Homework: Curated online exhibition

Barnard is pleased to present ‘Homework’ the second in an ongoing series of online exhibitions. During this time of extended national lockdown in South Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many or most artists have been unable to access their regular studio environments and have had to come up with creative solutions to allow them to continue working.

 

For some this may be a kitchen table or a simple portable plywood surface while for others any available wall or floor surface will suffice. By whichever means, what is common to all artists is the need and desire to keep on working, to keep on creating. Like breathing it is instinctual, an ‘essential’.

 

‘Homework’ in its simplest sense considers that work made or carried out at home. Obviously the latter differs widely from one person to another based on a number of contributing factors, but the common denominator is that it is work undertaken in an individual’s private domain whether that be a spacious environment or a one-roomed flat or container space.

 

As such these are works that are of a more intimate or perhaps experimental nature and are most likely smaller in scale. They could be painting ‘miniatures’ on paper, wood or canvas or alternatively water colors, drawings or collages; perhaps even more portable in the form of an artist’s book or a photographers working test proofs.

 

Presenting the work of the gallery’s roster of artists along side invited creatives, ‘Homework’ presents a variety of mediums and methods. Working within constraints and made in confinement this selection of work explores the ‘pulse’ and ‘essence’ of the selected artists’ work. For some this is pensive, for others more playful, but in each instance a celebration of the power and intrigue of the creative process against all odds. 

'Homework' includes works by Lien Botha, Barbara Wildenboer, Olaf Hajek, Katherine Bull, Alexia Vogel, Maurizio Donzelli, Virginia MacKenny, Dirk Salz, Vanessa Cowling, Robyn Penn, Hugh Byrne, Richard Mudariki, MJ Lourens, Mia Thom, Katherine Spindler, Alastair Whitton and Jaco van Schalkwyk.