© boshua Bohumil KOSTOHRYZ
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Dipl. Fine Art - Cape Technikon - Cape Town (ZA)
M.A. Art History - Frankfurt University (D) Dipl. Botanical Art - Society of Botanical Artists (UK) Fellow: Society of Botanical Artists (UK) Member: CAL, AAPL Luxembourg (L) | Botanical Artist's Association of South Africa (ZA) | Filoli Artist Registry (USA) 'Art and the Environment' Featured May 2018 in London-based blog: Fabulous Fabsters www.fabulousfabsters.com/sally-arnold-art-environment/ |
An 8 minute interview by Gita Claassen from 2018
Best viewed at fast internet speed |
As an artist I am a light holder, reflecting what contemporary society is dealing with: significant imbalances in Nature, the destruction of natural connections.*
I did not set out to be an 'artist', and often struggle to position my gift of seeing the outer world differently. Artisanship, however, is a clear way of living and being, engaging tactiley, physically with the world.
The verdant slopes of the Eastern Cape's Amathola mountains and vast dry expanses of the Great Karoo were childhood inspirations urging me to draw, model and paint. Above our farm garden-oasis: a vast crystalline blue sky sometimes bursting with indigo, cumulus-headed thunderstorms of spectacular drama. Dusty earth and shimmering skies - primal textures, scents and light.
Nature's forms and vibrating colours are my guides. Specifically: the powerful sculptural qualities of a blossom. Drawing attention to these exquisite metaphors for our own, transient, Earth presence is imperative in the face of man's exploitation of nature.
I focus on rare, often endangered flowers living on our planet, magnifying fascinating details of tiny blossoms. Aided by photographs, I portray these on canvas in translucent oil glazes or on paper in watercolour and powdery coloured pencil. I adore thick, luxurious, handcrafted paper or fine linen canvas made in traditional mills. Using pure, organic materials, cured during natural drying processes, my painted oil surfaces develop a supple luminance resisting crackling. Varnishes are satin/matt or dammar/glossy.
My work is based on drawing, is slow and artisanal, uses the very best materials and strives for technical mastery. I care about beauty, detail and excellence.
As an ordinary person wanting to do extraordinary things, my artistic purpose is to develop a powerful body of work that leaves a lasting impact on those who view it. I attempt a poetic, drawn commentary on the originality of natural forms. Current drawings investigate the movement of plants and blossoms, rare inflorescences, and the ephemeral language of plants**
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*‘One way to conceive what artists do is to think that they are, in their own way, running advertising campaigns; not for anything expensive or usually even available for purchase, but for the many things that are at once of huge human importance and yet constantly in danger of being forgotten. In the early part of the twenty-first century for example, the English artist David Hockney ran a major advertising campaign for trees. At the start of the sixteenth century, the German painter Albrecht Dürer launched a comparable campaign around the value of grass.’
For the Love of Art : Alain de Botton on Art as Therapy, Sothebys, April 14, 2020
** ' ... flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers .... would become like messengers from another realm ...' A New Earth: Eckhart Tolle, 2005
I did not set out to be an 'artist', and often struggle to position my gift of seeing the outer world differently. Artisanship, however, is a clear way of living and being, engaging tactiley, physically with the world.
The verdant slopes of the Eastern Cape's Amathola mountains and vast dry expanses of the Great Karoo were childhood inspirations urging me to draw, model and paint. Above our farm garden-oasis: a vast crystalline blue sky sometimes bursting with indigo, cumulus-headed thunderstorms of spectacular drama. Dusty earth and shimmering skies - primal textures, scents and light.
Nature's forms and vibrating colours are my guides. Specifically: the powerful sculptural qualities of a blossom. Drawing attention to these exquisite metaphors for our own, transient, Earth presence is imperative in the face of man's exploitation of nature.
I focus on rare, often endangered flowers living on our planet, magnifying fascinating details of tiny blossoms. Aided by photographs, I portray these on canvas in translucent oil glazes or on paper in watercolour and powdery coloured pencil. I adore thick, luxurious, handcrafted paper or fine linen canvas made in traditional mills. Using pure, organic materials, cured during natural drying processes, my painted oil surfaces develop a supple luminance resisting crackling. Varnishes are satin/matt or dammar/glossy.
My work is based on drawing, is slow and artisanal, uses the very best materials and strives for technical mastery. I care about beauty, detail and excellence.
As an ordinary person wanting to do extraordinary things, my artistic purpose is to develop a powerful body of work that leaves a lasting impact on those who view it. I attempt a poetic, drawn commentary on the originality of natural forms. Current drawings investigate the movement of plants and blossoms, rare inflorescences, and the ephemeral language of plants**
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*‘One way to conceive what artists do is to think that they are, in their own way, running advertising campaigns; not for anything expensive or usually even available for purchase, but for the many things that are at once of huge human importance and yet constantly in danger of being forgotten. In the early part of the twenty-first century for example, the English artist David Hockney ran a major advertising campaign for trees. At the start of the sixteenth century, the German painter Albrecht Dürer launched a comparable campaign around the value of grass.’
For the Love of Art : Alain de Botton on Art as Therapy, Sothebys, April 14, 2020
** ' ... flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers .... would become like messengers from another realm ...' A New Earth: Eckhart Tolle, 2005
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