STUDIO EXHIBITIONS

“Syncopation” is a term used in music to describe a shift of accent in a passage or composition. This shift occurs when a normally-weak beat is stressed or accentuated. Eight Pretoria-based artists explore Syncopation as theme through a variety of media and subject matter. Through their personal expressions they question their surroundings, teachings and this thing we so loosely refer to as art.

Drawing inspiration from the SYNCOPATION definition, the exhibition is centred on the idea of something somewhat offbeat, something non-mainstream and unusual, and to a certain extent, the offbeat which is the struggling artist – always striving to make his/her mark in the art industry while fighting to not conform to popular ideas and secular traditions.

All participating artists are affiliated with Dionysus Sculpture Works, a creative studio and foundry started by renowned South African sculptor Angus Taylor in 1998. Artists Alexander von Klitzing, Angus Taylor, Elbie Erasmus, Francois Visser, Martyn Schickerling, Rina Stutzer, Steven Delport and recent ABSA L’Atelier winner Liberty Battson collaborate in creating a playful exhibition which explores various binary oppositions relating to the struggle between art and anti-art. Through the juxtapositioning of the aesthetic and the beautiful together with artworks that are not necessarily seen as traditional and popular, the artworks with their diverse styles become the syncopated rhythms of art, placing emphasis on one another and accentuating the “different” and “unique” while at the same time questioning current misconceptions within the art industry.

Through the work of this group of artists, each artist becomes his/her own “off-beat” which falls outside the set rules and principles prescribed by societal norms and conventions.