ASSEMBLAGE

(Detail from ”Darkhaired Girl” by Peter Rippon)

The Tatham Art Gallery will host a solo exhibition by Peter Rippon titled Assemblage .

The exhibition brings together several of what the artist calls his “strange, meticulously- rendered oil paintings.” His curious still lifes explore the idea of collecting, preserving, and presenting objects.

His artist’s statement continues: “Some works seem scientific, or at least like confused attempts to emulate scientific processes, with specimens being collected and presented in incongruous ways. Other works are more like the personal collections of an unsettled mind, revealing a strange and fragile inner world. However, the scientific and the personal often intersect.

“Juxtaposing the still lifes are paintings of haunting and enigmatic female faces,” he continues. “ They peer out from a space cut out from the picture plane. They have an almost idealized beauty, and yet portray a tender humanity.”

Rippon depicts his subject matter as being enclosed within the picture plane in recessed spaces, or sometimes attached to the surface. This suggests that the painting is not merely a window or a snapshot of something that exists elsewhere, but that the subject depicted is actually situated in the viewer’s perceptual field. This heightens the immediacy and intimacy of the painting, stripping away the safety barrier between the viewer and the subject matter.

During the exhibition, Peter Rippon will work at the Gallery interpreting Edgar Hunt’s A Happy Family and also conduct walkabouts of his exhibition.

Members of the public are welcome to interact and engage with the artist on his subject matter, themes and techniques of his work. The Artist in Residence programme will be at the Schreiner Gallery from 10h00 to 16h00 on October 12, 13 and 14. The exhibition walkabout will be on October 13 from 14h30 to 15h30.

As part of the opening, the Chef’s Table Coffee Shop will be open for supper. For bookings call David or Michelle at 033 342 8327 or e-mail mdcaterers@vodamail.co.za

Assemblage will be opened by Grace Kotze at The Tatham Art Gallery on October 6 at 18h00 in the Schreiner Gallery: .The exhibition will run until November 27 at 17h00. Safe parking with a car guard is available at the KZN Legislature side of the Gallery.

For more information contact, Thulani or Pinky at 033 392 2801 or e-mail thulani.makhaye@msunduzi.gov.za or Pinky.Nkabinde@msunduzi.gov.za