Creative Block exhibition offers superb affordable art
[caption id="attachment_234141" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Duncan Stewart is one of several Port Elizabeth artists with work on the Creative Block exhibition at GFI Art Gallery Picture: Werner Hills[/caption]
The GFI Art Gallery and the Spier Arts Trust are presenting the Creative Block exhibition in Port Elizabeth, the third city in South Africa to do so, where it will be on display until January 26.
There were 300 “blocks” on display when the exhibition opened last month at the Park Drive gallery, but so many have sold over the festive season that GFI administration staff have asked the Cape trust to send more artworks to fill blank spaces on its walls.
GFI gallery board chairman Dorothea Moors – recognised for her long-standing work in this field among others by Business Arts South Africa with a Basa Art Champion award not long ago – said the gallery was proud to be associated with the Creative Block initiative.
“The GFI Art Gallery has partnered with Spier Arts Trust to bring you a fascinating exhibition of local and national artists currently participating in this programme,” said Moors.
“We’re excited about this exhibition, which we have been working on for the past year. It is a wonderful example of how business and arts can work together.”
[caption id="attachment_234072" align="aligncenter" width="400"] A print by Bamanye Lethu Ngxale[/caption]
Supported by Spier, Nando’s and Hollard, artists are given blank blocks which they turn into a work of art using any medium they choose. Blocks are sold at a standard price (depending on size) ranging in price from R1 500 to R3 600.
Bay artists represented on the national exhibition include Frances Sibanda, Duncan Stewart, Jonathan Silverman, Kathy Botha, Bretten-Anne Moolman and several other well-known names.
There are also connections to the city through works by those who studied here before moving elsewhere to further their art career.
Bamanye Lethu Ngxale, for example, grew up in KwaDwesi and studied print-making at the then NMMU before working in Cape Town. He has more than one experimental print on show, although he also works in sculpture, collage and conceptual art.
Our city can also still lay claim to Anthony Harris, whose work is in private and public collections around the world, and whose pared-back landscapes lend themselves to the block format of this exhibition.
Another NMMU art graduate, Robyn Munnick, adds a three-dimensional effect to her square blocks and in this way gives visual expression to her feelings about her mother’s fight with cancer.
On the whole, however, most artists have kept to a flat surface which offers scope not only for portraiture and landscapes but also many other exciting avenues.
It’s a beautiful and varied exhibition and gallery manager Robyn Sharwood says the reaction from the public has been excellent, with brisk sales.
“Artists register with Spier Arts Trust to be on the programme and they have already been paid for their artworks,” said Sharwood.
The selected artists are encouraged to attend monthly “hand-in days” in person at which the exhibition curator is available to give individual critiques – similar to master class feedback.
Until now the Creative Block has only shown in Johannesburg and Cape Town so it is a feather in the Bay’s artistic cap to be only the third national venue.
GFI Art Gallery is open from 10am until 4pm on weekdays and on Saturday and religious holidays from 10am until 1pm. Inquiries: (041) 586-3973. It also has a collection of ceramics by Ayanda Mji and the Ron Belling paintings on display.
