Opening at Durban’s pre-eminent contemporary art gallery this weeks is Recollect: A Turquoise Journey, the solo exhibition by roving KZN artist Hendrik Stroebel whose intricate ceramic and embroidery work has been acclaimed around the world.
The show is the culmination of Stroebel’s remarkable 15-year peregrination spanning the near East, the Levant and central Asia. Turquoise, the shimmering blue-green mineral, derives its name from the French turques for it was first brought to Europe from Turkey via the mines of Persia. This fittingly romantic tale from antiquity to modernity is reflected in Stroebel’s remarkable exhibition which is composed of large and small scale works that combine ceramic, carved wood, bronze, and what is probably one of the most outstanding embroidery collections produced by a contemporay visual artist in recent years. His freestyle use of this labour-intensive medium takes this art form to a new level where the work has a painterly while work abounds with the pattern and texture of the Arab and Islamic world.
KZNSA Gallery, 166 Bulwer Road. Opened by Andries Botha on Tuesday May 31 at 6pm. Tel: 031 277 1705 Email [email protected] Visit www.kznsagallery.co.za