What separates great artists from the rest is their innate ability to see beyond what the naked eye can perceive, and use that to create ingenious art from ordinary everyday objects.
For one month only, the finest of such artistic talent will be on show for public viewing at the Sasol New Signatures Exhibition to be held at the Pretoria Arts Museum.
A project of the Association of Arts Pretoria, this year’s exhibition celebrates artists’ eye for potential. The exhibition is a showcase of original thinking, and offers a glimpse into the future of South African creativity across different disciplines.
The pieces are by emerging artists of the Sasol New Signatures art competition, which has been pivotal in unearthing and launching the careers of many notable home-grown artists.
Another highlight of this year’s exhibition will be the solo debut of Elizabeth Jane Balcomb, winner of the 2014 Sasol New Signatures.
Titled Auguries of Innocence, the pieces are inspired by William Blake’s poem with the same title, which contains a series of paradoxes that speak of innocence juxtaposed with evil and corruption. Balcomb’s art in turn explores the human body as it participates in the world under regimes of life and death.
‘The exhibition seeks to astonish rather than inspire or inform,’ says Balcomb, a self-taught artist and now full-time sculptor. ‘Astonishment occurs when what appears completely separate and which, under a regime of disengaged reason, seem impossible to unite, is brought together.’
Visitors to the exhibition can therefore expect to be treated to incredible awe-inspiring pieces that showcase the depth of South Africa’s artistic talent. They have been created from a wide range of mediums – from digital platforms to performance art – and explore multiple modes of expression.
The exhibition takes place for one month only from Thursday, 3 September to Sunday, 4 October 2015 at the Pretoria Arts Museum.
To find out more about the Sasol New Signatures art exhibition, visit www.sasolnewsignatures.co.za
