Side by Side: Jakobina Gideon and Nicky Marais
Opening on 6 June, the second edition of the Side by Side exhibition for this year will present artworks by Nicky Marais and Jakobina Gideon.
The two first met at the Baker’s Bay Artists’ Retreat in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park last year, and in the lead up to this exhibition, the two chose to once again live and work together, sharing studio space and feed off each other’s practices.
Marais’ artistic career spans almost three decades while Gideon is a relative newcomer to the Namibian art scene. Despite the distance between their ages and experience, these two artists find harmony in each other’s work.
Both artists are painters and often work with abstract motifs. Whereas Marais takes inspiration from the objects and symbols in the world around her, Gideon’s work takes a more formalist approach, using shapes and forms to create compositions that are self-contained and self-referential.
Speaking about the series of works that are included in this exhibition Marais said: “Driving the thousand kilometres between my two homes, between the familiar and the new, I pass towers and towers and towers along the road. And because I’m alone and contemplating the connections and disconnections in my life, I think about the inconceivable way these towers accept ephemeral signals, filter them from thin air, and transform them into images and voices. The unlikely conjunction between these tall
steel and concrete towers and the invisible radio waves they are designed to capture delights and intrigues me, and speeds me on my way.” Gideon reflects on her process saying, “I have always been fascinated by humans and our presence, significance and insignificance in the universe. I believe that we are universes that have human experiences rather than humans having universal experiences… Painting the unseen and the paradoxes of life that interest me, and making them into tangible works of creativity inspires me.” Curated by StArt Art Gallery, the premise of the Side
by Side exhibition series is juxtaposition; placing just two artists’ works in proximity presents a dialogue that creates space for unique interpretations.
The concept started in 2018 when StArt Art Gallery curated a two-person exhibition at the Goethe Institut of Namibia showing sculptures by Ismael Shivute and Matheus Alfeus. The exhibition was titled ‘Side by Side’.
The venue is the Sweet Side of Thingz, 5 Independence Ave, Windhoek and the exhibition starts at 18h00 for 18h30.
Entrance is free.