The Benediction of Shade

Please join us for a glass of champagne to celebrate
the coming together of many artists under one universal theme.

David Krut Projects is pleased to present The Benediction of Shade, a group exhibition featuring a large selection of artists who have engaged with the figure, idea or metaphor of the forest or the tree in different ways and through various media. The methodology of the exhibition is iconic, as opposed to thematic – a curatorial approach that allows for the unpicking and unfolding of the complex connotative potential of a broad and universal signifier. Historically, the forest is a meaningful symbol in many cultures and is currently contentious as a metaphor for sustainable resources, of which generations’ worth of reckless handling threatens our survival as a global community. However, beyond the myriad cultural, historical, social and political readings that can be exposed by this approach, the forest as a receptacle of human creativity and imagination reveals itself as especially significant, in this time of globalisation, when notions of firm and fixed identities become increasingly unstable.

The exhibition is presented as a dense and overgrown forest of imaginative engagements – an approach that is particularly compelling at a time when the forest, as a source of wonder and meaning as well as political contention disappears daily from the earth. This transformed imaginative potential that the forest represents becomes increasingly important as we acknowledge the need to discover more cultivating synergetic means.

Artists include Ryan Arenson, Beth Armstrong, Lynda Ballen, Emalie Bingham, Stuart Cairns, Vanessa Cowling, Faith47, Justin Fox, Mischa Fritsch, Stephen Hobbs, William Kentridge, Francois Krige, Carla Liesching, Dillon Marsh, Joshua Miles, Andrzej Nowicki, Dan Perrone, J. H. Pierneef, Gregor Rohrig, Sean Slemon, Sydelle Willow Smith, Subtle Agency, Lyn Smuts, Gary Stephens, Chris Swift and Alastair Whitton.

In an effort to harness the positive social activism geared towards greening and sustainable living, David Krut Projects has collaborated with Greenpop, an urban greening project that has an inclusive ethos and runs many activities geared towards activating thinking around sustainability. There will be an area dedicated to Greenpop where visitors can sign up either for tree planting projects or “gift” a tree to such. R100 will also be added to the value of each artwork, entitling the buyer to a tree for which they will receive a certificate with GPS co-ordinate details.