AFTER MIDNIGHT
MULTI MEDIA SOLO EXHIBITION
FINAL IN A THREE PART SOLO PROJECT
LIZAMORE & ASSOCIATES GALLERY, JHB
5 – 28 FEBRUARY, 2015
OVERVIEW
“By means of a process through which filtered light is captured and translated into paint as it moves across the blank canvas, I aim to register moments of silence, movement, flux, transition and change."
Ronél de Jager’s debut solo exhibition, After Midnight, forms part of her larger ongoing project exploring the transformative power inherent in the constant, shifting presence of cast shadows and filtered light. Taking her cue from the Oxford Dictionary definition of ‘A.M.’ meaning ‘between midnight and midday’, shadows become a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of reality, a world both present and absent, simultaneously formed and diffused by the play of light in the hours extending across night and day.
This multi-media, multi-spatial exhibition unfolds in three parts, spanning a series of divergent spaces. As each new element of the project is unveiled, its previous incarnations exist in memory.
Across this evolving body of work, the recording and capturing of light acts as a register of moments of silence, movement, flux, transition and metamorphosis. As the works develop over time and across location, images might trigger recollections of the experiences, images and spaces gone before. In this way, De Jager’s artworks, like the traces of light from which they evolve, become fragments of a greater whole – chance encounters that either resonate and linger, or are seen and forgotten.
"After my brother was diagnosed with brain cancer in December 2010, I began to perceive light and shadows as an integral and unnoticed part of the passing of time, which hardly filters into our fragmented everyday consciousness. I started to vigilantly observe the shadows on my bedroom walls as I fell asleep at night and the shadows of the morning light when I awoke. The reflection of light through windows and trees has always been a kind of gateway of wonder for me. Once I became aware of the changing yet persistent occurrence of shadows, I came to see this diffused and filtered world as an echo of the thoughts, emotions and movements that run beneath the surface our lives".
The sense of movement, flux and change evoked in Part I and the ‘pause moment’ for reflection suggested by Part II come together in this culminating episode of the A.M. project, which draws together the contrapuntal tenors of the two previous shows. Featuring an installation of paintings, and video projections interacting with a central sculptural installation, this multi-media exhibition draws on the conceptual narratives brought to light by the project as a whole.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
