Strijdom van der Merwe’s “Drawing Clouds in the Karoo” Opens 3 April at Circa …

Strijdom van der Merwe’s “Drawing Clouds in the Karoo” Opens 3 April at Circa Gallery

A brand new solo exhibition by renowned South African land artist, Strijdom van der Merwe, opens at Johannesburg’s Circa Gallery on 3 April.

The exhibition, titled “Drawing Clouds in the Karoo”, will showcase as series of photographs that document van der Merwe’s “sculptural drawings”. He describes these works as “metaphors to cloud formations” which, in turn, is a reference to “the building up of public anger against the proposed ‘fracking’ in the Karoo”.

A highlight of the exhibition is the wind chime, which was first erected at COP17. The exhibition continues until 5 May 2012. Don’t miss it!

As a land artist I generally use the materials provided by the chosen site. These sculptural forms take shape in relation to the landscape. It is a process of working with the natural world by using what I found on site.

In this series of documented photographs I used the rusted wire that were deposited in the landscape and arranged them on the existing sandstone pillars in the landscape. These sculptural drawings are metaphors to cloud formations and my close relation to the land and the cycles of nature as it occurs in the landscape. The building up of clouds is also a reference to the building up of public anger against the proposed “fracking” in the Karoo.