ALEXANDRA ROSS

Looking Out To The Sea To Sea

EVERARD READ FRANSCHHOEK | 21 January - 19 February

Everard Read Franschhoek is delighted to present a new solo exhibition by Alexandra Ross entitled Looking Out To The Sea To See. 

Please join us at 11AM on Saturday the 21st of January to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. 

Everard Read Franschhoek | 20 Huguenot Road 

To request a catalogue please click HERE

ARTIST STATEMENT: 

Creating a new body of work is a process of constant reinvention. While making this series of mixed media seascapes on linen and canvas, two changes in my environment catalyzed significant leaps forward. The first was moving from Johannesburg at the end of 2019 to live by the sea on the outskirts of Cape Town. The second was the two-month residency at the Everard Read on the Leeu estate in Franschhoek last year. Working in the residency’s beautiful, massive studio allowed me to paint much larger than I ever have before. Going bigger meant I had to be bolder and braver too. Away from my familiar place, having solitary, focused time and space to work, and the encouragement of the gallery, all helped propel me into exciting, uncharted waters.

Looking Out To The Sea To See is inspired by the sea (and sky, the colour of dusk and dawn, the passage of the moon...). Much of it was painted from memory while I was away from the sea in the vineyards of Franschhoek. The show is about the sea, the memory of the sea, and it is a meditation on the act of looking out to sea, on how we see reality. All of the works show views through windows and frames – abstracted, graphic, brightly coloured shapes that represent actual things. They are also metaphors for the intangible ideas and beliefs that shape our perception. In a similar way, the sea in the paintings is itself, a body of water, and it is also abstract, poetic, and symbolic. For me, looking out to sea always means contemplation of the horizon, that faraway, always there, ever-changing non-place where sea and sky appear to meet. Much like the act of painting, it is visible and also profoundly ephemeral, elusive, and mysterious.

EVERARD READ - 20 Huguenot Road
Franschhoek, 7690
South Africa
+27 21 876 2446 l fgallery@everard.co.za

Opening hours:
Monday – Sunday 09:30 - 17:00
Please contact us to make an appointment outside of these hours.