Mountains are like the grandfathers of nature, witnessing more than anyone could hope to - if you want to entertain that thought. They inspire a sense of perspective, something greater, familiarity and timelessness. They seem constant and close, but are also swept into years and layers of readings, which in turn play a role in making them what they are to us – and this generates a feeling of distance. To me, mountains are a play between something very consistent and firm, and something active and ever-progressing, something repulsive and something incredibly attractive, they are real and a fantasy, outside of us, and all in the mind – all at once. Whether the ‘they’ is the representations which make them what they appear to us, or the real thing that are a magnificent gift from God – they are the most amazing source for art making. My creative practice is a developing artistic investigation in the communication of my experience with mountains through drawing, in my context, on my timeline. I like to embrace my process, the reality of working and the truth involved there, particularly time. So I draw attention to it through aesthetic elements such as controlled ink splashes and a list of dates and times formed by jotting down when I start and stop working. And through my process I delight in what these magnificent phenomena, icons of South Africa, shout about the one who made them, I thank him and attempt to praise him.
like a drop from a bucket, called by name (Table Mountain)
2018
Ink on Fabriano Paper
43 x 76 cm
R5000 (Unframed)
Sold
Musings, representations, times, brushstrokes -
This moment in time, this place, this crisis, this comment -
Like a drop from a bucket.
This drawing to the real thing.
This mountain, all mountains.
All mountains, all creation.
All creation to the one who made all.
Yet, he knows all by name.
“Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;…
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.”
Isaiah 40:21-26 (ESV)
Will you not look further than the mountain?
more ancient than this (Drakensberg)
2018
Ink on Fabriano Paper
43 x 76 cm
Before our representations.
Before our day to days, our dealings, our developments.
Before our families, our feuds, our first people.
Before our movements.
It stands.
It has witnessed our days – how short they are on its timeline.
Yet, before the ancient mountain.
He is.
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
Psalm 90:1-2 (ESV)
Will you not look further than the mountain?
in my dwelling place, on my timeline (Jonkershoek)
2018
Ink on Fabriano Paper
43 x 76 cm
Sold
A fresh perspective of the
old faithfuls,
voices I did not recognize,
consistently singing.
Now rightly attributed to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ ;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring. ‘ “
Acts 17:24-28 (ESV)
Will you not look further than your mountain?
in him all things hold together (Cederberg - Maltese Cross)
2018
Ink on Fabriano Paper
43 x 76 cm
R6800 (framed)
Known formations shouting.
I am more than a memory.
I am more than a must-see.
I am more than your meanings.
I am purposed. I am sustained.
I am a product of someone greater than me.
I am part of something older than me.
A plan that breaks hearts, blows minds, brings peace.
A plan that offends, moves, heals.
A plan beyond the times, consistent amidst culture’s alterations.
A plan of unimaginable wisdom, often regarded as foolishness.
A plan to light.
A plan to life.
A plan older than time – for all time.
And you’re invited.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)
Will you not look further than the mountain?
little lion (Lion’s Head)
2018
Ink on Paper
20 x 20 cm
Sold
