Local art on show in Pretoria

ACCLAIMED South Coast bronze sculptor Marke Meyer has been invited to exhibit his work at two prestigious gallery exhibitions in Pretoria.

The first, at Leonardo Gallery, opened last week and runs until May 16. In this show, Marke shares exhibition space with well-respected painter Joy Heyneke. He is showing two brand new pieces, along with a retrospective of his work. The show was opened by Dr Chris van Niekerk and Marke’s wife, actor Barbie Meyer.

The second art show that will highlight his work is a group one at St Lorient Fashion and Art Gallery in Brooklyn, also in Pretoria. It opens on Sunday, July 26 and runs for a full three months. Marke will exhibit his bronze pieces alongside work by Angus Taylor, Guy du Toit, Gordon Froud and other big-name artists. Entitled ‘The inner child’, the exhibition will be held in the extraordinary rooftop space where Marke’s pieces will be suspended.

A sculptor, art-photographer and a multi-media artist, Marke is mostly a poet at heart and the titles of his pieces always give a poetic insight into his conceptually-based bronzes.

For example, the inscription, “The Stillness Between Hanging On and Letting Go”, is etched down the arm of one of his suspended pieces. Across the back of another appear the words “Fragrant Memories of a Wild Moon Drifting”. Marke’s interest lies in the poetics of the female nude.

“Although I endeavour not to be too prescriptive. I prefer the piece to be interpreted on an emotional level by the onlooker. The title is there to give one a subtle insight into the feeling I put into the piece on the journey to create it. There are so many ways of looking at and digesting the same subject,” he explained.

The Uvongo sculptor makes all his original pieces in modelling clay using live models as reference. He is content working in any scale from hand-held pieces to larger than life size. These fragile pieces are then cast in bronze. His work harks back to antiquity but holds a distinctive and quirky contemporary edge. This is evident in both his sculpture and photographic work.