The Tina Skukan Gallery cordially is hosting two exhibitions of mixed media work
titled
Moment
by
Elfriede Dreyer
A moment in time – that is human life
“This body of work engages with Heidegger’s concept of Dasein, which denotes human beings in their everydayness, intertwining subject, object, consciousness and world. I view communication as a crucial element in living meaningfully. In these pieces, imagery of sound waves refers to the piano’s production of sound and symbolises the act of communicating voice. I interpret my piano and its resounding ‘voice’, its black-and-white notes (ebony and ivory), its outer appearance, inner harp, keyboard and mechanics as figure tropes of the architecture of life.
Dialogue balloons – a graphic convention from comic books, comic strips and cartoons – evoke a stylised idiom of humanness. Some of these balloons comment on the human condition, reflecting on the highs and lows of experience and the necessity to ‘pause’ in the relentless passage of time. Dotted balloons suggest a soft whisper, while jagged balloons denote loud noise or a scream. Mountain imagery, particularly peaks, spiritually signifies a state of absolute consciousness.
A technique of layered polyphony, employed in both physical and digital media in most works, alludes to consciousness across physical, mental and virtual worlds. Comic-book graphic lines in black ink are combined with expressive emotive paint. The play with onomatopoeia – words that mimic the sounds they describe – explores the interplay between word, image and sound, as well as sound evoking both word and image.
The Moment works build upon my 2023 Song of the philosopher series, which investigated the relationship of word and idea to image. In The piano, a previous 2024 series, my piano – surviving the 2017 Knysna Great Fire – served as the central motif, addressing themes of loss and recollection.”
and
The Measure of Matter
by
Gwenneth Miller
“This exhibition is a reimagining of skeletons, mapping devices and objects, to consider our reality of being bound by time and matter.
In an astrological sense, bones are associated with winter, capturing the light within the dark (Jung). As an older artist, this paradox is constantly present in my life. Whilst a lifetime of serotonin-release probably contributed to the weakening of my bones, I imagine new ‘bones’ as part of a playful reimaging of structures. Initially I approached the concept of anatomy as a mechanistic system of levels and levers, which changed after a back operation gave me new appreciation of the body’s incredible ability to grow new bone, restructuring the old into something new.
Weathered book spines are linked to the theme of the skeleton. Old books lose their covers over time but are kept intact by a network of threads, like tendons binding muscle and bone.
Objects ready to be discarded also feature in this exhibition: an old scrubbing brush, a cracked table, a page ripped from a sketchbook, and a dark landscape with a history.
I consider weather mapping to think about fresh winds blowing into matter, aging, narratives of second journeys and visual images that evoke our relationships with material ‘stuff,’ measuring whether it even matters. A rendering of the neck’s tiny atlas bone alludes to Atlas, the Greek god carrying the world on his shoulders, and simultaneously this little bone is the hinge for the weight of the skull. Much like the atlas bone, our spiritual compass decides what matters and what does not, and how we measure its bearing.
The exhibition will be opened on Sunday 15 September 2024 at 11h30 – 14h00
by
Elfriede Dreyer and Gwenneth Miller
and can be viewed until 10 October 2024