The Still Life Re-Imagined
February 04, 2024 - February 25, 2024
32 Main Street, Riebeeck Kasteel, South Africa
“As above, so below; as within, so without” wrote Hermes Trismegistus the alchemist and author of the Emerald Tablet. This esoteric maxim of the alchemists refers to the relationship between the macrocosm (universe, outer world) and the microcosm (the individual, inner world) and describes the creative process employed by artists who draw from their environments and surroundings, transforming or sublimating the images into a personal lexicon which becomes a manifestation of their imagination. This “mind’s eye” or “inner eye” of the artist was likened by a later master of alchemy, Paracelsus, to a magnet which with its power of attraction, draws the things of the external world and places them within the individual to reshape them in his or her imagination. By observing and recording our environment, this perception of our world is captured and internalised in the imagination and mind of the alchemist, artist, sculptor, or writer.
The external world is what we perceive. In considering its stillness, what is the story we want to tell? A moment in time is captured by the mind of the artist – a painting is the story of where the eye falls, is captivated and internalised into the vision of the creative.
GORDON WILLIAMS | JENNY PARSONS | KIRSTEN LILFORD | DAVE ROBERTSON | MICHAELA RINALDI | TERESA TRUDA | JUDY WOODBORNE | JACO BENADE | TANYA MAJO | LOUISA GERRYTS | CARIN DORINGTON
