Work
Cover illustration done for Art South Africa. Although a little tragic to be furthering another senseless Malema-like debate, the article by Karin Preller was insightful and working with this Tretchikoff icon was irresistable. Thanks Bronwyn and Brendon for the opportunity and Vivian for your input. Art, non-art and Zulu Dada.See more on the Art SA Facebook page...
The article, titled The Tretchikoff Conundrum and written by Karin Preller, took a look at the critical response in the media and the art world. Here is a short excerpt::
"Humour is a feature of many reviews, mainly as a vehicle to express extreme distaste. Pollak describes Tretchikoff's animal paintings as "riddled with paralysis"; the portraits as evidence of "his mortician's brush imbuing every sitter with rigor mortis"; his technical ability a fallacy "to be viewed with the gravest suspicion" – grass looking like "fried parsley", fur "as tough and abrasive as a new doormat". The list goes on, but Pollak's conclusion is that Tretchikoff's work remained "static and intellectually null".7 In a review on ArtThrob Sean O'Toole focuses on the hype of opening night, eventually linking the work with the sugary snacks on offer: "The painter is really a pastry chef. His…
Screen sketches - faces & features. Experiments with line thickness, length and direction. Combining technical drawing and caricature.
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Quick sketches in bars, on receits and invoices. Tissue paper. Faces, people, bodies. The luxury of escaping one's thoughts, looking and observing for a few seconds with a likeness just a possible bonus.
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Photos taken in Louis Botha Avenue at the time of the 2010 Sandton Art Fair. People's signage, like squashed bottletops in the tar. Proudly made. Acknowledged with blurred eye sweeps through hair-oiled bus windows. Remembered by degrees of colour, complexity and condition. And delightfully lacking in concept.
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A few photos of famlily and work. Trying out the new camera. around the house, family, work.
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Linda - painting in progress. I started this a while ago to get away from the computer and 50% done. Finishing from here on feels more like a restoration process than painting.
A small selection of weekly newspaper illustrations done since 1992. Says Vivian van der Merwe: "The work of Francois is distinguished by a rare marriage of innovative technique, potent yet subtle imagery, and a highly sophisticated sense of visual form.
Like the best traditional visual artists (especially painters and printmakers), Francois uses his digital medium and tools with impressive mastery. Unlike popular work by most of the younger generation of digital artists and illustrators, you never sense or see the medium. The medium, or visualisation process, never intrudes or "shows off". It never postures. Perhaps it is the fact that Francois has literally grown up with the various evolutions of graphics software and hardware that allows him to work almost unconsciously with his medium. Where imagery does pixel-ate, or textures do become digitized, or you do glimpse evidence of digital aesthetics, you always sense that these references to the medium are not accidental or unwanted. Many years ago, when Francois worked with oil paint, these same qualities of objectification of the medium and process were distinguishing features of his art too. This has become a hallmark of Francois' work."
