Renewed Inspiration

So I went to the annual David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation "Wildlife Artist of the Year" exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London on the weekend.  It was pretty spectacular!  I had a great time and enjoyed the work on show.  A massive congratulations to Zimbabwean David Filer who claimed the title with his stunning graphite pencil drawing of an elephant and her calf.

As always, it was great seeing what Emily Lamb has been up to, major inspiration she is!  Young and full of new ideas bringing such a fresh take of wildlife art to the art world.

While on my trip back to South Africa, I went through some goods sitting in storage at my folks' place and I found a picture of a painting I did for school back in 1999.  After looking at all the art on show and looking at some art I've done over the years, I've decided it would be a good thing to put the camera down for a few evenings a week, step away from the computer screen and put brush to canvass again.  I love my photography, but there is something so liberating and peaceful about sitting in front of a blank canvass and painting away.

Here's the painting I did of elephants with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.

I ART CAPE TOWN - art transforming a community

I guess it would be fair to say that I look quite critically at the art form known as graffiti or street art.  A lot of the time I see no point to it and its destructive nature.  But then you have someone like Banksy come along who just transformed the global public's view on street art by using it to challenge social norms and stereotypes often making a very bold statement about a subject avoided by most politicians and news channels.  I guess I still see the riff raff nonsense stuff like tagging as completely pointless and often times an act that in itself defeats what it sets out to do by causing government budgets to be wasted on cleaning, repairing and replacing damaged property instead of that funding being made available for things like community development and AIDS relief.  I know I am opening myself up big time by making out like I have some understanding of it all which I probably don't, but what I do have is an opinion.

And then something special comes along.  A moment when skilled individuals decide to use their abilities to transform, renew, uplift, inspire and unite.  Street art once again revolutionizing views, communities and mindsets.  With a bit of responsibility and a realization that with this ability comes a power that can be used for such good rather than the "pointless"destruction it's so well known for.

I came across the posting below which was on my facebook feed, posted by the incredible artist known as Senyol (this guy is a genius).  The video is inspiring and it shows just how much good a bit of art can do.  Please, go ahead and give it a watch.

London Town

This weekend I hit the “big smoke” to hang out with great friends.  While I was there I made a mini mission to get my fill of inspiration. 

So I hit the Tate Modern to see what they had going on – it was a bit of a last minute plan so I didn’t have any time to check out the site to see what was on show, but I highly recommend you visit if you are in the London area. 

Tate Modern Tower

Monet blows my mind away… I could stand and stare at this for hours.  Cheeky hip shot – don’t worry, no flash used.  So much inspiration drawn from this legend.

Then there was this stuff… OK, yes, art is completely subjective… and this art was subject to my harsh frowning!  Call me close minded if you like, but I don’t know… the only thing that this says to me is that there is hope.

I came across a display of photographic typologies which were visually incredible.  The image above is another cheeky hip shot of loads of interior shots, some really stunning stuff.  The style of photography was pioneered by August Sander, a German photographer who focused on people studies in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s.  I could really relate to the style of photography as I find myself almost obsessed with photographing certain subject matter in similar fashion.  Perhaps that will make for a decent post at a later stage.

Along with the big pieces and great photographic work, I was also completely sucked in by the amazing textures and material manipulations displayed.  I loved this…  I’m really hoping to get painting again sometime soon and I’d love to throw in some crazy textures.

After the quick Tate Modern visit, I left for the most epic of picnics celebrating a great friend’s 30th.  Later on in the evening friends and I went out to set off some lanterns over the Thames.

The Thames at night running along Barnes.  I loved the reflection of the different shaded light on the rippling water.

  

good times…