"A true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection,” 2025
Strijdom van der Merwe
site-specific, participatory artwork
The idea / concept is take ± 7 short quotes about: Time, Nature, Ephemeral, Shadow, Life, Moment etc. I will approach well know academics in my town and other establish personalities to each nominate a quote for me. Hereby it become a public collaboration process that will attract much publicity.
The working process will be to laser cut the wording out of durable material and place horizontal against walls. The wording (quotes) will only be visible (read) when the shadow from the movement of the sun fall at the correct angle. Early morning it will be distorted to the one side, during mid day it will read perfect and late afternoon distorted again. On cloudy days the art works will be invisable. The beauty of this process is to emphasis changing time and nature and our vulnerability. The unexpected surprise to find these quotes about life on unexpected sites.
Gallery
About the Artist
Strijdom van der Merwe’s works are intentionally transient – fleeting gestures rather than conventional sculptures. They are created on site, using only materials found in the vicinity, and destined to exist for a fragment of time before yielding to the elements. The results are playful and profound, ephemeral yet enduring. Depending on the nature of the work or the commission the work can also be more permanent, but in doing so always celebrating the beauty of nature.
He is a full-time artist who lives in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Among the many decorations he received are the Jackson Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant 2022 / 2008, A medal of honour from the South African Academy of Arts and Science, the Prince Claus grant in Amsterdam. He was nominated for the Daimler Chrysler award for sculpture in public spaces, to mention a few.
He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions over the past years and his work has been bought by private and public collectors locally and abroad. Commissioned work and Residency’s on invitation where done in 21 countries.
crowdfunding
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