Pretoria resident’s cutting-edge art is ‘statistically’ beautiful
Renowned artist Liberty Battson (25), from Pretoria, debuts her solo exhibition 'I bet you wish you did this' at the Absa Art Gallery this month.
The 2014 Barclays L’Atelier winner, Liberty Battson, is debuting her solo exhibition at the ABSA Art Gallery in Johannesburg.
The Pretoria resident, created a brand new concept that will blow away the perception that creative arts and logistics have nothing in common.
The I bet you wish you did this exhibition started on Sunday, and will continue until 24 June, and showcases a fascinating exploration of popular culture, world affairs and unfolding “history” as interpreted through internet search engine results.
“The exhibition taps into the heart of our current technology-based culture to reveal those statistics that were most searched for by online users,” read a statement by Barclays Africa Group.
“The results are represented statistically and visually, allowing viewers to actively participate in the exhibition by inviting them to be part of and decode the searched results.”
Battson explained she used the Google search engine to create her very abstract and “statistic” artworks.
Battson used the search phrase ‘statistics about’ in the Google ‘search suggest’ function coupled with each letter of the alphabet.
This formula enabled her to obtain the most searched for statistics.
She tracked her searches every month, and documented what was bumped off the charts, what decreased in popularity and what became “more important” in the eyes of Google users.
“It was interesting to see what people searched for in Google,” Battson told Rekord.
She said she had always had a fascination with abstract art and pursued her passions in fine art after obtaining her BA fine arts degree with distinction at the University of Pretoria in 2013.
Battson was born and raised in Benoni, but has been a resident in Pretoria for the past six years.
In 2014, she won the Barclays L’Atelier Art Competition with her piece Odds of an Artist Like Me, a diptych in 2K automotive paint, which is her preferred medium, on canvas.
As part of her prize, Battson won R150 000, a six-month residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and the solo exhibition at ABSA Art Gallery.
“It is really quite amazing to experience this at my age. ABSA really made all my dreams come true. I thank them for that.”
Battson invited everyone to her exhibition where “lines are not just lines on a canvas” and fine arts meet logistics.
“This exhibition offered us a glimpse into the current psyche of the global population. It is fascinating to track the statistics and how world events shaped their importance in the lives of online users,” said Dr Paul Bayliss, gallery art and museum curator.
“It represented an intriguing blurring of the lines between the tech and art cultures and is a true triumph for Battson’s first solo exhibit since winning the Barclays L’Atelier Award two years ago.”
For more information on Battson, visit her Facebook page: Liberty Battson Fine Artist or libertybattson.com
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
