Two painters feed off each others practices to present Side by Side exhibition
The exhibition, Side by Side by Jakobina Gideon and Nicky Marais will premiere on 6 June at the Sweet Side of Thingz Bakery. The free entrance exhibition will open at 6:30 pm.
StArt Art Gallery in a statement said the two painters who first met at the 2022 Baker’s Bay Artists’ Retreat and have since spent time working side by side to create the upcoming exhibition.
“In the lead up to this exhibition the two artists chose to once again live and work together, sharing studio space and feeding off each other’s practices,” they added.
The Gallery said this exhibition is the second in the 2023 Side by Side exhibition series curated by them and the premise of the series is juxtaposition.
“By placing just two artists’ works in proximity, we are presented with a dialogue that creates space for unique interpretations,” they said.
According to the organisers, Marais’ artistic career spans almost three decades while Gideon is a relative newcomer to the Namibian art scene, but despite the distance between their ages and experience, these two artists find harmony in each other’s work.
“Both artists are painters and often work with abstract motifs, where, Marais takes inspiration from the objects and symbols in the world around her and Gideon’s work takes a more formalist approach, using shapes and forms to create compositions that are self-contained and self-referential,” StArt Art added.
Marais said driving a thousand kilometres between my two homes, between the familiar and the new, she passed towers and towers along the road.
“And because I am alone and contemplating the connections and disconnections in my life, I think about the inconceivable way these towers accept ephemeral signals, filter them from thin air, and transform them into images and voices. The unlikely conjunction between these tall steel and concrete towers and the invisible radio waves they are designed to capture delights and intrigues me, and speeds me on my way,” she emphasised.
Reflecting on her process, Gideon said she has always been fascinated by humans and their presence, significance, and insignificance in the universe.
“I believe that we are universes that have human experiences rather than humans having universal experiences. Painting the unseen and the paradoxes of life that interest me, and making them into tangible works of creativity inspires me,” she concluded.
