CATALOGUEfractal young ar t ist exhibit ion 2008

BASTERSAADfractal young ar t ist exhibit ion 2008

The title of this year’s Fractal Young Artist Exhibition is BASTERSAAD, which refers to a hybrid seed produced by artificially cross-pollinated plants to

improve the characteristics of the resulting plants. BASTERSAAD is an exhibition that exists out of artworks that focus on different themes, are made

out of different media and created by artists from different backgrounds and training. The media used in the artworks include installation, painting,

printmaking and photography. BASTERSAAD questions the boundaries of art disciplines and explores technological media together with “traditional”

art media. It ventures between popular and high art, as well as art and design. The theme suggests a new breed of artist, where the fusion of popular

culture and high art takes place. The resulting product, an exhibition compiled out of a mix of styles and media, cultivates a colourful, fresh and

exciting new entity.

The association originated in 1999 as a result of younger artists living

in the Free State finding it increasingly difficult to make a living from

the arts and not having a space or sufficient opportunities in which to

market themselves. One of the foremost objectives of the committee

is to promote the arts among the young people of Bloemfontein, and

to involve them in productions, workshops and exhibitions. In addition

As a result of the success of the project in 2007, the Fractal Committee

are hosting the second Fractal Young Artists Exhibition in 2008. The

intention is to make this an annual event.

This year, ????? were received and once again the selection process

was undertaken by members of the Advisory Committee, the Fractal

Fractal, an adhoc committee of the Friends of Oliewenhuis is a voluntary association consisting of six Executive

Members. The committee is dedicated to supporting and enhancing the activities of Oliewenhuis Art Museum

by raising necessary funds and by initiating new projects and ventures specifically geared towards the younger

generation.

Penny George

Fracta l Chai rperson

Committee and other visual art practitioners. The participating artists

for 2008 are Mr PW Burger, Ms Davina de Beer, Mr Victor Geduldt, Mrs

Marjorie Human, Mr Izak Janse van Rensburg, Ms Amelia Raath and

Mr MC Roodt.

The title of the exhibition, BASTERSAAD, was created by the artists and

symbolizes an exhibition that grew from diversity into a unified and

improved future promise. The seven selected artists are either graduates

or students from the Central University of Technology, the Free State

University and one self-taught artist. The exhibition showcases a variety

of exciting artworks in a variety of media, techniques and concepts.

Since 1999, Fractal has hosted a variety of productions with great

success. The Fractal committee propose that this exhibition will deliver

a high standard of creative expression and educational value. We believe

that the success of BASTERSAAD will open doors to future upcoming

artists.

to this, we aim to educate the general public and to awake in them the

desire to preserve and appreciate our national art museum. A love for art

among the community is an investment for art in the future. By means

of various initiatives and the Committee’s involvement, new members

are also gained for the Friends of Oliewenhuis Art Museum.

In 2007, the Fractal Committee initiated the Fractal Young Artists

Exhibition. The project not only provided young, upcoming visual artists

the opportunity to exhibit their artworks at Oliewenhuis Art Museum

but also gave them the opportunity of showcasing their artwork

professionally in a well-established environment. The occasion also

presented them with the opportunity of expanding their knowledge and

experience of curating an exhibition.

The competition was based on a selection process. Artists submitted

proposals, including a Curriculum Vitae and visuals for selection. A

selection panel comprising members of Oliewenhuis Art Museum’s

Advisory Committee, Fractal Committee members and other visual

art practitioners selected the participating artists. In 2007 Ms Nicky

Swanepoel, Graphic Designer and Photographer and Ms Kobie Nel,

Photographer were selected to participate in the Fractal Young Artists

Exhibition. The exhibition was presented in the Annex Gallery in the

Main Building of Oliewenhuis Art Museum. The exhibition was extremely

well supported and proved to be a great success.

16 November 1977

P.W. Burger het sy Diploma in Beeldende Kuns in 2000 by die Sentrale

Universiteit van Tegnologie (SUT) in Bloemfontein voltooi. Hy het sy graad in 2001

ontvang en het in skilderkuns gespesialiseer. In 2006 het hy as ‘n deeltydse lektor in

beeldende kuns by die Sentrale Universiteit van Tegnologie begin werk. Burger bied

gereeld kunswerkswinkels regoor die land aan. Hy is tans besig met sy Meerstersgraad

The Shape ShifterMixed media on canvas, 2006

1 200mm X 1 000mm

in Kunsfilosofie en Skilderkuns, en gee informele skilderlesse

by Oliewenhuis vir volwassenes in sy vrye tyd. Hy skep ook

kommersiële kunswerke en spesialiseer as ‘n tegniekkunstenaar

vir die versiering van huise en kantore. Burger neem deel aan

prominente uitstallings soos die ABSA Atelier en die Fractal Shed

Your Skin Kunskompetisie.

P.W. Burger views artworks as vehicles that have the potential to

question absolute truths and reveal hidden meanings. He explores

its ambiguous nature and surplus meanings in his own work by

making use of symbols. In his painting, The Shape Shifter (2006),

the shape shifter itself is a symbol of how art and science transform

the ordinary into the extraordinary, and thus expanding universal

and natural laws and principles of daily living. In Fall of Babel (2008)

he probes the potential meaning that resides in the polemical

information that viewers derive from the artwork. Burger is

interested in the ambiguous nature of interpretation and continues

to explore different truths that artworks convey.

Fal l of BabelMixed media on canvas, 20081 200mm X 1 000mm

Davina de Beer het haar Meestersgraad in Beeldende Kunste in 2008 by die

Universiteit van die Vrystaat voltooi. Sy het verskeie kunswerkswinkels in 2006 en

2007 as deel van die Artists in Schools projek aangebied. Sy was ‘n studente-assistent

by die Johannes Stegmann-kunsgalery van 2004 tot 2008, asook by Departement

Kunsgeskiedenis en Visuele Kultuurstudie by die Universiteit van die Vrystaat. Hierdie

jaar het sy aan verskeie uitstallings deelgeneem, onder andere by die Thompson

Kunsgalery in Melville en die ABSA Atelier in Johannesburg. De Beer vertrek in Oktober

2008 na Sohar in Oman, waar sy kuns gaan aanbied by die Sohar International School.

14 Junie 1982

SPRING, HUPPEL, SPEEL, VALOil on canvas, 20088 units of 275mm X 350mm

The focus of De Beer’s research for the past four years has been the ruptures that

occur in the continuity of family memories. Her artworks address aspects of memory

preservation that deal with estrangement, anonymity, absence and mortality. She

uses the interplay between exposure and concealment to examine the discontinuities

in history and memory in the private and public spheres. Although she specialised in

painting, she uses various media (family photographs, oil paint, light sensitive prints,

digital prints and installation) to explore the discontinuities and different truths in

memory. The paintings in the White Series focus on the aggression and estrangement

of memory, and explore forgetting as an active element that transforms memories. Her

smaller paintings pursue memory as frail and vulnerable, as if on breaking or vanishing

point.

Victor Geduldt kom uit ‘n familie wat in kuns belanggestel het en hom

gemotiveer het om self daarby betrokke te raak. Aangesien hy geen formele

kunsopleiding gehad het nie, het sy familielede se skilderye gedien as inspirasie en

blootstelling tot die skildermedium. Geduldt neem elke jaar deel aan die Shoprite

Checkers Kunskompetisie en skenk gereeld skilderye vir fondsinsamelings vir

liefdadigheid, soos Ons Kinderhuis in Bloemfontein en KANSA. Hy neem gereeld aan

uitstallings deel in Bloemfontein en in die res van die Vrystaat. Tans word van sy werk

uitgestal in Excelcior by die Pelican Art-uitstalling.

Victor Geduldt finds inspiration in the immediate world surrounding him, alert to

anything that will catch his eye. As a child he used to peer through the windows of

art galleries, absorbing influences from mostly South African artists. Images from

magazines, of everyday life, function as inspiration for his ideas. As an accomplished

realistic portrait painter, he enjoys exploring facial expressions of people from different

cultures, but also focuses on issues that he feels is pertinent to his surroundings. He

depicts both the mundane and the violent, and in this sense asking if the violent has

not become part of the mundane. In his paintings he investigates the meaning behind

the obvious, raising questions about the worth of everyday life.

3 November 1973

UNTITLEDAcrylic on board, 2008

500mm X 1 000mm

Marjorie Human is tans besig om haar MA

Beeldende Kunste-graad by die Universiteit van die

Vrystaat te voltooi. Sy was betrokke by die Artists in

Schools-projek, ‘n gemeenskap gebaseerde kunsinisiatief,

as projek koördineerder van 2004 – 2008. Sy gee ook klas

by Planet Pixl School of Advertising and Photography

in Bloemfontein terwyl sy studeer en aan haar

kunsloopbaan werk. Hierdie jaar het sy reeds aan verskeie

groepuitstallings deelgeneem, onder andere in die

Thompson-kunsgalery in Melville.

Human is interested in the global revival in the practice of

painting. She explores the decorative pattern and pattern-

making processes imbedded in new image-based media.

Her painting practice calls to mind the obsessive, labour

intensive acts of craft that are integrated with every

day life. She uses pattern and decorative symbols out

of everyday surfaces, such as printed textiles, wallpaper

and graphic design as an abstract communication

“language”. In her latest work she explores specific motifs

out of South

African popular

culture, like the

springbok and the rose.

The springbok was once a

powerful symbol of

popular culture and part heraldry, but is currently

degrading to a nostalgic and kitsch image, used in

retrograde design. In her paintings Human strips the

springbok of its power and signifies its decadent nature

by the use of springbok skulls, which also refer to the

17th century Dutch Still Life theme, vanitas. Human also

reduces the Victorian roses that were imported into the

South African fashion through colonial influence, to their

skeletal structure, and build them up again turning them

into flowers with a hybrid character. By using decorative

surfaces that seems to portray changing and conflicting

cultural identity constructs, she tries to translate a sense

of uncertainty about the promises of bliss made by

superficially constructed appearances.

23

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BOUQUETOil on canvas, 2008

1 220mm in diameter

Izak Janse van Rensburg het by Planet Pixl School of Advertising and Photography

in Bloemfontein studeer en werk tans as grafiese ontwerper en fotograaf. Hy het van kleintyd af

in die skepping van kuns belanggestel en gepoog om sy kreatiwiteit te ontwikkel. Hy het in 2006

en 2007 aan studente-uitstallings van Planet Pixl by Oliewenhuis Kunsmuseum in Bloemfontein

deelgeneem.

Izak Janse van Rensburg tries to convey his experience of life by combining documentary and fine

art photography. He explores the meaning behind the everyday, trying to catch something fresh

and unsuspected on film. He enjoys taking photographs that suggest a narrative and incite people

to think outside their frame of reference. He believes that a photographer needs a bit of luck and

a lot of patience to wait for the moment to take a perfect shot.

14 Augustus 1987

???Photographic print, 2008

???mm X ???mm

26 Augustus 1985

Amelia Raath het haar BA Beeldende Kuns-graad in 2007 by die Universiteit

van die Vrystaat ontvang en is tans besig met haar Meestersgraad in Beeldende Kuns

by die Universiteit van die Vrystaat. Sy het aan verskeie uitstallings deelgeneem, soos

die Sasol Nuwe Handtekeninge Kunskompetisie in 2007 in Pretoria en die Studente-

uitstallings in die Johannes Stegmann-kunsgalery in Bloemfontein in 2005 - 2008.

Sy was ook betrokke as kurator by verskeie uitstallings in die Johannes Stegmann-

kunsgalery, soos By-Passing Catherine in 2007 en die Vierdejaarstudente uitstalling in

2008.

My Little Pony has been a part of Amelia Raath’s life since she can remember. They

bombarded the toy market during the 1980’s and are still popular toys in the 21st

century. She experiences them as ambivalent in nature, as they serve her inspiration

– as muses – and at the same time as “her little demons”. This uncanny interplay

between the polar opposites of demons and muses changes the apparently light-

hearted My Little Pony toys into something more sinister. In her paintings she

uses the My Little Pony as subject matter to play with different themes, like the

apocalyptic horse.

PAPYRUS SCROLLMixed media, 2008???mm X ???mm

FALLINGMixed media, 2008

???mm X ???mm

M.C. Roodt is ‘n kunstenaar wat in die Noord-Kaap gebore

is en tans Beeldende Kuns by die Sentrale Universiteit van

Tegnologie in Bloemfontein studeer. Sy monodrukke, Summer Mu,

Psychiatrists’s Chair en My TV Does Not See Me is onlangs by die

permanente versameling van die Nasionale William Humphrey-

kunsgalery in Kimberley ingesluit.

M.C. Roodt works in a variety of media and experiments

frequently with the characteristics and limitations of such media.

His work examines the structures and paradigms embedded

within the legacy of western determinist reasoning. His work,

as medium-specific investigation, can thus be paralleled with

the function of thought as binding “medium” in the mentioned

worldview. Currently Roodt is investigating the proposition that

the classification of intangible thoughts, abstract emotions and

behaviour changes their context by associating them with a pre-

existing model which was not an intrinsic part of the processes

that led to their inception in the first place. This impartial

model de-humanises the individual through classification and

reassembles identity to form a mere sum of biologically measured

and understood fragmented parts. The nature and outcomes of

such conceptual and linguistic structures presupposes an impartial

reality free from cultural and personal identity. Roodt probes at

what effects this has on the process of reciprocity.

25 Ju l ie 1986

DSM FREEDOM CHARTERMixed media on crochet, 20081 580mm X 2 000mm

VRIENDE VANOLIEWENHUIS

NIKI SWANEPOEL