"Exhale"

“Exhale”

Curated by: Grace Kotze

26 May – 14 June 2014

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Unthinkingly artists are hemmed in by the way we see, feel and create. The external voices of cultural norms, the need to make money, ethical judgments, relationships, and academic judgment etc. so often sneak into the creative realm. Thus clipping one’s authentic exploratory intentions and obscuring ones vision. Being an artist is one of the most romanticised professions where the creative process is viewed as a relaxed and easy flowing process. The intensity involved in the learning, refining and developing of one’s craft is vastly taxing and time consuming especially with the battle against external voices and how to placate them in ones journey as an artist.  

The shows intentions are to prompt artists to take a deep breath reassess what the process of making art means to their true intentions, and then work from that place. Exhale examines this through printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and painting. The invited artists are Suraya Tewary, Deidre Maree, Louise Jennings, Jane Oliver, Jeannie Kinsler, Vulindlela Nyoni, Darren van der Merwe, Marlene de Beer, Chris de Beer, Kristin Hua Yang, Sarah Lovejoy, Elizabeth Balcomb, Peter Rippon, Grace Kotze, Sarah Richards, Kim Goodwin and Jackie Freer.

To “Exhale” means very different things to each individual and vary during the individuals creative journey. For some the journey may lead to a break from the academia and time to play or reinvent a more commercial style. Other artists found themselves exploring new materials or subjects while others worked in partnership with others or academic processes. 

While attempting to ‘exhale’, many of the artists find the process of connecting to a freedom and shift in perceptions anything but exhaling but rather another type of toiling. One that produced many struggles in order to inhabit a space, were it is easy to breathe personal concerns. “Exhale” is a show about letting go of an area that became stifling that so often happens when one is faced with the multifaceted world of the fine artists. 

Sarah Lovejoy sculptures and Kristin Hua Yang paintings