"My Roots Have Never Left Me"
Born in South Africa I immigrated to Canada with my family in 1987.
As a child I lived also in Botswana and Zimbabwe and have been influenced by the sounds, colours, rhythm, vibrancy, art and artists of Africa.
It was in Botswana that I was given my first pet, a goat, by a local man..
I express my life experience in Africa through much of my art.
Farewell To A Warrior
The Reluctant Warrior
My Creative Process:
The theme of much of my work develops during the sketching process.
Once a theme is decided, detailing is added which is intended, together with the colours, to attract the viewer to look more closely and thereby get to feel and appreciate the beauty and details within the “geography” of Africa.
The iconic hut of Africa appears in much of my work.
Huts represent something greater than a mere "round structure with walls of clay or wood, a peaked grass roof with a central support pole".
They were easier to build from a circular foundation with cheap readily available raw materials: mud, clay and tree branches.
But the logic was not just in the architecture; it was mostly in the communalism and complimentary nature of society as described by Alex Taremwa in a 2016 article "Wisdom from an African Hut"
"In most, if not all indigenous cultures, social gatherings and councils took place in circles around a focal point. Usually a warm fire. Within the hut, families would sit and eat together in the same way, tell stories in their circles, excluding no one. They would sit , eat together.
I believe Westerners can learn a lot from this system if they tried it".
To me art is everywhere, in the formations of trees and rocks, in the lines, shadows and details of a building, in the graffiti on street walls, on advertising billboards and packaging, in a child’s drawing, in a doodle.
Biography:
Artist and Industrial Designer.
Studied at the Johannesburg College of Art and Design.
Thereafter I concentrated on the design & production of office and hotel furniture.
Design Experience includes:
* Office Furniture
* Interior Design of Offices and Banking Halls
* Hotel and Hospitality Furniture
In 2000, I incorporated my own business for design and production of hotel and hospitality furniture.
Projects included hotels, airports and restaurants such as W Hotel in Atlanta GA, Disney Cruise Lines and Delta Airlines’ holding area restaurants in MN, LGA among others.
Exhibited in:
* Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition -1995, 1996 and 2019.
* Riverdale Art Walk - 2019, 2020
* Art Walk Square - 2020
* Leslie Grove Gallery - 2019, 2020
My work is in Private Collections in Canada, Australia, South Africa, US, Israel and England.
If you want to contact me directly go to "Contact Page" or call +1 647 449 0489