October 19, 2024 - November 10, 2024
White River, South Africa
Elfriede Dreyer - Moment
Artist Statement
A moment in time – that is human life. A sound recounts a moment in time.
The Moment works deal with my piano as object and instrument. In a previous 2024 series, The piano, my piano which survived the 2017 Knysna Great Fire also served as the central motif, addressing the theme of loss and recollection. In the Moment body of work I connect word, image and sound. The work was produced in expansion of a previous 2023 series, Song of the Philosopher, in which the relationship of word to image was investigated. My play with onomatopoeia – words that mimic the sounds they describe – explores the interplay between word, image and sound, as well as sound evoking both word and image.
My piano and its resounding ‘voice’; black-and-white notes (ebony and ivory); outer appearance; inner harp; keyboard; and mechanics are interpreted as figure tropes of the architecture of life. Conceptually the work is grounded in Heidegger's idea of Dasein, which denotes human beings in their everydayness, intertwining subject, object, consciousness and world. Heidegger’s notion of Geworfenheit (being ‘thrown’ into life) applies to all living beings, including death. Just as the piano is lifeless until played, bringing forth sound, so too does the female body bear life.
Each work in Moment is accompanied by a sound or small composition I played on the piano—on both its notes and strings—in collaboration with Seoul-based experimental visual and sound artist Johan van Huyssteen. The sounds are accessible via QR codes. Imagery of sound waves features in several works, symbolising the piano’s production of sound and the act of communicating voice.
I incorporate comic-book conventions such as dialogue balloons to evoke a stylised human narrative. These balloons reflect the highs and lows of human experience, suggesting the need to pause in the relentless flow of time. Dotted balloons suggest soft whispers, while jagged balloons represent loud noise or a scream. Mountain imagery, particularly peaks, is a recurring motif, symbolising a state of heightened consciousness. The works combine comic-book lines in black ink with expressive, emotive paint. A technique of layered polyphony—employed across physical and digital media—suggests consciousness across physical, mental, and virtual worlds.
Artist Biography
Elfriede Dreyer is a conceptual artist who works across various media. She is a prominent curator, an Extraordinary Professor of Art at Unisa, and is rated by the NRF. Her solo exhibitions include two in France, and she has participated in numerous group exhibitions at major galleries, museums, universities, and art festivals, both locally and internationally. Her work is featured in public collections at the University of Pretoria, Unisa, Telkom, DBSA, FNB, and various private collections, and is auctioned by Strauss Art Auctioneers. She has published academic articles in local and international journals and books. In 2015, she founded the CAP Institute for Contemporary Art Practice, and in 2005, she established the Fried Contemporary Gallery in Pretoria. Her multi-disciplinary qualifications include: D Litt et Phil (Art History); MA (Visual Arts); HED; BA(Philosophy, French); Int. Dip. (Interactive Multimedia); Licentiate (Piano). www.elfriededreyer.com
White River Gallery
Moment
October, 2024
Gwenneth Miller - The Measure of Matter
Artist Statement
The Measure of Matter exhibition is a reimagining of spines, mapping devices and objects, to consider our reality of being bound by time and matter.
In an astrological sense bones are with winter, capturing the light within the dark (according to Jung). As an older artist, this paradox is constantly present in my life. Whilst a lifetime of serotonin-release probably contributed to the weakening of my bones, I imagine new ‘bones,’ as part of a playful reimaging of structures. Initially I approached the concept of anatomy as a mechanistic system of levels and levers, which changed when I became aware of the body’s incredible ability to grow new bone, restructuring the old into something new.
Weathered book spines are linked to the theme of the skeleton. Old books lose their covers over time but are kept intact by a network of threads, like tendons binding muscle and bone. Objects ready to be discarded also feature in this exhibition: an old scrubbing brush, a cracked table, a page ripped from a sketchbook, and a dark landscape with a history.
I consider weather mapping to think about fresh winds blowing into matter, aging, narratives of second journeys and visual images that evoke our relationships with material ‘stuff,’ measuring whether it even matters. A rendering of the neck’s tiny atlas bone alludes to Atlas, the Greek god carrying the world on his shoulders, and simultaneously this little bone is the hinge for the weight of the skull. Much like the atlas bone, our spiritual compass decides what matters and what does not, and how we measure its bearing.
Artist Biography
Gwen Miller lives in Pretoria, working as a Senior Art Lecturer at Unisa where she completed a doctorate in 2015. Through Unisa, she has received several awards, including the Outstanding Creative Output Award in 2021, Robin Aldwinckle Bursary for Academic Excellence in 2019, UNISA’s nominee in Arts and Culture, for the Checkers Woman of the year (nominated by Prof Kilfoil) 2007, UNISA Woman of the Year Nominee: In recognition of personal, leadership and mentorship roles in relation to Women-in-the-Workplace, Unisa 2008, and a Gold award for the project the Journey to Freedom Narratives at FNB Craft Now 2004. Passionately invested in building communities of creative praxis, she has curated 12 major projects, mentoring young artists and Unisa alumni. Her art has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions and is included in the corporate collections of ABSA Bank, the Sasol Art Collection, the Pretoria Art Museum, the Unisa Art Collection, the South African Military Health Society Collection and ART BANK South Africa. Gwen Miller’s work is featured in private collections in South Africa, Namibia, Portugal, Germany and England. www.gwennethmiller.com/exhibitions
White River Gallery
The Measure of Matter
October, 2024
