Johannesburg

STEVENSON is pleased to present Between Two Palms: New works from Durban by Georgina Gratrix, her first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Born in Mexico City in 1982, Gratrix grew up in Durban, South Africa; she now lives in Cape Town. With Between Two Palms: New works from Durban, she returns to the place she most considers home, reconnecting with the community and space in which she first discovered the practice of painting.

To make this new body of work, the artist took up residence in the studio of her first art teacher, Pascale Chandler, where she received extra lessons as a teenager. Gratrix turns this environment into her subject matter, describing how the light from the surrounding garden seeps in to saturate the ‘metaphorical white space of the studio’.

Referencing Matisse, Gratrix presents a study of colour in The Green Studio, a still life that can be read as an extended love letter to Durban. Things resonant with place, history and the contemporary moment meet as a Rorke’s Drift tapestry and vase, an Ardmore sugar bowl, a ceramic vessel by Cameron Platter and a plate of prawns from the Greek restaurant Delphi’s populate the dense composition,. As an homage to the city, Gratrix also includes notable pieces of the built environment that she would encounter on her way to the studio, such as the faded glamour of Durban’s Art Deco architecture seen in her rendition of the iconic Berea Court, framed in the middle of the picture.

Palm trees punctuate the Durban skyline, giving it a subtropical vista. The exhibition takes its name from the show’s centrepiece, Between Two Palms: A Painters Lunch, a group portrait including some of Gratrix’s muses and the personalities that surround her. Answering the question ‘who would be your dream guest for lunch?’, Gratrix presents the gathering of an extended art-historical family. Some of the characters are sourced from other paintings such as Robert Hodgins’ Ubu and the Commanders in Chief (1981/2), Maud Sumner’s unfortunately titled Fat Lady (1936) and Irma Stern’s Argentinian Woman (1941). Painters themselves also make the cut with Gladys Mgudlandlu, Andrew Verster and Marlene Dumas standing in a huddle to the left. In the centre of the bottom row sits Penny Siopis, with a self-portrait of Gratrix hiding behind a bouquet of flowers beside her.

Between Two Palms; New works from Durban ranges between the genres of still life and portraiture. An intimate view of home, objects and the landscape, the exhibition speaks to the familiarity of belonging, with Gratrix locating herself both in a physical place and as part of a community of painters.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 18 May, 10am to 1pm. Gratrix will give a walkabout at 11am on the day of the opening.