Quintessence at Art.b Gallery on the Sanlam Arts Round Up

Elizabeth Brooks and Lucy Cobern talk us through Quintessence, the group show of 5 artists, in which they are participating, at the Art.b Gallery in Belville.

Listen to the Sanlam Arts Round Up on Fine Music Radio FMR 101.3fm on Fridays at 17h30

Quintessence is the brainchild of Anne Wells, Vice President of the Belville Association of Arts, who invited artists from different parts of South Africa to participate in this group exhibition.

Both Elizabeth Brooks and Lucy Cobern are from Cape Town n while the other artists are from Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and the Transkei. So, when the show was up, this was the first time they had seen the work together.

Elizabeth’s response was surprised to see how the work came together reflecting their personal journeys and creating their own personal spaces. Lucy agrees that Anne’s selection shows how art is used to to get their journeys across. The  choice of materials was important in telling that story and both agreed that the choice of beads by Sinalo was unexpected, as they had only seen images of the work before seeing the work on exhibition.

Elizabeth noted that although  her work is more dark and abstract, it fitted in to an exhibition that proved to be happy. Lucy explains that her work started off as quite dark, but as she proceeded it became less dark. The beaded texture of Sinalo’s work reflected on his personal upbringing and environment. In fact the work of the 5 artists reflected on their cultural identity.

The other three artists are Sinalo from Johannesburg. Omolemo lives in Bloemfontein.an Asiphile Lethuli in the TranskeiYou have one more week to get to Art.b Gallery to see Quintessence as the exhibition closes on 26 April 2024!

Also interesting to know that the Rust-en-Vrede Gallery and Clay Museum have an exhibition of five ceramic artists, and the Sanlam Art Gallery has Sutha Ke Fete: The Art of the Basotho Blanket. MANY reasons to head to the Northern suburbs.