A Place I Know
Exhibited 2018
This body of work is a record of my encounters with wildlife. Often these animals offered a passing glimpse before vanishing into their habitats. Here, in an ironic twist, the habitat vanishes into the bodies of these animals, suggesting the inextricable relationship between life and landform.
‘A Place I Know’ is a reminder of how quickly fixtures can become memories.
— WORKS —
Below are a selection of paintings that form a part of my body of work. All works were all created using graphite on 100% cotton paper. You can find more about my process below.
Otter Spotting 28 x 32 cm
3 Seals & Kelp 25 x 35 cm
Humpback Whale, Kogelberg 25 x 35 cm
Southern Right and Apostles 35 x 25 cm
Great White Sentinel 30 x 34 cm
100 Year Storm Great White 25 x 35 cm
Right Whale Ariel 25 x 35 cm
Humpback Whale Ariel 25 x 35 cm
Blue Whale & Surf 30 x 56,5 cm
Wave Orca.tif 19 x 27 cm
Humpback Whale, Coast Sunset 25 x 35 cm
Risso’s Dolphin, Robberg 22 x 26 cm
Heaviside Dolphin, Mouille Point 17 x 22 cm
Otters Oven, Bakoven 22 x 26 cm
Seal, Kalk Bay 17 x 18 cm
Otter & Cormorants 17 x 17 cm
Otter's Pocket 17 x 17 cm
Spotted Atlantic Dolphins, Cape Point 20 x 17 cm
Striped Cat-shark 16 x 20 cm
Cormorant, Clifton 17 x 20 cm
African Penguin, Stony Point 17 x 17 cm
Sunfish, Kayaking 17 x 20 cm
Shark and mirrors 15 x 19 cm
Octopus, Intertidal.tif 22 x 26 cm
Octopus, Into The Blue 17 x 17 cm
Lurk, The Seal 18 x 24 cm
Leopard, Wolfberg Arch 2 22 x 26 cm
Leopard Cederberg, Arch3 28 x 32 cm
Klipspringer, Rocklands Waterfall 17 x 17 cm
Cape Fox, Rocklands Pass 17 x 17 cm
Aardvark, Rocklands 17 x 17 cm
Leopard, Wolfberg Arch Night 17 x 18 cm
Verreaux Eagle, The Hatchling 17 x 17 cm
Aardwolf, Over The Pass 17 x 17 cm
Cederberg Cape leopard 1 18 x 24 cm
Rhinolophus Bat, boulder 17 x 17 cm
Rhebok, Cederberg Tafelberg 17 x 20 cm
Protea Beetle, Devils Peak 20 x 24 cm
Carpenter Bee, Helderberg 17 x 22 cm
Aeropetes, Disa kloof 17 x 17 cm
Aeropetes, Apostle Hunt 19 x 19 cm
Verreaux’s Eagle, Bain’s kloof 18 x 24 cm
Malachite Sunbird, Jonkershoek 18 x 24 cm
Orange-breasted Sunbird & Ericas 18 x 24 cm
Rock Kestrel, Lion’s Head 22 x 26 cm
Cape Eagle Owl, Night Sky 16 x 19 cm
Ostrich, Karoo Night 20 x 24 cm
Blue Crane, Lagoon 18 x 24 cm
Knysna Turaco, Forest Cabin 18 x 24 cm
Flamingo, Table View 18 x 24 cm
Turaco, Otter Trail 20 x 26 cm
African Harrier Hawk, Overberg 17 x 22 cm
Genet, Newlands Scree 16 x 19 cm
An Otters Embrace 20 x 27 cm
Agama, Little Lion’s Head 18 x 24 cm
White Rhino & Sprinkbok 17 x 22 cm
Angulate Tortoise, Helderberg 17 x 22 cm
Large Spotted Genet, Waterfall 18 x 21 cm
Bushbuck & Turaco, Tsitsikamma 17 x 22 cm
TM Caracal 22 x 26 cm
Caracal, Lion’s head 17 x 20 cm
Klipspringer, Rock Art 20 x 17 cm
Dwarf Chameleon, Harold Porter 18 x 20 cm
Rooikat Fire, Newlands 17 x 20 cm
Springbok, Karoo 17 x 20 cm
Hyrax, Table Mountain.tif 17 x 17 cm
Caracal Apostle Fire.tif 17 x 20 cm
Ghost Frog, Fynbos Pool 16 x 19 cm
Quagga Project, Devils Peak 22 x 17 cm
Ghost Frog, Mountain Waterfall 17 x 17 cm
Exhibition 04/2018
6 Spin Street Gallery, Cape Town
— PROCESS —
My previous body of work (Imagine A Forest) drew heavily from scientific research papers that informed the composition of my artworks. At the time I had never seen many of the animals and plants I drew.
For ‘A Place I Know’, I decided to seek inspiration from my surroundings. For me to draw an animal, I had to have encountered it or at the very least spent considerable time in its habitat. The landscapes in these paintings are familiar, I walked around 3500 km in 2017–18. I climbed, I dived and hiked, returning from each adventure to my sketchbook with notes.
While the lucky few of us have had the chance to witness wild animals for a protracted duration of time, most encounters in the wild are fleeting. Creatures seem to disappear into their habitats, in part due to camouflage and in part due to their unparalleled knowledge of their environment. For ‘A Place I Know’ I used a visual twist, where the habitat vanishes into an animal. I think of it as a visual metaphor for the inseparable link between life form and environment.
Mata Atlântica, São Paulo, Brazil
Bandhavgarh National Park, MP, India
Afromontane forest, WC, South Africa
Deodar grove, Purani Koti, HP, India
While this gallery chronicles my encounters in South Africa, I did explore this idea in other places that I spent time in. I think there is still something to develop here, but there are so many ideas in the pipeline that I cannot say what the next few years will bring.
Here is an example from Ilhabela Island in São Paulo district in Brazil. One afternoon in my friend’s home, I came across a trapped Woodnymph. After observing it for a short while I released it outside. I was inspired to make a painting about this experience.
The trapped woodnymph I set free
My friends' home in Ilhabela
Painting of the Swallow tailed woodnymph