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Art imitating life?

Basson’s creation named ‘ Up and down the stairs’, saying that even when we go down, we will rise to our feet and move on.

Basson’s creation named ‘ Up and down the stairs’, saying that even when we go down, we will rise to our feet and move on.

It’s been six years since he spread his message through his art works, but Pieter Basson has embraced his love for spreading messages again through art in his latest work. His solo exhibition titled ‘Going places’ shows that he has come a long way and in his imagination Pieter is in fact going to lots of places.
His work brings to mind the question, “does art imitate life or does life imitate art”.A love for things arty was apparent in Pieter from an early age and is by no means declining . His love for the cubism of Picasso and the surrealism of Dali and Miró is most apparent in his art; so are the influences by bushmen art and ancient Egyptian paintings. This Namibian graphic designer has developed his distinctive trade mark cubism, a unique pop-art-style of his own, some times reminiscent of Keith Haring’s colourful dancing men.
His exhibited cut line of works have graced the Chamiliers in France in 2003 and in 2006, when he participated in the Triennale Maondiales. And in 2006 he also exhibited six art pieces in the Asian Biennale in Bangaladesh.
Pieter’s work makes for popular exhibition material in Windhoek and he regularly decorates walls in restaurants and art shops. His line cut work ‘Bad People and Mad World, is part of the permanent collection of the Arts Association of Namibia and his portrait of the first president of Namibia, Dr Sam Nujoma , has a special place in the founding father’s personal collection.
In ‘Going Places’ the days of rigid structures and sombreness in his earlier works is making room for a more charming, humoristic approach to the interaction between human figures. “With these art works I try to capture emotions which inspire us to go to greater extents”, says Pieter.
The exhibition opens on Monday, 10 September at the Franco Namibia Cultural Centre, at 18 30 and will run until 9 October. Entrance is free.

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