NATHAN VUUREN
Nathan Vuuren (b. Johannesburg, 1985) completed his BA in Fine Art (2007) and his Masters (2011) at the University of the Witwatersrand. His mediums of focus at present are painting, drawing and makes prints. Vuuren searches the internet and media for his source material. His painting process involves interpreting these images using carefully built up colour in a combination of glazes and layered paint. Through painting, he has created an imagined personal world that mines its narratives from popular culture.
“I seek to find a metaphor for the aftermath of excess that I perceive in the world. I want to create an imagined reality against which each of us may then measure our own. To me this creative process is more meaningful, in a way, than the reality from which it is drawn.” – N . Vuuren
Artist Statement
The reference material for Vuuren’s recent series of figurative paintings are collages gleaned from high-end fashion magazines. For this body of work Vuuren’s practice remains the same; to
pursue an imagined world that mines its imagery from popular culture. He has focused on single female figures; fragmented and hinged together, isolating their bodies in a stark white background. Vuuren adds geometric intrusions, lines, splashes and plains of colour with a marker or spray-paint. The intention is to create visual discord together with the fragmented figures. Vuuren intends to make unpredictable new arrangements.These images are less about narrative or identity and more about image construction, notions of beauty and covetousness and simply creating an image that appeals to me.”
Selected Shows
Kalashnikovv Gallery, Solo Show: ‘Seeing the Future’ (2017)
Kalashnikovv Gallery, Duo Exhibition with Setlamorago Mashilo: ‘Fade Away’ (2016)
Vuuren has exhibited in numerous group shows: ‘Memento Mori’, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2018); ‘A Contemporary Showcase’, Graham’s Fine Art Gallery, Johannesburg (2018); ‘Super Salon II’, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2017); ‘Super Salon’, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2016); ‘From Whence They Came’, Smith Studio Gallery, Cape Town and Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2016);‘Death of the Old’, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2015)‘Cross-Sections’, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2015); ‘Occupy Room 1’, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria and Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg (2015);
Art fairs include FNB Joburg Art Fair (2015) and Turbine Art Fair (2015, 2016).
