TIME & TIDE (wait for no man)

Time & Tide (wait for no man) is a constellation of sculptural objects, paintings, paper collage and printmaking that function as momento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death as experienced in the cycle of life that serve as a meditation on the workings of time, and a recording of everyday life.

Showcasing new work by artists:

Catherine Ocholla | Lisette Forsyth | Corné Eksteen | Karla Nixon
Laurel Holmes | Jo Roets | Sylvester Zanoxolo Mqeku

Superficially - and overtly - these 7 artists appear to have very little in common, each working with diverse themes and materials.

Consider the work of Sylvester Zanoxolo Mqeku who works in the dual mediums of drawing and clay. His curious, highly tactile sandcast terracotta vessels emit a powerful presence and are reminiscent of undetonated spikey naval mines or spiney seed cases. Whether sealed or cracked open, their excavated feel simultaneously suggests both the deep past and the unrealised sci fi futuristic future.
 
While Catherine Ocholla may use conventional oil paint for her atmospheric “skyscapes” in which she “reflects on the nature of everyday” the presence of time is immediately felt in terms of the past and present. Or in her own words “things to come and things that have been”. The passing of time is played out through Ocholla’s powerful depictions of natural drama. From the gathering of cloud masses in an urban setting to a subtler, barely visible Sfumato approach. 
 
Lisette Forsyth works in acrylic paint and ink on original vintage maps and newspaper. Here the interplay and push and pull of the past and the present manifests in the artist’s use of painted contemporary figures superimposed on vintage maps and historical newspaper pages.

Jo Roets signature is her multi themed, air-drying clay creations which in Roets’s inspired hands the bulky medium normally associated with craft undergoes a profound shift to delicate paper-thin creations elevating the medium to a fine art status. Currently Roets is exploring fibrous Hemp Hurd enriched clay. An eco-sensitive by- product of Hemp, Hemp Hurd has many wonderful qualities found in architecture where it is used as a lightweight substitute for concrete.

Painter and printmaker Laurel Holmes works in a variety of mediums from oil paint, to porcelain paper clay and ink monotype prints. All of which are responses to her deep love of the natural world. The presence of time is evident in her works in two primary ways. Firstly, in her subject matter, nature, which requires time for observation and concern that as time passes, there becomes less to observe. Secondly the passing of time is present in her process driven approach in work which involves experimenting with layering mixed media to create complex, interesting surfaces.

The past and the present converge in oil painter Corné Eksteen’s paintings. Eksteen may use the age-old form of portraiture but in the past portraits were a sign of status and established lineage, Eksteen interrupts this tradition. In its place he explores contemporary human identities against a backdrop of rapid paced technology and flavoured with a sense of the transience of modern life.  

Karla Nixon works predominantly with paper whether it is hand torn paper or corrugated cardboard.  Her use of this medium in the form of delicate bass relief sculptures is a recognition of paper as one of the most highly consumed materials in contemporary society. Her choice of medium also reflects the transience and the fragility of human lives.

Read the press release here>

View photos from the Exhibition Reception here>