movement. The series with seemingly unrelated scenes can be viewed as a dream, spontaneously jumping from one setting to the next, with a feeling of being unsure how one got there. A menacing disaster lurks on the horizon without ever reaching the dreamer and in the rear occasion where it does, the dreamer transports to a different location, without post-traumatic shock, scars, or a sense of heat or cold.

Sunday, 7 June 2015

Monoprints

This collection of monoprints was printed by printed at Tim Foulds' printmaking studio in Midrand.

To explain the process: I paint an image on a copper plate with oil based ink, thinned with turpentine. While it is still wet, Tim puts it through the press with archival acid free paper. The result is a mirrored transfer of the painted plate. Unlike etchings, lithos and linocuts, only one print can be made, although the remaining ink on the plate can be reworked and printed as a unique ghost image of the previous print.