Georgina Gratrix
Published on the occasion of Georgina Gratrix's exhibition Between Two Palms: New works from Durban, at Stevenson Johannesburg, this booklet features studio images and texts on the paintings by the artist. Writing about The Green Studio, she describes the genesis of this body of work:
Earlier this year, painting in a large, half renovated room lacking doors and windows in my old, always-being-reconstructed farm house in Cape Town, I began to think where I could make my next body of work for my upcoming show. A windowless room in winter doesn’t quite hold the same charm as it does in summer even if it’s nice that the birds come inside very often which I love. Just then Pascale Chandler sent me a message. A Durban artist and art world figure, we had stayed in touch over the years. I had learnt to paint in her garden studio. She sent me a link that her house was for sale which made me wonder if her studio was being used. We called - no it wasn’t - so my Durban residency in her garden began. The green room was the first work I made here. This studio in her Durban garden has large sliding doors and all the trees and outside foliage and orchids seem desperate to come inside. The objects I painted I borrowed, some from my mother’s house and others pieces from my friend Cameron Platter that I admired. Vintage Ardmore, some Rorke’s Drift. And some of his own pieces. Objects that speak of this place I don’t always live in but very much feel at home in. Pascale, when I arrived in the studio filled with so many of her things and books, pointed me to her book on Matisse and we poured over it together. Our conversations and my drive to the studio from Morningside to Glenwood every day. The old fig tree in front of the studio. All of these elements came in whilst making The Green Studio which at one point more accurately had white walls but didn’t fit at all the feeling of the room.
Published by Stevenson | 2024
Softcover, 20 pages with covers | Price: R200
