Picnic paintings: Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town shows Deborah Poynton’s fantasy works
Launched yesterday at Cape Town's Stevenson Gallery 'Picnic' is South African artist Deborah Poynton’s eighth solo exhibition with the gallery.
Through a series of both paintings and drawings, the artist uses the picnic as a metaphor for exploring concepts of 'pleasure, containment and also freedom'. According to the Stevenson's Sinazo Chiya, the 'verdant scenes in secluded settings oscillate between hyperrealism and abstraction, underpainting and the unpainted; exposing the logic of their making and pointing to the illusory nature of the painted image'.
Poynton says, 'I have painted this series of "picnic paintings" because I like the idea that both picnics and paintings are fantasies about pleasure. A picnic can be an allegory for a perfect, imaginary place where beauty and pleasure abound. A painting is the same; a self-conscious framework, a way of being contained, while also tasting a bit of freedom.
'We lay down a blanket, staking out a piece of ground, and nature becomes less formless and meaningless in our eyes; it starts making sense as a backdrop to human existence. The edges of the blanket are the borders of our territory. From within those borders we feel secure enough to admire the landscape,' Poynton explains. 'I feel like paintings do the same thing for us. Inside their four edges, formlessness becomes form. Paintings show us to ourselves, in relation to the world.'
Besides the show in Cape Town, the Stevenson Gallery will also be showing Poynton’s work at the FNB Joburg Art Fair from 9–11 September.
INFORMATION
’Deborah Poynton: Picnic’ is on view until 8 October. For more information, visit the Stevenson Gallery website
ADDRESS
Stevenson Gallery
Buchanan Building
160 Sir Lowry Road
Woodstock 7925
Cape Town
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Daniel Scheffler is a storyteller for The New York Times and others. He has a travel podcast with iHeart Media called Everywhere and a Substack newsletter, Withoutmaps, where he shares all his wild ways. He lives in New York with his husband and their pup.
-
The moments fashion met art at the 60th Venice Biennale
The best fashion moments at the 2024 Venice Biennale, with happenings from Dior, Golden Goose, Balenciaga, Burberry and more
By Jack Moss Published
-
Crispin at Studio Voltaire, in Clapham, is a feast for all the senses
New restaurant Crispin at Studio Voltaire is the latest opening from the brains behind Bistro Freddie and Bar Crispin, with interiors by Jermaine Gallagher
By Billie Brand Published
-
Vivienne Westwood’s personal wardrobe goes up for sale in landmark Christie’s auction
The proceeds of ’Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection’, running this June, will go to the charitable causes she championed during her lifetime
By Jack Moss Published
-
Guglielmo Castelli considers fragility and violence with painting series in Venice
Guglielmo Castelli’s exhibition ‘Improving Songs for Anxious Children’ at Palazzetto Tito, Venice, explores childhood as the genesis of discovery
By Sofia Hallström Published
-
‘Accordion Fields’ at Lisson Gallery unites painters inspired by London
‘Accordian Fields’ at Lisson Gallery is a group show looking at painting linked to London
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published
-
All eyes on Christina Quarles, the painter inventing a new figurative language
Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles is in her element, with two major solo shows underway at Hamburger Bahnhof and Hauser & Wirth Menorca
By Emily McDermott Published
-
Portraits of dogs: new Wallace Collection show is pooch perfect
‘Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney’ at the Wallace Collection (until 15 October) offers paws for thought on the human devotion to dogs throughout the centuries
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Gavin Turk: ‘My art is always other people's art’
We interview British artist Gavin Turk, whose show ‘Kerze’ (candle) at Ben Brown Fine Arts is an ode to Gerhard Richter’s candle painting, with an uncanny twist
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
An art history of Château Mouton Rothschild wine labels, from Lucian Freud and Niki de Saint Phalle to Peter Doig
We take a closer look at Château Mouton Rothschild’s 2020 vintage label designed by artist Peter Doig and look back on the house’s fruitful history of artist collaborations
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated
-
Faith Ringgold on capturing the complexity of the American experience: ‘It takes courage to be free’
We interview Faith Ringgold, whose major retrospective exhibition ‘American People’ runs until 27 November at the de Young Musuem, San Francisco
By Aindrea Emelife Published