THE CUBISTS
On the interface of painting, sculpture and geometry, The Cubist exhibition is now on at the Liebrecht Gallery in Somerset West.
It is the shape of things to come, as it were, of a much bigger show featuring work on a variety of three-dimensional working surfaces to be presented in the gallery in 2022.
The canvases for The Cubists are solid cubes and cylinders, cut from eucalyptus cladocalyx (sugar gum), spinning on a bracket mounted on the wall.
Who needs framing, especially in the limited space of modern homes? In fact, framing is not possible except if one wants to box the work in a shark tank à la Damien Hirst, which might be dangerous …
By being able to lift the “canvas” from the wall and move it around, interaction with the work of art is also encouraged.
The title therefore refers to the format of the working surface and not the different styles of the participating artists.
“I think cubism has not fully been developed. It is treated like a style, pigeonholed and that’s it”, said David Hockney, who put a different angle on cubism in his work.
The pioneering participants painting the outside of the box are Jaco Benade, Katharine Meeding, Marie-Adèle de Villiers, Nicole Bouwer, Philip Badenhorst, Madeleine Marincowitz, Rachelle Hugo, Danielle Wepener, and Ros Koch.
The Liebrecht Gallery is located at 34 Oudehuis Street, and can be reached at 082 682 5710.
