Cape Town Figure Drawing at the Dawid Rass Gallery

After much anticipation the day finally came for our group exhibition on Thursday, the sixth of November. A few days prior there was the predictable last-minute panic to get the work framed and delivered in time for hanging, but it all went relatively smoothly and I was ready for my first exhibition alongside my colleagues from the Cape Town Figure Drawing Group. The venue was the Dawid Rass Gallery, housed in the historic Old Castle Brewery, a landmark building that provided a beautiful, atmospheric backdrop for our work. This gallery is part-owned by Dirk van der Westhuizen, a fellow artist in the group, which added a personal sense of continuity to the show. Seeing my fellow artists dressed up and gathered in a different context, away from our usual studio setting, was wonderful. It was a moment to not only celebrate our individual efforts but also to acknowledge and value the shared creative process that allows us all to grow.

The group has been running consistently for decades, serving as a weekly discipline that has over the last two years become a core, separate but connected pillar of my creative identity. It is a process that requires complete immersion. The expressive and rough charcoal mark-making seen in my drawings serves as a counterweight to the digital, deliberate constraints of my professional visual design work. For the exhibition, titled Drawn Together, I chose to exhibit three four-minute gestural drawings that represented just twelve minutes of physical work. I have always loved the quick gestures we practice in the studio, and they are often my absolute favourite pieces. In that short window of time, you simply do not have the opportunity to overthink or cramp your own style. The usual mental filters drop away, allowing the feeling, energy and looseness of the line to shine through in its purest form.

One of these quick gestural works, a charcoal on cartridge paper piece titled Nani, was sold during the opening. It was particularly gratifying to discover that the buyer was established artist Stefan Blom. When a fellow artist connects with the extreme economy of my line, it feels very gratifying and empowering. The sale was a quiet reminder of the importance of valuing the work we create.

The exhibition became the undeniable visual proof of the skill and depth contained within our collective practice. It allowed the public to engage with a level of creative production that typically happens behind closed doors in the intense focus of the studio. For me, this art commitment has become an essential part of my creative practice. The intuitive freedom of capturing the human form in motion provides the creative expression that ultimately balances and enriches my professional work.