Eclectica Design & Art

ENatasha Barnes is currently featuring on our Instagram account doing a takeover, providing a peak into her life as an artist and some of her favorite things while she works. 

Natasha has published a cook book and travelled extensively as a chef, while also working as a very successful artist. We were lucky enough to get her to answer some of our questions for a more in depth look into her practice. 

Eclectica Design and Art: Was the shift from your culinary career to focussing on your artistic career an easy one, and is there a relationship between the two?

Natasha Barnes:   I have been painting since the age of seven and believe it or not, I painted in oils! My first painting was of a field of daisies. The local art teacher in Parys where I lived taught me to paint in oil, and today almost 40 years later – she has a gallery in Plett and I supply her with work. Small world! She had 3 boys, they kept snakes and every so often these things would escape – we would all end up standing on the kitchen table – while her darlings went about trying to find them again………funny what you remember.

John Lennon once said life is what happens while you’re planning other things, and it was not a instant decision. I was working at a maximum security prison in KZN at the time as a cookery teacher - it was my own school and I had someone come in to help me teach cookery in the afternoons. My work was inspiring from a life-skills point of few but I was frustrated that I could not create, so I made the decision to give myself two years and do the switch. Which is exactly what happened.

EDA: What is your connection to the method of abstraction? (Why abstraction?) 

NB: My work started to become more and more fluid – loose and uncontrolled, the mark making became a drug, the flow and frenzy created a safe space for me – I knew that there was no turning back. Initially I had resistance from clients - contemporary buyers who like to think in the box. But I followed my gut and never looked back. This defines me.

EDA: Can you elaborate on your process?

NB: I do not know what I am going to paint, not even the colour. The first strokes are black followed by medium grey to create layers. Then I add a colour which indicates the flow of the rest of the work. The work is 90 % complete in the first sitting. Then I live with it and work on it for another week to two. 

EDA: Working with large scale as you do, how do you know when a piece is finished?

NB: Well, how long is a piece of string? As a professional I say, when nothing troubles your eye anymore it is done. It takes 25 years to get to this point, especially with abstract – the hardest form of art to do.

EDA: How symbolic is colour in your work?

NB: Colour has to be symbolic for any African artist – a friend of mine recently said when I started to use pink I found myself. I am bold by nature and not afraid to mix things up a bit. Colour is what takes us to the next level.

EDA: How do you deal with potential creative block and what is your process for working through it?

NB: I do menial basic studio tasks, like clean my space or rearrange my work area. Often I change to paper as a surface and paint smaller more naïve works, which have become popular in their own right. I just take a step back – when I was younger and first started working professionally, I would try to paint every day, even when I did not feel like it. I did not realise that you get more done when you paint less and it’s much better.  

EDA: Why is nature such a prominent subject for your work?

NB: It’s not so much nature as the Lotus blossom, or waterlily. I love them because I believe that beautiful things come from dark places. Such are these plants that grow in mud. The lotus flower connects me to the East, which holds a very special place for me. I have been to many holistic gardens with these flowers – I just go mad for them. Anything surrounding them like a pond or the life within the pond is a great inspiration. I guess my background, having grown up in a rural community on a farm also contributes. 

EDA: Do you have a favourite work from the paintings you've made for the Abandoned Garden show? If so, why?

NB: Secret Garden is very special. Over December, I accompanied my brother and his family to Zanzibar. After dinner one night my sister-in-law wanted to have a coffee at a famous hotel in Stone Town - set in an abandoned garden, I might add. They were just about to close but offered to set up a table for us in the garden. My sister-in-law took the kids and disappeared into the maze of passages and old crumbling walls of what had once been a Slavetrader’s house. My brother and I followed suite, but gave up after 10 min. We found a little garden with tables and chairs and assumed this was it. We sat there diligently for 30 minutes complaining to each other about the bad service when the rest of the family eventually came back to look for us – of course asking where we had been, as coffee was inside an adjacent courtyard!!  My brother calmly answered, “Natasha and I are sitting in our secret Garden”. It was in the pitch dark and it was totally overrun by creepers and broken palms, and bit of coral. When I was invited to contribute to the exhibition, I already had this painting in mind.

We welcomed the talented painter, Jacobus Kloppers yesterday not only to our gallery’s legacy of acclaimed artist, but to our community of Artists in Conversation.

He shared some valuable pearls of wisdom with our Eclectica team about his artistic journey and process, so let’s dive right in to it!

I started doing extra-mural art lessons when I was 11 years old. By then, I realized that my art lessons during school hours were my favourite lessons. The rest is, Art History, as they say.

Essentially, my work is ABOUT landscape and not merely landscapes in the traditional sense. They should not be read as windows to the outside world, nature scenery or vistas of nature. They should be read as monuments, or chosen images of natural elements, that act as conduits to an inner landscape. They are places, moments or both, right there, on the border line – the edge between the outer and inner.

That moment when, what the eyes see in the landscape, is translated into thoughts, stories, histories, memories, visions, the unexplained, the stirrings of emotions, cultural or linguistic symbols or metaphors. One can better describe them as doorways into the inner landscape. Take my “water” works as an example: I’ve used water as an element in my work for the last 26 years. Water troughs and reservoirs in the dry, barren Karoo veld, sea shores with breaking, swirling foam, rivers, waterfalls and, lately, tidal pools and breakwater walls.

In all of these, the “natural object” was reduced to an essential, an almost “monument”. I purposefully zoomed in, cropped and focused on the essential, leaving out sky, background and surrounding vistas. With this, I attempted to lead the viewer away from the “mere landscape”, to a place or moment of reflection. There is no specific meaning or answer. The viewer must surrender to the inner landscape...just as a visitor to a gravestone, that does not see the physical marble block or monument, but the person buried – in memories, stories, feelings, emotions, etc.

I research my subject matter with a still or video camera. I like to take a video whenever the dimension of time is involved – e.g. My “road” works.

The most successful interaction with my work is when a viewer, or myself, for that matter, can immerse herself/himself with something deeply inside themselves, to something of significance, that was triggered by the image, the subject, the physical surface, brush marks and paint, just as a poem would do. The visual artist’s main objective should, according to me, make visual that which the viewers cannot find in the visible around them. To walk ahead on the razor’s edge that cut between the known and the unknown.

Thank you Jacobus for taking the time to so beautifully articulate your experiences and inspirations behind your work.

If you haven’t seen it yet, there is more than enough time to visit our gallery and please have a look at our video interview on Facebook ( @eclecticadesignandart)

A kaleidoscope of rich tones and hues by Natasha Barnes never fails to excite the senses!

ARTWORK:

Natasha Barnes 

Inner Garden 

Acrylic on canvas 

A talented painter Tanya Sternberg took the time to enlighten us of her artistic practice and journey, as well as her body of work exhibited in Abandoned Garden at Eclectica Design & Art. We had a few questions for her, which she graciously answered. Here’s what she had to say:

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?

I am a mom of three so that keeps me busy! I studied graphic design and whilst living in Australia worked at various magazines. I then came back to South Africa with my husband and started my own graphic design business concentrating mainly in packaging. I have always painted as a passion and after the birth of my third child decided to paint full time.

2. What is your artistic process?

One word to describe my artistic process would be “spontaneous.” I love to see how things evolve and am unafraid to start in one direction but land up in another. Usually my starting point would be an experience or aesthetic that has stirred some emotion whether it is a place, landscape or person. I often use a reference for the first hour or two of painting but then like to let go of that and see where the process takes me.

3. What is it about painting that fascinates you and what other mediums have you experimented with?

When painting I mainly use oils… I love the texture, smell and richness of the paint. I love the flexibility of painting with oils  - for example I may start out with a palette of yellows but by the end my paintings are any other colour but that.  I am currently working on a collection of ink on paper cut outs, which is very interesting. The polar opposite to oils as the marks made are definite and permanent.  This process draws on my graphic design background which is exciting.

4. Your body of work for Abandoned Garden and a solo you had at State of the Art both unpack an intimate relationship between the human experience and the environment, what emotions did you draw from?

Both works were based on a visit to the Okavango Delta. The paintings are an observation of the landscape; they explore how we move through space and time and how we find stillness within us.

5. What is your latest inspiration that influences your work currently? (particular artists, current events, creative movements etc)

Andrew Verster is a Durban based artist that has always inspired me. I am in awe of his original paintings of the Mangrove Swamps done many years ago! I love the work of Yaacov Agam that I recently saw in Israel.  And a music festival I recently attended in Brussels has led me to do some abstract work based on music that I am still working on in studio…we’ll see where that goes!

6. Did anything specific trigger your latest exploration with your ink drawings? (what instigated the move from your oil paintings depicting nature scenes to the ink drawings displaying the human form.)

My ink drawings started from drawing classes that I was attending at Spencer Street Studio. I attended them at the same time I was painting for my exhibitions Pathways. They are totally different from the paintings - black and white and graphic. Despite the differences they have a strong topographical, flowing feel as per the aerial paintings. They explore how each place and experience must move us, change us and lead us on a path that creates emotions shaping who we are.

7. Are there links we can draw between the two styles employed in the oil paintings and the ink drawings, i.e, is there a likeness between the landscapes and the geometric styled human forms?

My art is an expression of my emotions. It grounds me and at the same time takes me to places outside of myself.  For the viewer I hope that my work evokes and stirs some emotion in them – whatever emotions that are should be unique to that individual. I think the ability to see an artwork and let it touch you in some way is profound and meaningful.

Thank you so much to Tanya for taking time out with us. See her body of work up in the gallery!

In light of the opening of a new exhibition opening, we say goodbye to Divergent Tides and hello to Abandoned Garden!

An experiential look at Fischedick’s Sunken Dream, made from acrylic and wood on wenge (117x122cm.) Exposing the affect of light and ‘change’ over time, making invisible aspects of space, visible. 

Come by and see it in person! 

Eclectica Design & Art has welcomed Asuka Nirasawa as part of it’s group of  amazing artists the gallery has worked with. After her quick pop-in to view the Divergent Tides exhibition, we had a short Q & A with her via email regarding her intricate body of work and her artistic influence. 

Here’s what the artist had to share with us:

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?

My name is Asuka Niraswa and I was born in Osaka, Japan. Following my studies in painting and printmaking at Tokyo University of the Arts, I lived in India for some time and was fortunate enough to participate in several artist residency programmes in Europe and South Africa where I now reside. I work across a broad spectrum of mediums, which include paintings, drawings, photographic collages, video installations and graphics.

2. Why do do what you do?

I have always been fascinated by images of human and animal anatomy, especially at a microscopic level. It is rich in colour and form; seemingly fantastic at first glance, but ultimately ruthlessly practical and designed for uncompromising efficiency. This world seems mystical at first, but these biological systems are designed with the single purpose of converting matter into energy, obeying the irresistible inclination of the universe to chaos. The dynamics of modernity and primitiveness stir my imagination, leading me to interrogate the thought of how we invent large parts of our lives simply to avoid self-reflection. Considering all this, I aim to expose the obscure parts of reality.

3. What themes do you pursue?

As mentioned, I am interested in exposing the obscure parts of reality, particularly the realities that exist beyond our senses. This translates into a possible theme of secluded existence, even encompassing feelings and emotions that manifest in a profound silence. Another possible theme is the unveiling of the subconscious to address the fear of boredom. The lifting of the shutters of our subconscious allow us to confront our pasts, our regrets and fears.

4. What is your artistic process?

I interrogate my thoughts and emotions, often shifting back and forth between my experience of the conscious and subconscious. While I do this, I aim to record these experiences by experimenting with drawings, paintings and photographic collages. 

5. What forms of art do you mostly identify with?

My work expresses influences of modern, traditional and pop culture and artistic movements. I gravitate towards and produce artworks with vivid, eccentric and infinite colours.

6. Which place in particular inspires you or is your favorite?

My favorite place is home. I have also found that the city of Johannesburg and India are also quite inspirational environments.

7. Lastly, what is your dream project?

For me, my dream project would be any project that allows me to collaborate with various artists from all over the world.

Thank you so much Asuka for taking the time to share these experiences with us! She will be exhibiting with us at Cape Town Art Fair this year, so come and visit us at our booth and see her latest body of work.

We were lucky enough to get a moment to snap some pictures with Stanislaw Tzrebinki at the opening event for Divergent Tides. We were then able to chat to him a bit further via email where he outlined some of his thoughts on the art world, language and his creative process. 

Stanislaw Tzrebinski grew up in Kenya and fluently speaks Swahili. He works primarily across the mediums of bronze sculpture and printmaking, often with a central motif of human figures and an interaction with the ocean. His creations are mysterious and magical, playing with form and texture and pushing limits of reality and myth. 

Is there an artwork here you are most proud of? Why? Out of all the works on show – I’d have to say the work I am proudest of is “Vires’ Portrait”. From a technical point of view as well as a skilled point of view, at the time of completion, it was the best work I had done to date. I’ve come a long way since then but it still stands out as a milestone in my creative journey.

How did you start making art? How old were you when you created something that let you know this was something you’d continue with? My father, Tonio Trzebinski was a painter and sculptor himself – and one of my earliest memories was spending time with him painting in his studio as a child. He’d often stretch mini canvases for my sister, Lana, and I. So, from a very early stage in my life, art was already rooting itself in places where it was hard to ignore as I grew older. At the age of 9, my father was tragically killed in a hijacking gone wrong, and in his absence I used art as a means of connecting with him – so art took on a therapeutic role in my life.  Naturally, as most young boys want to fill their father’s shoes, I knew that I had to become an artist. And I’m constantly pushing myself to exceed his expectations of what I believe he would have wanted me to be.  As a teenager I was always creating – in high school I excelled in the visual arts and had my first exhibition in Nairobi aged 17. The sales from that show paid for my gap year and I suppose that was the point at which I knew I had a shot at making it as an artist.

What are your thoughts on language? Do you see art as a kind of visual vocabulary? Has your ability to speak different languages altered your approach to art making? Language is an extremely important part of life – it’s the basis of communication, and through communication we are able to share ideas, alter people’s perceptions of the world and interact with one another. It’s therefore fair to say that art in its self is indeed a form of visual language. The ability to tell stories through visual imagery, be it sculpture, painting, photography etc… makes art a language in of its self. Of course the difference with art and a literal language, is that often the viewer can choose to interpret the artwork in a totally different way from that in which the artist intended when he/she created it – which in its self is quite amazing too.

What I have learnt from my ability to speak multiple languages (Kiswahili being my second language) is that with a different language, often comes a different set of beliefs, cultural norms and world views – so it is important to consider this when creating works – I have accepted that there will be people that see beauty in what I create, as well as darkness and pain. That’s just something that I have come to accept. But I often find that art has the ability to make people see what they want to see – and its sometimes emotions and feelings they have inside that come to the surface when they view a particular work. In essence art can be a mirror, and reflect to the viewer what they themselves hold inside – be it beauty, anger, happiness or pain. That’s what fascinates me about art!

What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio? My anatomical models and visual references. Although most of my ideas appear out of thin air (in my head that is) its always super important to keep them firmly rooted to a good reference – be it a live model, or just an anatomically correct figurine.

How do you know when a work is finished? Can you ever truly know? There is always a moment where I’m able to walk away from a piece and feel satisfied with the finished look. If I get started on something new, then the finished piece seldom gets altered – but if I mull about and don’t get stuck into a new sculpture, then I tend to revisit older works and make subtle changes here and there. I suppose it’s a time thing – when I have time to spare, I do go back and work on previous works because I’m always correcting my “old creative” self. Over time I’ve become much more of a perfectionist and even find myself criticizing my early works for being of a lesser standard (to myself that is!) to my more recent ones!

What was the scariest thing you’ve experienced? Losing my father.

What memorable responses have you had to your work? I’ve had quite a few – receiving a letter from a young boy named Josh Malherbe, after he visited my first solo with his younger brother and mum. He wrote me an eye-watering letter which really made me feel I was doing some good with my work! Like me he’s a surfer and loves the ocean – I’ve since then become friends with his family and have spent time with them on their amazing island surf camp in the Mentawaii Islands! Second to that would have to be when a German couple, who on holiday in Cape Town, saw my work and then got my sculptures tattooed onto their legs!  

Do you ever work directly from life? Has there been a real life event that catalyzed the making of a specific artwork? When I have the opportunity to, I do! It’s amazing how much easier it is to work from life than it is to work from 2D references (which is what I mainly work from). Of course with sculpture there is an element of time that makes working from a model a bit tricky, and expensive!

My whole body of work is in essence a response to one of the biggest events that we are going through as a human race to date – our neglect to the environment, global warming, over fishing, natural destruction… the list goes on.

Eclectica Design & Art was lucky enough to welcome Philipp Pieroth back to the space after his residency in Barbados. One of our team members, Kirsten Arendse sat down with the artist to catch up on his experiences and to chat to him a bit about his artistic journey, which went a little bit like this:

Welcome back Philipp and thank you for taking the time to meet with us. So... 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your artistic journey, how it all started and where you find yourself currently.

I think from way back it took me a while actually to really get into the arts. In one way, I always scribbled as a kid and in that way was somewhat productive. I was always drawing in my room, despite the fact that I was also quite social. It’s just something I could do for hours. Sometimes my mother would come in and check on me only to find that I’m still drawing. As I got older, I began to experiment with graffiti and only once in university taking free classes in art despite my degree in Graphic Design, did I become more open to experimenting with different styles and techniques, particularly painting in acrylics. It created an understanding of myself and enabled me to free myself in certain ways.

2. What is the general subject matter you deal with and why?

I’d say it’s always about the human being, only the perspective changes with time. So, some of the artworks on display are older than the others and there’s a little shift going on between them. Two of them are from a time when I was looking at relationships and interactions between human beings on different levels, be it romantic or within a family and also society. You can’t be on your own as a human being, we all need one another. You can even apply it to the ways in which countries depend on one another even with their differences and struggles. That is why some of the figures in my paintings are connected. They grow together, but they are also in discomforting positions trying to push one another away at stages. 

Another concern is the shift in new media and communication. You go to bigger cities and find that no one physically communicates with one another except via technology. Social media platforms allow people to build their own brands, yet there is so much pressure to keep up. If you look at some of my work, you will see there is so much going on and the figures become overwhelmed by all of the visual attractions. And in a way, it also speaks to consumption, yet identifying a need to reconnect to one’s roots and to nature evident in the symbols of the tree and branches. As trees are a symbol of growth in the arts, it also reminds me of how we make decisions and how we grow in life.

3. What is it about painting that fascinated you from the start and what other mediums have you experimented with?

I never really asked myself that question, but I can say now that I really enjoy the process of painting and mixing colours, creating possibilities. I use charcoal and aquarelle pens as well that you can erase and wash out a bit.

4. Define your artistic process.

So it usually works like this, I just produce work and only later in the process do I really understand the shifts that occur and with a few more paintings, do I see where the process is going. I do the first sketching with the pens in different colours and then I wash them away. They drip, wash out, but you can paint over them and when it’s still wet, it just dissolves into the canvas. Only later do I add acrylics to it. So, to have all these possibilities and the contrast of fine thin lines and thick brush strokes, I really like that and try to introduce that. Some spaces are defined, some spaces are open just to convey an idea and create a sense of sensitivity. 

5. You incorporate the concept of Daesin, could you explain what this concept is about and its significance in your work?

It’s a German term in Philosophy. So if translated to English in simplest terms, it means “being here” or “sheer existence”. I think it also speaks to us not really having a choice of being here, no one really has proof of the purpose of our existence. Yet, there are different ways of designing your life and what you make of your presence on this planet. While in Barbados on my residency, I started to think about the population and how 95% are originally not from there. So I started to question, what does it really mean to be from somewhere “originally”, if there is such a thing due to migration. In turn, I questioned the construction of identity. I felt a sense of trauma through the celebration of 50 years of Barbados’ democracy, because despite their happiness they still have to navigate their place in the world.

6. You briefly touched on the connectedness and push-and-pull nature of your subject matter, could you elaborate a bit more on the influence behind this?

Relating to what I mentioned earlier about needing one another, we all grow into units evident in marriages and family. Even in nature specifically with trees, it’s a similar relationship. My work can also lend itself to the exchange of spirituality and intellect, which both bring about a sense of interdependency and unity. What is also interesting is the ambivalence of relationships and this thin line between love and hate, yet one has to find away to still get a long.

7. Your body of work is also influenced by space, how do you incorporate in your artistic process?

When it comes to space and graffiti, it can be said that it is an instinctual process. However, sometimes when I do see a wall I look at it and see the image that I want to put on it or if there is a window, how I would make the image fit in it. I try to picture a space within a space and portray the energy of painting and bodily action.

8. So as we conclude this wonderful interview our last question would be, what are your future plans as an artist and where would you ideally like to be?

I want to produce work no matter what or where it is and then eventually things will happen. I want to travel more but also reflect and relax. So much has happened so I just want to take some time to do some work on that. I want to stay in SA and have a solo show soon this year. But most of all, I want to be happy with my work and then everything else will hopefully follow.