LEISURE
As the second wave subsides, a new window opens on the arts.
NORVAL FOUNDATION CELEBRATES REOPENING WITH FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION BY GEORGINA GRATRIX
A
s restrictions finally lift,
South African artist’s first solo
visitors are once again
exhibition at a museum, on view
invited to immerse
until Monday 31 May 2021.
themselves in the arts while
Curated by guest curator Liese
social distancing in the spacious
van der Watt, The Reunion brings
Norval Foundation galleries and
together 25 major artworks by
sprawling Sculpture Gardens.
Gratrix, completed between
Norval Foundation presents The
2011 and 2020, and draws upon
Reunion: Georgina Gratrix, the
the holdings of the Homestead Collection, based at Norval Foundation, as well as loans from private lenders. Georgina Gratrix (born in Mexico City, 1982) is known for paintings that feature expressive, impasto brushwork and humorous yet uncomfortable distortions of figures, objects and landscapes filtered through a colour-saturated aesthetic. Portraits of family and friends, as well as artworld insiders and popular culture icons, appear alongside oversized still-life paintings of impossibly exuberant bouquets and, to a lesser extent, verdant landscapes recalling the province of KwaZuluNatal, where the artist grew up. The Reunion, responding to loose themes within the artist’s practice, is divided into three parts. The first section displays Gratrix’s portraits of social figures based on images pilfered from social media platforms, newspapers, popular television series, films and society
Top: Parrot Pair, 2017 Above: A Lover's Discourse (triptych) , 2017.
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SILVER DIGEST // AUTUMN 2021
magazines. Through Gratrix’s
All the Birthday Bouquet, 2016.
