TITLE: Tylecodon cacalioides veneatus I, II and III (2012)

ARTISTS STATEMENT: Roused by the debate regarding the fracking for shale gas in the Karoo and other parts of South Africa, I took an image of Karoo succulent Tylecodon cacalioides and digitally altered it until only a feint allusion to the original remained. My intervention was an attempt to convey a ‘poisoning’ (= veneatus) of the image as a metaphor for humankind’s impact on the environment. The intended result is an eerie, deceptive beauty that hints at toxicity and another, sinister reality.

MEDIUM: Oil on board

SIZE: 40 x 40 cm

TITLE: Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants II, III and IV (2012)

ARTISTS STATEMENT: Artists statement: Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants II, III and IV juxtapose images of Karoo flora with bottles of softdrink in such a way that the viewer’s literal ‘point of view’ or vantage point (the angle from which the works are viewed) determines which images are seen on the zigzagged format. The work is based on Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants I, which present the same juxtaposition in the same format. The colours in WoS I are realistic, representing a pre-fracking debate. In contrast, the colours in WoS II, III and IV are altered and removed from reality in order to symbolize a postfracking reality. In each of the three works, the images of Karoo flora share common colour themes with their horizontally juxtaposed images of bottles of softdrink, thereby creating horizontal bands of colour. This is the only commonality in this absurd juxtaposition. My emphasis, however, lies in the differences between these two subjects. According to me, Karoo plants represent wisdom, evolution, healing, spirituality, fragility and satisfaction with little, while the softdrink bottles represent the polar opposite of foolishness, industrial production, pollution, materiality, artificial preservation and a permanently unsatiated state.

MEDIUM: Oil on board

SIZE: 40 x 40 cm


Ways of Seeing: Karoor Plants II (2012)



Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants III (2012)



Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants IV (2012)

Ways of Seeing: Karoo Plants II, III & IV (2012)