Fever of a Dream, a selection of new paintings by Andrea du Plessis and John-Michael Metelerkamp will be opening at DAOR Contemporary on the evening of Thursday 25 January 2024 at 6pm.
Andrea du Plessis (born 1980) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Cape Town, specialising primarily in the fields of traditional painting and new media. She has studied Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, completed a postgraduate diploma in Art Therapy in the UK, as well as a degree in Multimedia Digital Visual Arts through UNISA (Cum Laude). As the overall winner of the prestigious Sasol New Signatures award in 2021, Du Plessis showcased her first solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2022.
Du Plessis uses her practice as a means of exploring humanity’s complex relationship to both nature and technology. The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked in her an interest in the sublime experience and the interplay between nature, technology, and spirituality.
Her creative methodology involves experimentation with emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR), image and sound generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as well as virtual reality (VR). She revisits antiquity through her use of traditional oil painting techniques used by the old masters while exploring ways of integrating traditional media with modern technologies. By juxtaposing the nineteenth century Romantic tradition of painting with emerging technologies she aims to transport the viewer momentarily into a familiar yet alien world, while offering an opportunity to reflect on their connection with nature.
Drawing inspiration from the cryptic, pictorial world of alchemical illustrations and the complex symbolism of the horse, Du Plessis explores themes of inner evolution, the challenge that is integrating opposing, unconscious aspects of Self, and transforming the lead of earthly experience into soul’s gold.
John-Michael Metelerkamp (born 1982) started painting late at 32 years of age and is self-taught. His ‘lost years’ and struggles have informed his work. This, and living with current challenges proved a great catalyst for his prolific output over the years. Currently he resides in his hometown of Knysna and continues to paint.
“I feel the main impetus with my work is to destabilize my own beliefs and constructs. I choose subjects whose characteristics or energies interest me and prod, scrape, dig into what about this/them/it I want to portray, in whatever way seems believable. I am not sentimental about my work, nor do I believe it is important in a social or political context. I think my work, in itself, has value as a transformative object. ”
Head for DAOR Contemporary and get involved in Fever of a Dream,
WHAT: Fever of a Dream –Â Andrea du Plessis and John-Michael Metelerkamp
WHERE: DAOR Contemporary, Coode Crescent, Port of Cape Town , V&A Waterfront, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Thursday 25 January 2024 at 6pm
INFO:  +27 71 624 7130 | +27 64 941 3316 | E info@daor.co.za | Visit
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