Alliance Française du Cap is thrilled and proud to host "THATSCRAP -
A 365 piece solo exhibition by CATHERINE HOLTZHAUSEN", an exhibition
by a talented young artist with a powerful message behind its quirky
and sassy collages, in May. THATSCRAP WILL OPEN ON THURSDAY 3 MAY 2018
AT 18:00 at the Alliance (155 Loop St, CAPE TOWN).Free entrance ||
Cash bar
Exhibition from 3 to 31 May 2018
MORE ABOUT CATHERINE AND THATSCRAP
Catherine Holtzhausen is a collage illustrator/artist based in Cape
Town, South Africa. Her mixed media artworks are brought to life
through various processes and built out of many different layers. Her
artworks are made with scissors and hand-printed/painted papers.
Mainly watercolour, oil mono prints, collagraphs, and a combination of
the two. These papers are then chopped up and glued back together to
create her quirky characters and illustrations.
THATSCRAP is Catherine's first large-scale and long-term artistic
project. The project arose out of a necessity for her to produce work
daily during a time of severe mental illness following her resignation
from her first full-time job. Although her work can be described as
quirky and humorous, This body of work is the visual diary of her
attempts to direct, catalogue and reflect upon the influences of
class, gender and economy on her life as a young female artist.
The depth of the project necessitated more time than the 365 days
originally planned. This was in part due to the artist’s full mental
and physical burnout in 2017 and other mental health struggles. During
her recovery, her hands would tremor and shake uncontrollably yet her
desire to make and channel her experiences burned on. During this
stage, the artist explored various other forms of expression from film
photography to collaging with found imagery from vintage national
geographic magazines that can be seen in the series. The delay,
however, informed and imbued the project with an unsanitized realism
which far better articulates the artist’s experiences and themes she
and many other young women and artists wrestle with.
Much like the artist, the scraps soon started to mature and grow
bolder. This matured voice now confidently challenging social
constructs with focus on the media-molded inner voice of women telling
themselves that they are less. Catherine’s art strives to remind the
audience that they are worthy and wonderful as well as bringing them a
moment of humour or joy.
The growth from a coping mechanism - an outlet for her anxiety and
existential dread - to a full body of work can be seen in the
technical and stylistic progression of the body. She started the
project using the leftovers, or scraps, from other works for her
initial characters - as she progressed in the project the characters
and pieces became richer and fuller. No longer were they mere
evolutions of the paper cut-offs from the studio floor, they now
become more and more a model of the artist's voice growing stronger
and more confident.
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04/05/2018 Last update