Gabrielle Raaff

Welcome

Welcome to my website and thank you for visiting!

After the completion of a small but effective renovation of my home studio 2 months ago I have found a new vigour with regards to making new work. I have been focusing on figurative work for many years now and so felt like a change. I turned to my immediate environment which is the nature rich neighbourhood of Lakeside and Muizenberg in the Western Cape. I see trees, mountains, sea and vlei, their beauty and drama changing dramatically with the seasons and light.
I always am drawn to the ordinary, universal human elements of any community like the arrangement of the homes, playgrounds, the bowling green, waterpark, dog training area and sports fields as well as the very particular colours and forms that characterise this neighbourhood.
The time I spend with these works is about actively engaging with every mark I make, choosing what you leave, what to remove, which areas to enhance and then at some unknown point I find what I am looking for. It knows me and I know it. That's when I stop.

My new body of work relfects these varied spaces and I am happy to be presenting six new paintings at a group show titled "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden' at Cavalli Gallery from 27th of August 2023 through to January 2024.

I am looking forward to new works being shown on a group show coming up in November at Graham Contemporary in Johannesbug, a solo show there in 2024 and I am currently also working on an exciting large scale monochromatic ink figurative commission. So life is busy.

I really enjoy this quote by the charismatic American art critic Jerry Saltz:
"Your work hides from you until you find it. The beauty is that it loves being found as much as you love finding it.
You have touched the tail of the dragon."

Enjoy and thank you.

 








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Work on show