The Family Portrait 2013

A very latest large portrait in watercolour on wood.
A contemporary take on the ubiquitous family portrait. In this case you are looking for three portraits in one: daughter, father and mother.
It will be making an appearance at my solo show in the not too distant future.
Here are a few images of the work in progress.

The Shining Girls-Art Auction in aid of Rape Crisis

I was recently invited to make work for a charity art show for rape crisis.
The inspiration is Lauren Beukes's new novel The Shining Girls. (www.theshininggirls.com)
Invited artists were sent pages from the actual novel and asked to respond to the excerpts they received or the title of the novel in general.
The opening is on Friday 6th September, see invite for details. Anyone is welcome so bring your friends and by investing in art you help Rape Crisis as well.

This was my response:

This was such unexpectedly interesting paper to work on. It sucked up the ink like a tissue and I decided to leave them very gentle and fragile for obvious reasons.
I looked at my archive of snapshots of Cape Town city scenes that I take on a regular basis from the top floors of parking lots; people scurrying to and from work or eagerly back home. I looked carefully for women whose pose and demeanor suited the title. So these are all Cape Town ladies on a private mission, their identities remaining anonymous and their potential in question.

'Realm' An Urban Enquiry. New works by Gabrielle Raaff and Lorenzo Nassimbeni at Salon 91. Opening 7th September at 7.30pm

The show runs until the 1st of October.

This is a brand new body of paintings. The works are in watercolour and I have taken my obsession with rooftops to a new dizzy height. Join us for a glass of bubbly on the opening night or make sure you get to see the show before it comes down on the 1st.

'Realm' an urban enquiry....

Urban landscapes can reveal much about a community’s interior , and the emotions that drive the human beings that inhabit it.

People get scared, and people make themselves feel safe. Our houses keep out others and protect us from danger….. even from each other. We fear the other , but we easily get lonely. Neighbourhoods keep help close at hand and share out our risk. A community of private spaces, each an architectural edifice showing personal territory but accumulating to describe the community.

Satellite perspectives and high-rise buildings can elevate the voyeur to where the homogeneity of the quest for individualism is clear but also to where one can glimpse the entire face of the community.

In Realm I referenced actual neighbourhoods and sections of Cape Town, the paintings reach for a deeper abstraction hoping to reveal more intrinsic signs of community; compositions look at archetypal symbols of safety, cohesion and defense.

Gabrielle Raaff and Kobus La Grange Opening at Dorpstreet Gallery, Stellenbosch

A brand new series of paintings plus a new year's splurge of colour just for a change.
I will be showing work with Kobus La Grange who makes beautiful figurative sculptures in found wood. It should be a good mix.

Please join us for a drink at the opening of our show 'Relation' at The Dorp Street Gallery in Stellenbosch on Saturday the 5th of Feb 2011 at 11am.
Unfortunately their website is a touch out of date! Their new address is Oude Bank, 10 Church Street (opp Vide e) tel 021 8872256

Exhibition runs until 28th Feb 2011.

Hope to see you there.

The Life of a Princess

I have been soaking up the sun and the good good life at my parent's beach house in Kommetjie for the last month! Well I am growing a baby so I reckon I deserve it. My sweetheart is being a clever International artist and working out his residency in Basel Switzerland til early March. Visit his blog www.justinfiske.blogspot.com to see more. It'll be a tight squeeze but I am confident he will be home in time to help me bring our collaboration into the world.

I have one more group show which I will be making new work for but otherwise it is lots of rest and practising my pain relief breathing skills while standing in the icy Atlantic (a good suggestion from Ciska my midwife!)

I wish you all a splendid New Year.

Merry Christmas

I have Snowflakes available in LED lighting.
They are pretty gorgeous all year round really!

It's that time of year again!

Please join all of us at 8 Lytton Street for a drink to celebrate another successful year!