CONTEMPORARY ART

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Head, Heart & Stomach (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Own Photographs on Paper, *Astar Process

250mm x 390mm

R1200

Download Image | Buy Print | Buy Original

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The Weight of Reflection (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Own Photographs on Paper, *Astar Process

235mm x 510mm

R1500

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The Heartist (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

320mm x 510mm

R1500

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High Flying Bridgework (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

320mm x 510mm

R1500

High Flying Bridgework -

Who are you?

In bold defiance of gravity,

Daring Guardians of the Heights,

"Heaven's right here on earth"

Fallen

In the Path of Destruction

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Submerge to Emerge (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Own & Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

320mm x 510mm

R1500

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Intercepting Eternity (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Own Photographs on Paper, *Astar Process

149mm x 100mm

R900

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CHAPTER 2

Willpower

Body of 11 Collage & Mixed Media Pieces & 1 Film & Sound Element

At least half of these works were created during my second term with ASTAR, now working with the element of Water. It was during this process and a visit to the Garden Route, that an invocation, prayer or poem emerged through me, titled Willpower. This piece of writing became an inspiring force threading through my life at the time. Through Lindy's guidance, I decided to take each phrase and give it it's own visual representation, breaking it into 11 parts. Upon completion, I have explored animating these artworks and combining my own sound, which has resulted in the raw film exploration below. I still feel it is a sketch of a medium I will be going deeper into, open to collaborations with animators, sound masons and film makers.

Artworks: Mixed media & found images (mostly from National Geographic magazines. I do not take credit for the images themselves but feel I have changed their context substantially)

Film: Recordings of my screen in Photoshop when viewing photographed works

Sound: Music is a live score, recorded by myself, while watching the film
Narration: One live raw recording on my phone, layered on top of film and sound

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ZOOM IN / ENLARGE

WATCH FILM IN FULL SCREEN IF POSSIBLE

Willpower - a short film sketch by Chris Auret

Willpower, I call on you.

Be with me as I go back, down and inwards

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Own & Found Images, *Astar Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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As I swim to the depths of this dark river,

as I greet death, surrounded by onlooking baboons,

beneath rocks of defecation

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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May my last breath fill my lungs with trust

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Inspired Process

210mm x 510mm

R2000

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Keep me warm on the icy waters of isolation,

As I make my way back to the ocean of conscious actions

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

230mm x 290mm

R2000

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Smudge me clean of my fears

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images & Thread, *Astar Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Connect me to that which I have forgotten

(2019)

Collage with Found Images, *Astar Inspired Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Teach me the language to share my experience with this world

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Inspired Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Allow me to remain awake in this vigil

Let me fall, not asleep, but into unconditional love

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Inspired Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Suppress nothing as I sink

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Dissolve all that keeps me from serving myself,

in the service of others

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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Find the fire within me

and feed it with responsibility

(2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Inspired Process

230mm x 230mm

R2000

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CHAPTER 3

My Process (pre-lockdown)

Body of Collage & Mixed Media Pieces

During and after these 2 terms with ASTAR, I was inspired to continue holding myself in similar 3 hour art processes. Usually, I work with a theme I am personally exploring in that moment, such as trauma, nature, making art, my childhood, etc . These pieces came through between March 2019 and March 2020.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ZOOM IN / ENLARGE

Skin (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper

297mm x 420mm

R1500

Cultures of the world;
under water, on land, in the air,
on white islands
or born in the mountains
of a no turning back:
Life (the really, really, big picture)
is not a tale of two worlds apart.
Dream time into the Earth.
To most people, flying.
To us, it is a body under reconstruction.
A man with a following
is still killing thousands of children everyday.
Never underestimate the importance of local knowledge.
That may be as good as it gets.
Alive - happily -
long ago to go,
an ancestor of the true capital of Hope.
Sincerely,
The Most Fitting End.

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Trauma (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Card

240mm x 375mm

R1200

A dream called lasting pain

Locates a buried past.

Waiting, it lurks.

It casts a spell to make me(we) stay asleep.

Invisible monsters inside the physical.

Temporary resevoirs

Last and last like a nightmare,

Until a victim

Gains a face

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Healing Visions of the Heart Through the Stomach (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Card

210mm x 297mm

R1200

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Searching for Water (2019)

Acrylic on Card

240mm x 297mm

R2000 (SOLD)

As far as the eye can see,

Mountains - untamed and tall

In between the foothills,

I follow, unrestrained

By choice

Or instinct

In the footprints of two elephants -

Mountains themselves.

I am natural tones,

Jagged and free.

The elephants know the way.

I have forgotten.

Out here, the sky inspires expansion,

The ground holds me down,

All the more reason

To be wild.

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Forgetting to Remember (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Card,

240mm x 594mm

R2000

An elephant in the gallery room

Stands bigger than the frame.

A Mammoth, long ago dead,

Yet resurrected from it’s fossilised slumber

To be remembered

Even though we forget why.

The lens looks on so that we look through

Blinded by a present which does not exist

The world’s greatest show; a hoax!

Of lights, cameras and fake actions.

In an attempt to recall my past,

I lift my hands above my head, like tusks

Reaching for distant memories, eyes closed.

Scattered at my feet are the remains of my ancestors,

Whispering stories of future myths.

The writings on the cave wall

But there’s no writing at all.

There are simply images of what was,

painted so that we don’t forget.

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The Fragile Web (2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Own & Found Images on Paper

375 mm x 240mm | 240mm x 375mm

R1500

The Fragile Web

Works well with people around the world

Who remember the sweet way

Of a different future,

Appearing up from the rubble

As living statues on the street.

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Seeing the Light (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images

610mm x 928mm

R1500

Stay, the darkness tells you

When your visions

Glimpse pathways

To the rise of eyes,

After the fall

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To We, From Me (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper

515mm x 770mm

R2200

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Water Falls (2019)

Oil Pastel on Masonite

240mm x 320mm

R1800 (SOLD)

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Suffering and Surviving the Forgotten Face of Self (2019)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images

240mm x 375mm

R1200 (SOLD)

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Lockdown

Like most of the world, we entered a national lockdown here in South Africa due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The date was 1 March 2020. As I type this, the date is 18 June and we are still experiencing what is termed "level 3 restrictions" in lockdown. During this time, I have found myself activated and energised creatively, finding my voice within the noise. Like many others, I also felt lost, unstable and falling apart. I turned to art once again to process and anchor some of the feelings and thoughts coming through me. The following more-or-less in chronological order and I am still creating art today.

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CHAPTER 4

ASTAR Process (during lockdown)

Body of Collage & Mixed Media Pieces

I consider myself extremely privileged have taken part in a few art processes during lockdown as a way to digest the upheaval of emotions stirred during this challenging time. This journey began with a guided 10-day ASTAR Art Meditation process. Using WhatsApp, Lindy Soloman would send the participants daily voicenoted and written cues to create from. Even though we were scattered all over the country as participants taking part in isolation, using what we had at home, we were still able to be held by the group container and it's sharing practice.

I followed each visual process, with a short poem or piece or writing as a reflection, which became one piece at the end of the process.

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Prayer Flag (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

245mm x 940mm

R1200

The first steps

Through the dark passage

Begin in prayer.

Make yourself heard,

In the sound of silence.

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"I invoke patience as an antidote to waiting in the unknown" (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media & Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

100mm x 305mm

R1000

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A New Sense of Adventure (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media & Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

305mm x 425mm

R1200

A New Sense of Adventure

Brings the rapids of time

Calms the waters of the storm

Trust, and all will be just fine

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Sweeper or The Mess (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media & Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

215mm x305mm

R1200

Sweeper or the mess,

Broom in hand or beers,

In working pants or a big dress,

In service or luxurious,

Being better or the best,

Wearing a hat for the sun

Or for decoration,

An earth custodian or abomination,

Who am I?

Take one guess,

Be my guest,

I don't need it.

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The Autumn Path (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media & Found Images on Paper, *Astar Process

216mm x 305mm

R1200

Leaving behind an old bowl hat,

My perfect bowtie

And prescription glasses,

I walk the Autumn path

With new gratitude

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Love is The Third Being (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

215mm x 305mm

R1200

Love is the third being,

a suspended connection

to source,

which acts as a channel

for deep listening to happen between two beings.

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This Opening to LIfe (Lockdown 2020)

Chalk & Oil Pastel on Paper, *Astar Process

305mm x 333mm

R2000

Inspired by the poem by David Whyte: Enough

Enough

These few words are enough,

if not these words, this breath.

If not this breath,

this sitting here,

this opening to life

we have refused again, and again.

Until now.

Until, now.

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I give thanks for my home, my people, my art, nature and gold (mine) (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Astar Process

Diameter: 306mm

R1200

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I am My Story; I am the Creator (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found & Own Images, *Astar Process

430mm x 310mm

R1200

The first steps

Through the dark passage

Begin in prayer.

Make yourself heard,

In the sound of silence.

I invoke patience as an antidote

to waiting in the unknown

A new sense of adventure

Brings the rapids of time,

Calms the waters of the storm,

Trust, and all will be just fine

Sweeper or the mess,

Broom in hand or beers,

In working pants or a big dress,

In service or luxurious,

Being better or the best,

Wearing a hat for the sun

Or for decoration,

An earth custodian or abomination,

Who am I?

Take one guess,

Be my guest,

I don't need it.

Leaving behind an old bowl hat,

My perfect bowtie

And prescription glasses,

I walk the Autumn path

With new gratitude

Love is the third being,

a suspended connection

to source,

which acts as a channel

for deep listening to happen between two beings

This opening to life

I give thanks for my home,

my people,

my art,

nature

and gold (mine)

I am my story.

I am the creator.

The end and the beginning.

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CHAPTER 5

The 7 Day Art Well Mandala Course,

"The Circle Holds Everything"

Series of mixed media & collage compilations

Shortly after the completion of the ASTAR process, I joined another art process with Aliki Romano, of The Art Well, which began on 13 April. The course was similar to the above ASTAR process but unique to Aliki's curation, design and holding. We were also asked to create our pieces in the same round format, often referred to as a "mandala". Each piece was always distilled into a word or short sentence through a written reflection, making the title of each work.

These are displayed in order from 13 April - 19 April and resulted in one final written poem, combining and closing the entire process.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ZOOM IN / ENLARGE

Can I be with the fire raging repeatedly meeting the cool waters of flow, in the cycle of life and death? (Lockdown 2020)

Oil Patsel & Marker on Paper, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

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Choose a direction;

To not move, is to fight life (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

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To be healed, I am to reach out to the healer

(Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

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I let go of ego, fear and control to keep my heart

and new wings. Again, I am whole. (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

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What Comes Up, Going Down (Lockdown 2020)

Flame & Charcoal on Paper, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

What comes up, going down?

Down we tumble.

Can we find the harmonious chord

In discord?

Can we close our eyes,

Surrender the highs

And return

To the base of Oneness?

Naked, can we dance inwards,

Like remembering a dream,

Without the whisperings

Of judgment

For what has only been?

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In the new world (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

In the new world, I work with the earth,

In the new world, I live to create,

In the new world, I am an artist,

In the new world, I question, more than answer,

In the new world, I am more of a dancer,

In the new world, I am strong in my body,

In the new world, I am stronger at heart,

In the new world, I build a home - not buy one,

In the new world, I get one free one,

In the new world, I am the one,

In the new world, I am One

In the new world, this world,

It has already

begun.

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I Will Shine (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media, *Art Well Process

Diameter: 143mm

R900

I will dance with the fire raging,

Repeatedly meeting the cool waters of flow.

I will choose a direction; To not move is to fight life -

This, I know. To be healed,

I am to reach out to the healer

And let go of ego, fear and control.

To keep my heart and new wings,

Again, I am whole. In the new world,

With a body alive with light,

I will shine.

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CHAPTER 6

"Treasures in Transition" Art Well Course,

Series of mixed media and collage compilations

On 6 May, I continued to do another offering by Aliki. This course was was titled, "Treasures in Transition". We were to bring 8 sheets of paper/card, measuring 105mm x 148.5mm, in preparation, along with a few objects symbolising different aspects of ourselves.

Again via WhatsApp, I was guided, along with the group, through a meditation and asked to find 8 images which resonated with me at the time, from the magazines I had in my possession. After that, we were asked to creatively let the conversation of 8 the images begin by moving them across the 8 small pages, making various layouts, including any way to join, manipulate, arrange and juxtapose the images, adding any mark making techniques, until the artwork completed itself.

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everyone meets a prophet in the garden (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images, *Art Well Process

607,5mm x 422,5mm

R2500

As above, so below. As orange, so blue.

Hands holding. Hands giving. Hands being held too.

Me, somewhat cut off until now

From my relationship to nature and creation,

I rise from the remains of a broken home,

A king of my own peaceful disposition,

Clasping a feast-full of flowers, a banquet bouquet.

I arrived in the beak of a bird,

The same bird they murdered one day.

Now, I wash my hands of the act,

To only get them dirty in the earth,

Knowing everyone meets a prophet in the garden,

And I’ve been digging since birth.

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CHAPTER 7

My Process (during lockdown, to now)

Body of Collage & Mixed Media Pieces

Inspired by these guided processes, I made a few artworks on my own. The following is what has come through, in order of creation:

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ZOOM IN / ENLARGE

Feed Us The Truth (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper

278mm x 333mm

R2200

Feed us the Truth.

The truth?

I've been searching for the truth.

And in this moment,

I can share with you one:

Here, in South Africa,

It's no secret,

The truth is

We need food.

And our government has owned up to the fact that they can't be the sole providers.

It's up to us as a community

To make sure our brothers and sisters eat.

Tasty, wholesome, nutritious and full of love food/truth.

That's where my energy is going.

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Living From Hand to Mouth (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images

155mm x270mm

R900

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Oh Love (Lockdown 2020)

Mixed Media Collage with Found Images on Paper

Diameter: 150mm

R900

A pinnacle,

On the journey,

Then, through a portal,

Expansive and wide

Only to return again

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We Put People First (Lockdown 2020)

Oil Pastel & Collage with Found Images

210mm x 305mm

R900

"We put people first,"

said Nature in unison.

"We put people first,"

said Nature,

"people like you are kin".

With a smile on my face

In deserted lands

A warm, purple embrace

Feels like distant friends

Putting the people first

And I cried,

"We put the people first!"

And I cried,

"We put the people first!"

And I cried,

"We put the people first!"

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My Heart is in the Right Place - Work in Progress (2020)

Digital Collage with Online Images

2000 pixels x 2841 pixels

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Rock (Lockdown 2020)

Acrylic & Oil Pastel on Card

225mm x 230mm

R1200 (SOLD)

Suspended to float or drop,
Resting on the skin of water,
Waiting to sink into the clouds,
The rock, now weightless,
Is made of everything including time.
Born from the depths of the earth,
Solid in it’s ability to change shape,
To break and disintegrate,
Knowing it will find new form;
A form which could forge the homes of people,
Create altars to celebrate the stars,
Grind grains to make warm bread
And carry the capacity
to shatter any window of perception
With a love note attached, reading:
“You’ve been here before."

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Faith to Let Go (Lockdown 2020)

Charcoal, Oil Pastel & Collage with Found Images

280mm x 280mm

R2000 (SOLD)

I spend my days making plans,
When I fail to have faith.
So, with a flame in my hand,
I let go to be brave.