Category: Exhibitions

DAVID GRIESSEL | ISABELLA KUIJERS | MARIA MAGDALENA | CAITLIN MKHASIBE

As March marks a year in the life-cycle of The Drawing Room, we remember how this time last year was all about throwing caution to the wind, brainstorming new ideas and experimenting with the look and feel of what The Drawing Room would come to be.. all while giving ourselves just a few short weeks to make it happen.

In the spirit of this, we will launch our first annual Summer Saloon exhibition that gives us the freedom to experiment with our curating, with the only exhibition of the year that will be theme-less. We see it as an opportunity to work with new artists, new work, and new ideas… basically, curatorial playtime!

Why ‘saloon’ – well, it also means drawing room in some obscure dictionary definitions, so we thought that was just perfect

PROPAGANDA
27 January – 26 February 2016

An exhibition of illustration, typography and graffiti including work by:

ARIEL23 | BYRON BRINK | FRANK LUNAR | HELO SAMO | KEITH VLAHAKIS

Would you recognise Propaganda if you saw it?

Including work by:

ALEX LATIMER | ARTYMISS | FLAGG | MARIA LEBEDEVA| PATRICK LATIMER | SARAH WOCKNITZ

The Drawing Room is very excited to be partnering with KIN and the lovely Chantal Louw, to bring you our end of year show Café Animals.

The exhibition gives focus to a selection of KIN’s animal-themed works, with a little sprinkling of Christmas glitter.

KIN’S philosophy is simple: they believe in locally manufactured design; the story of where an object comes from and where it will go; well-made and made to last. Period.

Instead of a traditional opening, we want to celebrate the spirit of the handmade by inviting you to join us for an animal-themed doodle night on Wednesday 9^th December, from 6-10pm.

The Drawing Room is pleased to present Frank Lunar’s second illustration exhibition, Project Eden.

Project Eden focusses on the various elements and institutions that have the ability to influence our opinions and experiences on important issues.

Frank Lunar is an artist living in Cape Town. He specialises in illustration and his work centres around socio-political and esoteric concepts.

The opening event includes live painting, accompanied by Helo Samo on sound.

Friday, 11 September, from 7pm.

OPENS 13 AUGUST, 6-8PM

Alexander’s Band, in partnership with The Drawing Room, is proud to present Oh, Hello! – a group illustration exhibition featuring very cool, very talented friends and collaborators – The Banders.

Oh, Hello! is a showcase of visual interpretations of greetings, as well as our way of saying “Hello, this is us, these are our friends, and this is what gets us out of bed in the morning.” Along with the new pieces created for the show we’ll be showcasing a number of previous works by the illustrators – gems old and new.

Alexander’s Band is a South African illustration rep based in Cape Town. We work exclusively with South African illustrators, based locally and abroad, and collaborate with clients from mom and pop stores to big multinationals.

The Drawing Room is pleased to present its first solo show by artist and illustrator Adrie le Roux.

The exhibition presents new work created by Adrie for a children’s book she has written and illustrated called ‘Farrah was not a Dalmatian’. The story follows the plight of Farrah, an English Pointer dismayed at her constant misidentification as a Dalmatian, and her efforts to be recognised for who she really is. Although it is a children’s book, the story brings in some tough themes like social identity and “othering”.

Farrah will be at The Drawing Room until 8 August 2015.

Exhibition opens on Wednesday 1 July, 6-8pm

The Drawing Room
87 Station Road, Observatory

Adrie Le Roux is currently based in Pretoria where she works as a lecturer and freelance creative. She holds a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 2006, and an MPhil degree in Visual Arts (Illustration) from Stellenbosch University. She is currently working towards a PhD in Visual Arts through Stellenbosch University.
Her work is characterized by subtle, abstract compositions, which combine ink work, pencil drawing, painting & collage techniques. Her illustrative work sometimes ventures into mixed media, muted colours and bold texture. If sarcasm and compassion met in a bar, it might be one of Adrie’s illustrations.

Sketch, books & other stories
16 May – 13 June 2015

An exhibition of sketches, doodles and typography by
RAYAAN CASSIEM | ANWAR DAVIDS | WALDO VAN WYNGAARD  | MISHAQ DIESEL | KEITH VLAHAKIS

Opens Saturday 16 May, 6pm – late
Featuring live work on the night by Mishaq Diesel & Keith Vlahakis

The sketch is an intimate and ephemeral record of an artist’s creative process. It is the place where artists daydream, problem solve and observe, where they are free to do so spontaneously without self-consciousness, where they can leave half-finished thoughts on the page, or develop ideas and fuel finished works.

Sketch, books & other stories offers an insight into the imagination hard at work, devising complex narratives; projecting visual stories, feelings and ideas.  It is a collection of works that illustrate how creativity breeds creativity.

Curated by Lucy Stuart-Clark
Opens 8 April 2015, 6-8pm

An exhibition of illustration, collage, sketch and ceramics by
CARLA KREUSER | MARIA LEBEDEVA | ADRIE LE ROUX
MARLI LYON | LUCY STUART-CLARK

As the North Pole begins its steady tilt towards the sun and autumn silently creeps into our gardens, The Drawing Room bids farewell to summer with its first exhibition, Summer’s End.

The artists met each other while studying and continue to meet whenever they feel the need to escape their studios and discuss the joys and woes of working in the art world. Summer’s End was, in many ways, born out of such a tea party. Invited by The Drawing Room to curate its first exhibition, the artists ventured through their storerooms and studio drawers, each finding artworks which slowly began to build towards a summery themed exhibition.

As our evenings grow longer and cooler with each passing day, Summer’s End is a gentle and slightly nostalgic celebration of a retreating season. Acknowledging this, the exhibited artworks cannot help but tentatively evoke an exploration of the blurring between life and death that occurs during the autumn months.

The dual nature of this theme is echoed not only within the variety of media and techniques employed by the artists, but also within the physical space of the exhibition. The Drawing Room is a café and art gallery, a social and creative space. As its name suggests, drawing is right at the heart of its operation. Recently opened by Candice and Derek Allison, The Drawing Room intends to create a platform for illustration, graphic design, drawing and prints in Cape Town, offering fairer terms for its exhibiting artists.The promise of this intention is already evident in a Summer’s End, an exhibition which features the work of artists, the majority of whom also call themselves illustrators and designers.

Please join us for the opening of Summer’s End. Bid farewell to another South African summer and celebrate the birth of a new Cape Town gallery!

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE OPENING:

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