Gallery tackles grey areas
FOURWAYS- Arteye Gallery in the Design Quarter has a provocative new exhibition called 50 Shades of Grey.
Belinda Larson from the gallery explained that the idea for the exhibition came to them after observing the large variety of people who walked into the gallery to peruse the works on display. “People are much braver than most galleries give them credit for,” she said. “Our intention was to play with the idea that life in South Africa is no longer black and white, but many shades of grey, be it in our sexualities, cultures, relationships, families and friends.”
Arteye gave artists like Trevor Coleman, Grace de Costa, Dalene Marais, Sarah Ballam, Luke Batha, Carol Hamman, Rhona Gorvy and Hussein Salim the brief to stick to monotone with accents of colour, but to think out of the box when interpreting ’50 shades of grey’.
Larson explained that the name of the exhibition deliberately plays on the title of the famous series of novels. “Playing with the sexual innuendo of the 50 Shades of Grey novels was the same as standing in a room and shouting, ‘Sex!’ – it gets attention,” she said.
Larson added, “We live with, sleep with, eat with, and raise our families with art on our walls… why should it be so precious? It’s time to discuss and feel free to feel.”
The 50 Shades of Grey exhibition is currently on at Arteye Gallery in the Design Quarter.
Details: www.arteye.co.za
