Gavin Rain 2015 by Bugno Art Gallery

Gavin Rain Catalogue 2015

Biography G a v i n R a i n w a s b o r n i n C a p e To w n , S o u t h A f r i c a . H e h o l d s d e g r e e s in Psychology and Neuropsychology. He studied art formally at the U n i v e r s i t y o f C a p e To w n , a n d R u t h P r o w s e A r t S c h o o l . H i s m a i n a r t i s t i c influences are Seurat, and the Russian avante garde art of the 1900s. Rain initially planned on studying architecture to combine his two loves: art and mathematics, but switched to painting around 2003. Rain has exhibited in some of the most important international shows, including t h e V e n i c e B i e n n a l e , t h e E u r o p e a n F i n e A r t F a i r ( T E FA F ) i n M a a s t r i c h t a n d t h e A r m o r y S h o w i n N e w Yo r k .

Introduction Usually there’s a long essay to start an art catalogue designed to make the a r t i s t s o u n d s o p h i s t i c a t e d a n d d e e p . Yo u ’ r e s u p p o s e d t o t r a w l t h r o u g h i t , nodding sagely, and end off in wonder at the genius you’ve just witnessed. It really is the worst kind of nonsense. Also, the essay is usually written by someone else, so the artist isn’t accused of self-aggrandizement. Usually it’s rhetoric that’s written after the fact too. Let’s not do that here. I’ve left out any of the usual accompanying ‘intellectual’ blurb. Instead I’ve included a couple of stories – snippets of things that have happened to me along the way in life. They’re not directly related to any specific painting. Maybe they give you a bit more insight into my life, and through that my painting. Maybe they just entertain you. I’m hoping that at the very least they won’t bore you.

Technique I’m always asked about technique. Always. It’s usually the first thing people ask me. Artists go on a lot about what their work means. This isn’t as interesting to everyone else as they think. So in this essay I’ll talk about how I do what I do. Please – feel free to wander off at any point: The process is a long one, with many steps. It’s probably easier to handle over a period of days (such as it takes me) rather than to get through it all in one go. I mean, I hope you don’t wander off. I just won’t blame you if you do. This method of working took me a year or two to develop. It then took me another year or two to improve. In fact I’m still working on it. Most of the art, at least for me, is in the preparation. The decisions I make before I even go near a paintbrush. In fact, by the time I DO go near one the painting is already done in my mind. Well, not in my mind – that sounds like I’m some sort of mad genius. I’m not. But what I’m trying to say is that it’s all planned out. I guess what I’m getting at here is that I have used many methods in the past. The one I’m about to take you through is representative of my thinking. Here and there some of the steps change from time to time. But here I’m taking you through the mathematics. Through the art. Well they’re the same thing. Basically: through the hidden detail. That’s the part of my art where I live anyway.

My process

Inspiration It all starts with a photograph, or a sketch. I don’t paint out of my head – I need an initial form to start with.In the broadest sense I’m going to take that form and break it down into its simplest parts – a set of dots to represent it. I’m mimicking how a digital image looks close up here. For better or worse. But I won’t dwell on why here – that’s another discussion entirely. So it all starts with a photo. We’re only getting to the technique now and I’ve already made you read four paragraphs. I’ll try be more concise. So, that photo: usually colour, and any size, just to get an idea of the form.

The grid I might as well take you through an actual painting as opposed to a theoretical one. So here’s a painting I’m working on at the moment (my moment, not yours). As I said this takes a lot of time (which is edited out here like a cooking show) so this might be a bit disjointed. So this is a crop of Marilyn Monroe. Okay in truth this isn’t a photograph – it’s a composite of a number of different photographs and a little bit of sketching. I’m going to break this photograph into dots, so firstly I have to divide it up. So this is me gridding things. This is one of many pages. In this part of the technique I’m only after working out the size of each dot, so I’ve dispensed with the colour for the time being. Images are complex things. I’m going to simplify this one a little so I can make some decisions. I’m going to break the image up into blocks then blur each one. I don’t blur the entire image in one go because I’ve come to discover that the result isn’t as good. So imagine that each block is photographed out of focus, and then pasted back into a big blocked image.

Light & dark So armed with my blocked image I need to now know how light or dark each block is. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created a set of cards ranging from black to white to discover this. Each block then gets a numerical rating on how light or dark it is. Okay, obviously this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all that accurate, and often the tone falls between two of my cards.

Numeric expression In this case Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll write down something like: 5+ insteadof 5. The bigger the value, the bigger the dot. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the same block image expressed as numbers.

Gamut Now I express each of these numbers as a circle. Think of these numbers as the diameter of each circle. In reality it’s not quite this simple because I have to adjust each number for the size of the canvas, and I also have to apply a little scaling – white (number = 1) would be too small, so I ajust everything so that the ligher colours aren’t as small as the numbers reported. This is called adjusting the gamut: The dynamic range. Fancy terms for saying: I mess with the sizes a bit. It starts with something temporary like pencil, so I can make corrections… And then I black these out so that I can get a sense of the result. There’s quite a lot of adjusting happening at this point. I’m never happy with that range. I adjust it over and over. After all this though, I have the body of the work. This process is called half-toning apparently: representing shades as single colours. I never knew this when I started, which is a pity, because a little research could have saved me a lot of time in the early days… So the smaller the dots are, the more of the white background is visible around them, the larger, the less so. Manipulating these sizes creates the image. If you’ve ever done any art classes, you’ve come across a woodcut. This is the same idea.

Colour With the form of the work complete, I now turn to the colour. This part took me a while to figure out. There’s probably an easier method, but you go with what you know. How the colour works is quite simple – from a distance our eyes can no longer distinguish between the circles of colour – they all get blurred together. The result? Well if we have circles of red and yellow:

Colour perception The result is orange. Obviously. But the result of both of these is orange. Not quite the same orange though, as there are different amounts of each colour. Think: area of colour. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not always easy to work out what the resulting colour will beâ&#x20AC;Ś

Charting But here’s the thing: I don’t really have to. I’ve got a long list of all the dots and what the resulting colours are. So I started by planning a lot of dots, blurring them, adding them to a chart, ordered by colour. Was this b o r i n g ? Ye s . B u t I ’ v e f o u n d w a y s t o speed this process up a bit.

Plotting Anyway, what this means is, I can work backwards. So if I need a dot to be orange (from a distance), I go look up orange in my chart and I pick one of the dots. So my next step is to work out which colours need to go where. This is pretty much the same technique as I used in the black and white version earlier: blur each area individually. Nowadays I have numerous choices per each colour so I can play around and decide which dot works best in representing the colour I need. With this done it’s just a game of matchup now… Again, it’s not as simple as this – The colours are never quite right – so I spend quite a lot of time balancing this out. Depending on how far away from the painting you are, your eyes will blur neighbouring dots together into one colour, just as they will do between the circles of each dot. So if one dot ends up looking a bit too red, I can place a dot next to it that’s a bit greener… and the result will balance out. There’s a lot of labour in doing this. It’s very time consuming. But it’s fun. It’s always fun. Sometimes I will play little games – I will pick a dot that’s got a naturalistic progression of colours and I’ll place it next to a dot that’s got a weird mix of colours. It’s a little statement. I realise I’m probably only amusing myself. However, there’s something quite rewarding about being lost in the details. Art often takes place in those hidden spaces. So does life actually.

String I’m now armed with all the calculations I need to begin the painting. Now I need to get the placement of the dots onto the canvas. I’ve tried a lot of methods here: creating a stencil and then pencilling where the dots will go... Using spray-paint to do this... placing pins in the side of the canvas and tying thin cotton into a grid...using an old overhead projector with a grid stamped onto a transparency… all of these methods work – the basic idea is just to work out where on the canvas the dots need to go. Projectors and the like tend to be the least accurate here – as the projected image tends to bloat and distort. Probably the most reliable method I’ve ever used is the string.

Painting Once I know where they need to go I refer to my calculations about how big each one needs to be. Sure, this is labour intensive again, but once the first layer is done, all the others are proportional so it gets easier as I continue.

Distance Fast forward a week or two and the painting is done. Fast forward some more time with touch-ups etc. and the painting is complete. The painting has to work from close up as well as from a distance. Oh, the other thing I always end up talking about (I might as well get into it here), is around hanging the painting on a wall. I’m always hearing “my place isn’t big enough”. I like this. I like it when my work hangs in a space that prevents the full resolve of the image. It’s hidden in plain sight.

The message Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of the whole point. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the message: that we need to step back to understand it all. I force the viewer to go on this journey with me. At least I used to, until I noticed someone using a phone camera to achieve the same result. Anyway, all of this planning is to arrive at the beginning of that journey. What happens next is pretty much out of my control. I guess thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how it should be.

Venus Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

Alex Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

Belgian waffles That’s what I thought of, on the way to Belgium for the first time: waffles. I had no preconception of the place, other than I can vaguely speak the local languages and that apparently the traffic was bad. But the waffles had t o b e g r e a t . Yo u d o n ’ t p u t y o u r c o u n t r y ’ s n a m e b e h i n d w a f f l e s t h a t a r e r u b b i s h . S o w h e n i n R o m e , o r i n t h i s c a s e , Brussels… It started badly. My agent and I arrived and unbeknownst to us immediately found the most insane cab driver in the country. He was weaving between cars, looking back at us, and explaining how he’d had a terrible accident the week before. It’s hard to take in the sights when your eyes are firmly shut. We arrived at the venue only to discover that the gallery had given us the wrong date: the show was only in two days’ time. We were staring at an empty warehouse, the cab driver had zoomed off, and it was starting to drizzle. I’d brought the paintings with me in a roll – the first time I’d ever taken them off the frame. We hurried inside in sub-zero temperatures and stumbled around trying to find someone in charge. Eventually we found a makeshift office and explained that we needed to stretch the canvasses onto their frames and then leave them there. The only problem was this: when paint gets too cold it cracks when you re-stretch it. We needed to do this in an area that they’d already gotten the heating working in. We were relieved when the organiser explained to us there was one. Only, it was the men’s toilet. So that was how I spent my day in Belgium: on the wet floor of the men’s toilet re-stretching my canvasses. The paint cracked anyway. I touched up the works with my emergency paints and we pretty much abandoned them in the office with the hope that they’d find their way to the gallery. Leaving the building I couldn’t help but notice that the drizzle had become a kind of ice – smaller than hail and much sharper. So I shut my eyes as much as I could and we went off to find a coffee shop that had Wi-Fi. I often describe this as the lowest point in my art career. Truth be told we were alternating between laughing and cursing the whole time. I never did get that waffle

Elizabeth Taylor Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm 2014

Bridget Bardot Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Forgetting robin island M y f i r s t j o b w a s w o r k i n g f o r a h e l i c o p t e r c h a r t e r c o m p a n y o n t h e f o r e s h o r e n e a r C a p e To w n ’ s f a m o u s Wa t e f r o n t . It was amazing. I loved helicopters. I loved everything about them. My first task on my first day was to make coffee. I remember saying to myself ”I’m going to make the best damn coffee you people have ever had”. I think I put so much coffee in the filter that no pilot slept for a week. I did some truly crazy things on that job. I was going to go into a whole story about how I had to stand under the tailboom of a helicopter to prop it up because it had sunk into the snow and the tail rotor would get damaged. Seriously. That happened. We propped the machine up. The pilot started her up, and it actually worked. Anyway. I used to work the Sunday shift a lot; this was part time after all. I was on duty with a crazy Kiwi pilot. His name was Quentin. I strongly suspect I have the spelling wrong, but let’s push on. We’d dropped passengers on Robben Island for a tour (this is the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so many years if you’re unaware) and were just sitting around chatting. Then we got a call from the island. Were we actually coming to fetch our guests or should they take the ferry? We’d totally forgotten about them. It was sunset. The helicopters we had were not rated to fly after dark. Mild panic. We ran outside to get the heli ready. Then Quentin did the most amazing thing. He ran up to the helicopter and then slowed to a casual walk as he did the pre-flight inspection. And it took the exact same amount of time that it always did. We were super late, and I swear that helicopter approached the sound barrier when he got underway, but some things you just don’t rush. Some things you just don’t skip.

Grace Kelly Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Mandela Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Isabella Rossellini Acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2014

Marilyn Monroe Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Choir practice When I was still in high school I sang with the Cape To w n

Philharmonic

Choir.

high

school

science

teacher got me into it – a prestigious organisation with me as the only student member – it was quite daunting. Usually

the

lifts

practice

the

same

streetlamp

science in

the

outside

teacher evenings.

the

would I’d

boarding

offer

stand

under

school

gate,

furiously studying vocab for my Latin test that I always had the following morning. I don’t think I passed a single

one.

remember

that“acer”

means

sharp

though – so clearly it wasn’t all to waste… One day my choir teacher couldn’t make it so he arranged for me to be fetched by a fellow student’s mom that lived nearby. I remember him giving me the directions on how to walk to her flat, but clearly I hadn’t listened: I crossed the rugby field on the far side of the school and headed down the road towards what I thought was the block of flats that she lived in. Only, there were many of them in close proximity. Which one had she said again? Oh well. I picked one at random. My teacher had said something about an elevator. This block had a few, and going to different parts of the building. I picked a lobby.

But

which

floor?

Realising

predicament

(finally) I gloomily picked a floor. The lift went up, the doors opened, and there she was standing there. “Oh”, she said, not being able to interpret the look of shock on my face, “you’re early, good”.

Marilyn Monroe Acrylic on canvas 75 x 75 cm 2014

Scarlett Johansson Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Russian Bride Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

Heather Graham Acrylic on canvas 120 x 120 cm 2014

When things go wrong on Mars I’m a huge fan of anything to do with Mars. I used to browse the daily photos sent back by the Mars Orbital Surveyor. People often ask me how I came up with my style of art. This is the honest answer to that. One of the images was a typical cross-section of a landscape – the camera used takes images in long strips. However, the middle of this image was damaged – all that was there was snow – the information was lost. But this got me thinking. Is the information lost? That snow IS information. Sure, it’s not the information we were expecting… but most probably a solar flare happened to strike the spacecraft at that particular moment as it was busy filming and caused a specific short-circuit and gave us that image. We just don’t know how to read that information. So I got to thinking about information, and how we differentiate it from the noise of our lives. This got me thinking about imagery in general – how digital imaging (then in its commercial infancy) was taking the world by storm and we just didn’t seem to care that it was far inferior to the conventional method. Digital images have these huge gaps between pixels – I mean the word digital itself means “distinct interval” as opposed to a continuum. We’re talking about a massive loss of quality and no one really seemed to care. Progress means quantity not quality it seems. Are we ever going to take a step back and think about this? Are we going to think about the things that influence us almost unconsciously on a daily basis? How we make sense of things, what we determine to be important in our lives: these are things we should think about.

Elizabeth Taylor Acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2014

Natalie Portman Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Aung San Suu Kyi Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Girl With a Pearl Earring Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

The pride of Don Don was just an ordinary guy. Picture a happy, portly, upper middle-class guy. We all know a Don. I liked Don because I spent some time with him at my Aunt’s wedding as we sat at the same table. He had one extraordinary gift which was to listen to people rather than to speak. I watched the wedding video some years later and he was sitting there asking me about my life. A 23 year old’s life couldn’t have been all that interesting, but he persevered. And, being young and foolish, I loved to talk about it. Don was a bookkeeper, but not an accountant. A point that he was constantly reminded of by his wife. He was often compared to his more successful brother, and not favourably. It wore him down. Alcohol followed depression and within a short period of time Don ended up jobless and homeless. At the time I was running an IT company and when I found out I tried to offer Don a job doing our books. I eventually located the shelter he was staying in and called him up. It took a few tries, but I got hold of him. He was no longer the same man. He stuttered and stammered, he had no way to get to the work I was offering, no suitable clothes. But even though I offered these, he declined. He just didn’t believe he was fit to do the work anymore. He’d lost all confidence in himself. He moved shelters and my Aunt, my only connection to him, lost contact. So I can’t even tell you what happened to Don. I’d like to think there’s a happy ending, but it seems our society is almost exclusively one directional when it comes to social status. When you fall, it is incredibly hard to get back up – almost by design. I did a painting of Don. It’s called “The Pride of Don”. It’s from a photograph of him around Christmas time with his young daughter on his lap. The look on his face is one we all have from time to time; comfort, security, love. We are all closer to the edge than we think. The rocks are sharp below. I hope Don found his way.

Natalie Portman Acrylic on canvas 120 x 120 cm 2014

Russian Bride Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

Marilyn Monroe Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

Lunch with Mary The first thing I did when I left school was study. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I took a number of subjects like psychology and art. My first year psychology teacher was great, and we became firm friends. At

some

point

she

invited

over

attend

her

daughter’s

10th

birthday party. I think I was to man the cooldrink stand and generally help out. There were tons of kids at the party – the noise levels were akin to a space shuttle launch. There was one little girl at the party however that was painfully shy. Her name, I discovered, was Mary. She must have been about 6 years old. Just looking at her caused her to squirm. I’d been pretty shy myself as a kid so I immediately felt some or other connection to her predicament. Mary was completely closed off though; there were rumours that she was autistic. At the time though, I had no idea what this meant or what to expect. I sat next to her on the grass under a huge tree and we ate in silence. I couldn’t think how to bridge this, but not trying to force her to speak possibly relaxed her a little. I pretended to speak to myself and she simply listened. I talked about the trees, and the wind, and the wonderful food we were enjoying at the party. Without looking at her I placed one of my sweets on her plate. After a few minutes she returned the favour. We carried on in this way for the entire lunch. And, you know, at one point she looked up at me – and she really looked at me. She was there. For the briefest moment Mary and I connected. Connections are important. Connections make us who we are. Connections are a gift. We should value them a lot more than we do.

Grace Kelly Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

Audrey Tautou Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

100

101

Marilyn Monroe Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

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103

Randon acts of kindness A lady that works for me has a 7 year old son that was shot in the knee as an innocent bystander. The details around the event are sketchy at best, but it appears that it was some or other gang related violence that spilled over and unfortunately he got caught in the middle of it. I’ve just had a knee operation myself, so I can tell you with some experience that it’s a painful and lengthy procedure to get back on your feet. Luckily the bullet missed everything vital, but the fact remains that physiotherapy is painful and something no 7 year old should have to face. Naturally he shied away from this. But, I know how critical this process is to the long term prospects of a full recovery. Every now and again I do something right, so I told his mother that I wanted to make a deal with him; if he did the physiotherapy exercises I’d buy him a new soccer ball. The next time I saw her she told me that he was overjoyed at the prospect and he got up that moment and started the exercises, tears streaming down his face from a mixture of pain and joy. It’s not often we seem to be involved in moments like these. They’re great though hey? I’m not so naïve as to think that this small act changed the kid’s life, but wouldn’t it be great if it did? Wouldn’t it be great if doing little things for others changed the world piece by piece? Why don’t we just test the theory?

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105

106

107

Bridget Bardot Acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2014

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109

Latin dance lessons I used to fancy myself as rather a good ice-skater. I was a long way from professional but more adept than your average casual skater which meant that a lot of

people

help.

woman

would one

come

such

occasion

approached

proposition:

teach

and

her

and

this

ask

really

presented

skate

beautiful

and

for

with

she

would

teach me to Latin Dance. I couldn’t believe my luck. So for my first dance lesson the beautiful woman came to my house with one of those portable CD players and we tried out some moves. Latin Dance (from what I understand) is all about close body-contact dancing. I was definitely thinking I was in with a chance with said dance instructor. The next week I duly taught her some moves on ice. We’d progressed to swapping phone numbers so things were looking up. For

week

three

she

suggested

come

her

dance studio. This sounded like a terrible idea – but I was trying to be genial to better my romantic chances. Only, women.

it’s And

me,

and

when

about my

(now

much

clearly

older out

single reach)

dance instructor says “pick a partner” the ensuing scene

resembled

feeding

time

the

shark

tank.

Heading straight for a goal with blinkers on can get you knocked off your feet. Trust me on this one.

110

111

Bridget Bardot Acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2014

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113

Bridget Bardot Acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2014

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115

116

117

Wisdom teeth Some years back I had my wisdom teeth out. Instead of letting the dentist do it, my mother opted for a maxillofacial

surgeon.

first

real

operation.

The

only thing that was worrying me was the anaesthetic injection. I really used to fear needles. Anyway, they hook me up to one of those heart machines and I can hear the beep beep of my heartbeat. So,

I’m

lying

there

trying

all

cool

about

getting an injection (the operation is the furthest thing from my mind at this point) and I notice out of the corner dreaded

needle.

eye I’m

the

anaesthetist

still

trying

preparing look

cool,

the but

there’s a problem. As he starts approaching me my heart starts to beat faster – and the entire room full of people can hear it – beepbeepbeepbeep. I can’t fake it, my traitorous heart has given the game away. With injection complete I can relax. He tells me I won’t be able to count to 10 before I’ll be asleep. I make it to 12, but then fall asleep trying to tell him this. I wonder how many other times in life we think we’re being cool only to betray the opposite in some way.

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119

Grace Kelly Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm 2014

120

121

Audrey & Sky Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2014

122

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# 10

Dream shopping I once had a girlfriend who loved to shop for shoes. We had an agreement that I didn’t have to partake in this activity too frequently. On one of these occasions I elected to sit outside the shop on the curb whilst she did her thing. At this point I was approached by a beggar asking for spare change. I didn’t have a cent on me and showed him my empty wallet as evidence. He sighed in resignation and sat down next to me. I struck up a conversation with him. Trying to understand his walk through life, I asked him what he did or used to do for a living. He told me he had been a house painter. We talked about that for a while and he mentioned that actually he hated it – the paint just splashed everywhere. So I stopped him and asked him what he’d do as a dream job. He didn’t get what I was asking. I tried a different tack; “If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?” He told me he’d be a house painter. “But you hate the job!”, I exclaimed. Over the course of the next few minutes it gradually dawned on me that he just couldn’t imagine anything else. His world was confined to specifics; dreaming just didn’t come into it. I couldn’t get my head around it. Here was someone that couldn’t or wouldn’t dream about the future. H o p e s a n d d r e a m s a r e s u c h a b i g p a r t o f m a n y o f o u r l i v e s . To n o t e v e n h a v e that was immeasurably sad to me. I’ve never forgotten that man, because I could never really get over that.

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# 11

The BBC & Michael Jackson In 2010 the Soccer World Cup came to South Africa. I was one of the official artists for the event, which was amusing enough because I know absolutely nothing about the game, a point which is abundantly obvious if you watch any of the interviews I did. As part of the festivities the BBC wanted to interview me and we duly scheduled a time. I arrived at the studios a bit late and then made it worse because I spotted a radio DJ friend of mine in the foyer and we got chatting. Eventually one of those people with the lopsided headset and microphone came running out to haul me inside. As we’re running down the labyrinthine passages this helper person is telling my agent about “can you believe Michael Jackson?” He’s replying that he can’t. I had no idea at this point that he’d died as I hadn’t watched the news, so I just shake my head in agreement, completely clueless, thinking to myself “I wonder what he’s done this time?” Well the interview goes by quickly and the interviewer asks me a few questions about Michael Jackson during the usual Q & A, which I found truly odd at the time because I couldn’t see the connection between him and football. But, when you’re mid interview you’re just trying to stay focussed and not say something stupid so I dismissed it immediately. The interviewer then asks me a final question, which he explains he wants to use as a sound bite for reactions from around the world to Michael Jackson’s passing, and could I represent South Africa for this statement? Only then does it dawn on me of course. I stammer, “Well I must say that I was very surprised and shocked!” In English there’s no way to distinguish how recent the past tense one uses is! I think I got away with it.

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Thank you Gavin Rain is not one person. Art doesn’t happen in a social vacuum. Art is always a collaboration, and in my case I’ve collaborated with a lot of talented and committed people. Firstly, a thank-you to Massimiliano and Luca, the people that actually get my art to distant shores and look after the identity behind the art. Back home, I have a studio of great assistants and a dedicated studio manager (Chris-John) who make producing paintings a total pleasure. Without all these people there would be no Gavin Rain – or you’d see a severely diminished version. Also, a huge thanks to Alan and the team at Not norm for producing such a great book and Westly and Grant for photographing all my work (and even taking a few pics of me that I’m not horrified by). Lastly thanks to you, yes you – the person reading this. Thanks for coming on this ride with me.

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Solo shows From A Distance, Leslie Smith Gallery, Amsterdam, July, 2014 Gavin Rain Supernatural part. 1, Bugno Art Gallery, Venice, June 2013 Gavin Rain-Lena, Kyo Art Gallery, Viterbo, June 2013 C i t y s c a p e s , Wo r l d A r t g a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , 2 0 0 9 V E O g a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , 2 0 0 8 Demonstration: Heritage Festival, Kizo Gallery, Kwazulu-Natal, 2008 Pa t r i c e B o u s s e k e y E c l e c t i c G a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , 2 0 0 7 Russian bride, WorldArt gallery, Johannesburg, 2007 V E O g a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , 2 0 0 6

Group shows Contini Art UK, London, November - December 2014 Cerruti Arte, Genova, December 2014 N a s s a u M u s e u m , L o n g I s l a n d N Y, N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 U n i x G a l l e r y, N e w Yo r k , N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 Bugno Art Gallery, Venice, October 2014 Wo r l d A r t , C a p e To w n , S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4 Galerie Alfredo Ginocchio, Mexico City, September 2014 E-Modern Gallerie, Philadelphia , June 2014 Avant Gallery, Miami, March 2013 Automne Art Gallery, Brussels, May 2013 Belair Fine Art, Saint-Tropez, May 2013 Supernaturalism, Bangladesh Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Venice, June 2013 Galerie Bartoux, Antibes, July 2013 Leslie Smith Gallery, Amsterdam August 2013 Arte per Capita, Sardegna, July - September 2013 La bellezza salverĂ il mondo, Cerrutti Arte, Genova, December 2013 Metamorfosi, Palazzo Firenze, Rome, December 2013 Ruffino Art Gallery, Cortina Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ampezzo, December 2013 Costa Rica Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Venice, 2011 Per Capita, Tuscany, 2011 ART van der brugge, Zug, 2011 Per Capita, Arezzo, 2011 FineArt 2010, Kizo gallery, Kwazulu-Natal, 2010 W i t h K e i t h C a l d e r, E - P i p h a n y F i n e A r t , C a p e To w n , 2 0 1 0 Angels, Grand Provence, Franschhoek, 2010 Erotica Exhibition, Kizo Gallery, Kwazulu-Natal, 2008 African Wave exhibition II, Venice, 2009 African Wave exhibition I, Trieste, 2009 African Wave exhibition 0, Treviso, 2008 Group exhibition: in the Flesh!, KKNK, 2006 V E O g a l l e r y w i t h R i c h a r d S c o t t , C a p e To w n , 2 0 0 5

Recent art fairs C a p e To w n A r t Fa i r w i t h Wo r l d A r t G a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , Fe b r u a r y - M a r c h , 2 0 1 5 Art Miami with Leslie Smith Gallery and Galeria Alfredo Ginocchio, Miami, December 2014 PA N A m s t e r d a m w i t h L e s l i e S m i t h G a l l e r y , A m s t e r d a m , N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 Art Silicon Valley with Leslie Smith Gallery, San Francisco, October 2014 Arte Padova with Per Capita Art Gallery, Padova, November 2014 T E FA F w i t h L e s l i e S m i t h G a l l e r y , M a a s t r i c h t , M a r c h 2 0 1 4 C a p e To w n A r t Fa i r w i t h Wo r l d A r t G a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , Fe b r u a r y - M a r c h , 2 0 1 4 Art Los Angeles with Leslie Smith Gallery, L.A. , January 2014 Immagina Arte Reggio Emilia with Per Capita Art Gallery, Reggio Emilia, October 2013 C a p e To w n A r t Fa i r w i t h Wo r l d A r t , C a p e To w n , O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3 Arte Padova with Per Capita Art Gallery, Padova, November 2013 Amsterdam Art Fair with Leslie Smith Gallery, Amsterdam November 2013 Miami Art Fair with Leslie Smith Gallery, Miami, December 2013 C a p e To w n A r t Fa i r w i t h Wo r l d A r t G a l l e r y, C a p e To w n , Fe b r u a r y - M a r c h , 2 0 1 3

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ÂŠ Gavin Rain 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN xxx-xx-xxxxxxx-xx-xx

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