In Memory of Cornelius Bosch

             

Welcome to everybody and thanks for coming to my exhibition, I appreciate the fact that you all came from as far as Cape Town for my birthday.  My friend Anna from George always says that I am God’s favourite and I agree.  I have met so many wonderful people along the way.  This has been a difficult year for all of us and after looking at different decorations for the coffee shop I decided on the Dots & Stripes theme.  All paintings evolve out with dots and stripes and it is only what you do with it that makes the painting.  It is almost like music.  Some pieces are longer, some shorter.  Some is stocato and soft and others loud. 

I have decided to recycle some of my old paint tubes to make something creative out of it and to give it new life.  To make something you can pass on to creative friends that can use it in a specific way or ad something else to it to create something else.  I prayed to the Lord that all of you must have a special day with me and that you will have an experience that you can spread out and bring joy to other people.

I want to thank Alice & Tienie for their hospitality and generosity.  I stay here every year for weeks sometimes months and I have my own room full of Portchie paintings.  This year it is my 16^th big solo exhibition at Alice Art Gallery.  The first exhibition we had in Alice’s house because the gallery was too little.  We had 880 guests on the opening night.  Alice built on the next year and from there we only grew bigger and bigger every year.   I want to thank my two sisters who is my support system  – we all love each other very much.

I am turning 47 this year and I have 147 paintings for sale of which a 100 paintings are marked under R47 000.  I also have 10 lucky packet boxes marked at R4700 valuated at R10 000.  There is also a few of the original calendar pieces that normally hangs in my house up for grabs this year.

I hope you all have a lovely experience and please enjoy the tarts, snacks & ginger beer – Portchie   20 & 21 November 2010

Good evening ladies and gentleman, my heart is filled with joy to see this wonderful attendance at our Starry night New Signatures 2010 exhibition.

This is truly a “star studded” event with some shining celebrities that have crossed our threshold.  Our “new signatures” event has already come through 5 very successful years and we are very excited presenting our 2010 exhibition which we feel is really exceptional this year.  Top artists of the like of Susan Greying, Karin Boonzaaier, Bert van Wyk, Jonel Scholtz and Mariaan Rossouw have been involved in this process and have given from strength to strength. 

Violin and entrance of artists

Introduce artists

“A word from me for the artists:

            If you do things well, do them better!

            Be daring, be first, be different

            But above all, be just.

We hope and sincerely believe that many of our 2010 selected artists will go on to become “Names” in their own right as this is justly deserved!  We would like to take this opportunity to thank each artist for their patience and endeavour with our system.

We wish each and every artist all success for their futures and may they achieve all their dreams and aspirations!

I believe that each artist has produced works that define them as human beings.  They have bared their souls for all to see.

No art is great without a certain truth that is expressed.  May you all stay true to yourselves!

I would like to give the example of the great impressionist Vincent Gogh.  He was a troubled soul all his life, but painted the essence of his soul and so his art will be forever remembered and his spirit will linger on and remain in the hearts of humanity for generations. 

Before I introduce Liz Meiring our celeb guest.  We would like you all to view “The spirit of van Gogh: a balled solo created by Kariena Kolisko and danced by a student of Celeste Greef and the South African Bullet Theatre Academy.

Ladies and Gentleman

“Galya Wolvo” as the spirit of van Gogh.

(Ballet dance)
Thank you Galya wolvo

I would like to open our evening proceedings with a prayer to the One Time Creator of us all, who without none of us could create.

Dear Lord, we come to you in the Name of Jesus our great creator and Savour.   We know that you are in charge.  Thank you for leading each artist to this place tonight and we know Lord, that you have a plan for each one of us here tonight’s life!  May your great will be done and we dedicate this evening and this exhibition to your great glory.  We bless and praise your Holy Name.  Amen

I would like to introduce our celebrity guest the imitable “ Liz Meiring”

We feel very honoured that Lizz has graced us with her presence here tonight.
-As an actress, since starting in the industry, 27 years ago she has never been unemployed, and as versatile industry professional, she is frequently working on as many as 6 projects simultaneously.-

Thank you for your patience, please enjoy the evening and dig deep into your hearts and purses.  We would like you to remember that the artist’s works you are purchasing tonight may very well become an great impression and we would urge you to follow their careers in the following years.

We would like to thank Kariena and the ballerinas for their assistance tonight.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen I now announce New signatures 2010 opened!

Enjoy!!!

IN REMEMBERANCE OF CELEBRATED ARTIST

25/2/1935-16/07/2010

Luther Marais was born in Port-Elizabeth on 25 February 1935.  His family moved to Porterville during 1939 where his father established a printing business.  Uncle Tienie Marais had his own orchestra and also painted a little, thus, the young Luther was exposed to music and art from an early age.

At the age of four he could the concertina and harmonica and at sic he toured with the orchestra of the University of Stellenbosch.

Luther managed his father’s printing business which he later took over.  He obtained his Master Printer’s Diploma from the Printing Union of Cape Town at the age of seventeen.  At the age of eighteen he formed his own orchestra consisting of five members.  They signed contracts and performed at a variety of venues.  For five years the group broadcasted light South-African music for the SABC and during that time two records featuring his own compositions were released.

His first painting saw the light in 1956.  He moved to Pretoria in 1974 where he commenced painting professionally.  He never studied art formally, as it poured out of him naturally.  Mr Swannie Swanepoel, owner of the Swanepoel chain of Galleries, immediately saw his potential and bought everything he painted.

Luther’s first one-man-exhibition was held in Vredendal in the Cape Province.  Some of the best known galleries in the country exhibit his work as part of their combined exhibitions, and numerous paintings can be found in embassies and private collections throughout South-Africa and the world.

His last exhibition was in 2009 at Alice Art Ruimsig

Luther’s love for the Cape countryside, the West coast and its people, the Malay Quarters in the old District Six, the mission and fisherman’s communities as well as Woodstock, Salt River, Elands Bay, Struisbaai etcetera, is mirrored in all his paintings.

At 75 years of age we salute you as a well-known celebrated artist always dedicated to send out only the highest quality work!

His work can be seen at Alice Art Gallery in Ruimsig.  Tel: (011) 958 1392

Or viewed on aliceart.co.za

Karien is a woman who loves life!  Her heart and home are always open to people who needs her most.  Her friends always say that there is something in her that’ll always be child and just like a little girl, she’s always busy with something!  Painting is her passion and something that she only began on a later stage in her life.  Her children were already grown up when she decided to go study art at UNISA.  Painting means more to her than to just paint pretty pictures.  It’s about self discipline and the courage to open up your soul.  The shadows in an artist’s life searches for expression and recognition on the canvas.  The words of Paul Cezanne inspires Karien everyday: “I want to make art where my grandchildren can sit and have breakfast.”  Karien wants to express a message of life and light – something that makes the viewer feel good.  Her faith is very important to her.  The word Parakletos always appears under her name on canvas, which means the Holy Spirit is my Helper, Comforter and Advocate.  Karien and her husband loves to ravel and her charm with European architecture, lead her to the painting of themes such as walls, doors and roads.  She sees a door as a metaphor for a choice.  Al of Karien’s work are rich in colour and texture.  The walls and doors always have an old looking-feeling texture.  In her Free State landscapes and still life with fruits, the brush creates an expressive, colourful, tangible atmosphere. 

Enjoy the company of artist Karien Boonzaaier at Alice Art Gallery, Ruimsig on 19 & 20 June from 9am to 4pm!

Do not miss it!!

Gregarious to the point of being effusive, Johannesburg’s Giorgio Trobec is an easily likeable artist, the very antithesis of the broody dreamer who dribbles paint on a canvas and then expects others to recognize a work of a genius.  Trobec is almost child-like in his very real enthusiasms.  He says that he does not like art that is too realistically representational and this is why he allows his imagination to run wild when he depicts a harbour or a landscape. His boats have vast prows, stern lines that wriggle their way across the canvas, doors that abut at crazy angles.  He uses colour with a gleeful abandon that is all the more effective for its impact.

Trobec was born in Italy, within the ancient city gates of the renaissance city of Florence on St. Valentine’s day in 1944.  His father ran a food shop and one of the artist’s earliest reminiscences is being scootered around with his mother and sibling on papa’s Lambretta, the four of them on this tiny machine realising a wave and a smile from the Italian police rather than the stern encounters one could easily envisage here.  Is this where he started storing those mental images of Italian seaside villages with deep blue seas, cobbled streets and boats packed to the gills?  “Oh yes,” he replies lost in the reverie of those far bygone days. “I remember them so clearly.  Those seaside towns and the countryside of Tuscany.  Both have formed a strong basis for my art in recent years.  “But how does he recall the detail, the architecture that forms the basis of a balanced work?  Did he take photographs or was it all stored in a retentive memory?   ”Neither,” says Giorgio happily.  “I don’t like to have to clear a memory of those places we visited.  I enjoy a vision, perhaps some small detail and then I use my imagination to tease out the painting.  I am not trying to make a work that is indistinguishable from a photograph.  I want to make paintings that say this work is by Giorgio Trobec.  They are playful, fun and usually everything is very disproportionate in size.

“Don’t you think that these days imaging is more to do with the art of capturing a detail?” Trobec says. 

Perhaps a word that truly describes Trobec’s art is that it is cheerful, it induces in the viewer a feeling of joeie de vivre and this is probably the kernel of his success.  You can’t help but being drawn to paintings that light up your life, that banish dark thoughts, and that often bring a smile.  There is a rare talent behind this achievement and Giorgio Trobec is busy perfecting it.

Come join artist Giorgio Trobec this weekend, 8 & 9 May, 9am to 4 pm and experience art that lightens up your life!!

Inspiration for today!!

“I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more artistic than to love other people!”
– Vincent van Gogh