Tag Archives: namibia

My work on show at the ‘Our Coast Your Photo’ Exhibition

(Read right to the bottom, as there is a chance for you to win N$ 1000.00, too!)

In January Tony Figueira of Studio77and the Namibian Newspaper launched a photographic competition “Our Coast Your Photo” in an attempt to highlight the concern about the coastal environment in light of the proposed industrial & mining plans….

From the close to 600 entries a selection of about 50 photographs, plus the top category entries, will be exhibited. The winning photograph will be announced at the opening of the Swakopmund exhibition on 31 March, and this person will walk away with the N$10 000 in cash.The judges of the competition are Amy Schoeman, Roy van der Merwe and Taimi Shejavali.

I participated in this competition, because I believe strongly that we all need to get involved to protect our environment and what better way for an artist to use their art? And this particular subject matter bothered me some time ago and I actually just had finished some work, which I thought would be perfect for this competition. And why this is even more exciting? I have been told that I am one of the finalists….*blush*

So all you lovely people, if you happen to be in Windhoek or Swakopmund at those dates, come to the opening and support this great cause! I would love to see you all there and I am sure there will be many exciting works on show. If you cannot make it for the openings, well, there is more time to view the shows afterwards too, so don’t miss it.

And there is another good reason to go and view the exhibition:

The Organizers have now compiled the top photographs for each category, and are inviting the public to predict the winner in each category via SMS! The person who predicts the correct photographs in all the categories, will stand a chance to win N$1000! For those of you who are not in town, these photographs will be available as from 8 March 2012 on the website of The Namibian Newspaper and the Facebook site for the competition.

Looking forward to seeing you either in Windhoek or Swakopmund. And keep watching this space – I will post some pics of my artworks after the opening.

A(nother) Scream

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“The Scream” by Edvard Munch is up for sale at Sotheby’s in New York. If you have not started saving loooong ago and been earning a ridicules salary, or recently inherited vast sums of money, you will most likely not be able to afford the U$ 80 million price tag on this one.

What I find particularly interesting is that “The Scream” is not your usual “pretty picture” which would sit comfortably above your dining table. It is angst-ridden and full of paranoia… not pretty, but honest, and because it seems as if it came straight from the heart, it also touches our souls in a deep and sometimes disturbing way. It lays bare our vulnerabilities and fears, which we usually hide behind a façade of prettiness (pretty clothes, pretty make-up, and pretty deco in our pretty homes….). Maybe its strength lies in reminding us that we are intensely alive and human, even in the mediocre, materialistic and semi-comatose rat-race which we have created for ourselves. We all can identify with it, and, even if only for a short time, it changes our perceptions and gets our primal instincts roaring. At least that is how I feel.

There are two reasons, why I am sharing this with you today. One is that I have often heard the following said about my own art: “Wow, this work is so powerful and interesting, but I do not want to buy it, as it would be too depressing to hang above my couch (or in my dining room)”. Granted, those who know my art well, agree that many of my works are not easy to live with because of their powerful content or expression. I totally understand that.

I am very fortunate that I work in such a wide variety of styles and subject matter that many different tastes and needs are catered for and my artworks are hanging in homes all over the world. And quite a few of my more socio-political and ‘disturbing’ works have also found appreciation and buyers. So all I am saying, if an artwork touches you but is not pretty in the traditional sense, maybe you can buy it anyway. You do not need to put it up in your living room. You can keep it somewhere where you can contemplate it every now and then and where it can be kept save as a possible investment for your grand-children. Art investments generally bring good returns, if you are patient and lucky – after all, not all artists are Munch or Picasso, but you would usually only find out after we are dead.

Secondly, recently I have made my own version of “The Scream” which I wanted to share with you. It is based on a press-image that I have found several years ago (I think it was from the Iraq war) and on Munch’s painting. It is titled “A(nother) Scream”.

A(nother) Scream by Imke Rust (c) Mixed Media on Canvas 29x41cm

Sorry, this work is already reserved for an interested buyer, but if you like to have an option on it, drop me a line. Munch has made four different versions of “The Scream”; so, in case you are interested, I would be happy to make a personal version of “A(nother) Scream” for you.

Or browse my webpage for getting an impression of the other artworks I have available – you might just find something worth investing in 🙂 .

Hero Dogs

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Hero Dogs 1© Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19cm

Not many people know the little series of “Hero Dogs” which I have made several years back.

These works were made in honour of the dogs we humans use to save people’s lives in so many ways, especially when disaster has struck or to prevent crimes etc. and who are seldom acknowledged for their brave and wonderful work.

Somehow the works have never been on exhibition before, and I never had good enough images of them to share them by other means. They are old, but still very special to me, and after a friend expressed her interest in them (thank you, Jutta) I thought I will scan them and share them with you today.

Enjoy!

Hero Dogs 2 © Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19cm

Hero Dogs 3 © Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19cm

Hero Dogs 4 © Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19cm

Hero Dogs 5 © Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19cm

Hero Dogs6 © Imke Rust 2003 Collage 20x19c

… and YES, they are for sale 🙂

Finally a new blog…and virtual tour of my studio

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My apologies for letting you wait so long, but the good news is, that the less I write blogs the more time I am spending creating new art… AND this time I have a very special treat for you, read on to find out what it is.

I have been working a lot, but also had some (more social) fun, when I finally held a studio-warming party last weekend – just in time, before the colder winter days are creeping up on me. Many of my new and old friends from Berlin came and were treated to some good food, wine and beer and a selection of my old and new work. And I was so happy that so many of you came to share this with me!

I was especially excited, because one of my absolute favorite artist, Max Neumann and his lovely partner Sonja Kopp, also braved the distance into the deepest Pankow to join the small party. Wow, his art inspires me so much, so I felt honored that my humble studio already has been visited by such a great artist.

The evening was relaxed and so much fun, that I unfortunately totally forgot to take pictures to share with you. But, our good friend Reinhard Schubert (King Panorama), has kindly created an amazing 360º Cubic Panorama of my studio and has shared this with us on the net. So you can take a leisurely, virtual stroll through my little studio, with some old, some new and some unfinished works, the buffet still almost untouched and before it got too crowded. Use your mouse or the arrows to turn left or right, and zoom in or out. Thank you, Reinhard!

Welcome to my studio! Click here to step inside…

A still view of my Berlin studio (c) Reinhard Schubert

In search of elves and fairies and green, green grass

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Yellow Heart - Yellow flowers and moss on a rock

As a Namibian desert girl I recently had an interesting and exciting time in the very green and lush mountains of South Tyrol. All the dense vegetation was amazing, the little mountain creeks with their clear water fascinating and I especially fell in love with the soft moss growing everywhere. I was reminded of childhood stories of dwarfs, fairies and elves living in the forests and sleeping on beds of moss, carrying sweet forest berries as decoration and giggling under red and white mushrooms… as a child I did not know these things and wonderful places and my imagination ran wild. Now I walked through such magical forests in awe and wonder like a little child, eating some forest strawberries and making some art. I did not see any elves or red-capped dwarfs, but still I had lots of fun with the invisible spirits of nature and art.

Ok, I do not want to bore you with long stories, but rather just share some pictures of my small interventions in nature. So, here they are:

Location: Oberperflhof, approximately 1,500m above sea level, close to Katharinaberg / Monte Santa Caterina – in the Schnalsvalley (Val Senales), Italy.

Date: July 2011

Yellow Heart (close) - Yellow flowers and moss on a rock

8m garland woven of small cedar branches

Sprial on stone wall (8m garland woven of small cedar branches)

Rock, branch & grass

Light, leave tips and wood

Berlin Stages

The shoes you wear… and how they are connected to my art

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The shoes you wear… and how they are connected to my art

Many years ago, back in my early student years, I had this really fun idea. Some found it a bit morbid, while others gave me worried looks… but I am used to that.

For some reason, I cannot remember exactly why, I chose to use shoes as my subject matter. Shoes as packaging of the human foot…. and packaging which eventually shapes its’ contents. Not being the biggest fan of high heeled shoes, I developed the idea of the high heeled shoe eventually shaping the foot, very similar to the old Chinese tradition of keeping women’s feet small and childlike, through tortuous means. (Ok, now I remember the reason…)

So this is how I imagined your foot would look like if you would continuously wear the common high heel shoe:

Sketch of horse-shaped foot by Imke Rust (c)

Different stages as documented in my sketchbook, eventually turning into a kind of horse-like hoof. (Mind you, horses are very elegant, so maybe nothing wrong with women striving to have feet like them?)

I even worked the idea into a life-size clay-sculpture (one of my first objects done in clay) based on one of the imaginary middle stages of the deformed foot:

And now the reason why I dug up these old sketches and the sculpture for you and why I am writing about it in my blog today: Recently I found this in the newspaper:

found in The Namibian 18 March 2011

I always like it, if I find that somebody’s thoughts, somewhere in the world, are similar to mine. Isn’t it amazing? And often with a tiny little envy I wonder why their thoughts make it to the newspapers, great art shows or into designer shops with huge price tags, and mine don’t….?

And I know the answer: because my sketches stay safely tucked away in my piles of sketch books, my sculptures are catching dust on my windowsill and my personal confidence still needs a lot of nudging and pampering and support before I can truly believe in myself and take my ideas and art work to the next level. And I also know: the idea was cool, but far away from resolved, my sketches were fun, but not great and my sculpture was a beginner’s object, which got damaged before it could ever be shown… fortunately I have come a long way since that horse foot idea.

Besides: the designer horse shoe idea is cool – but honestly: have you ever seen somebody walking around in those? Or are you secretly wishing you could afford such silly designer hooves yourself? Or know anybody who does? Naaah – me neither, but I know quite a few wonderful people, wearing comfy, good-looking shoes, who have my art on their walls or at least know somebody who does. And hey – you are reading my blog and not theirs! Da! ;o)

Thank you for your support of my art and ideas! And if you enjoyed this post or if you like my art or ideas, please subscribe to my blog and please recommend it to your friends. It would make my day!

Art in the Park (Berlin)

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Summer has arrived in Berlin, with lovely warmth and sunshine. So it is the ideal time to get out and make some art outside. As i still do not have a studio, working outside is another great way of being creative.

There is a small community park just around the corner from where we live, so while the others played Badminton I kept myself busy with this…

For a change, not so much text and rather more pictures. Enjoy!

Untitled land art intervention by Imke Rust.

(Gemeindepark Lankwitz, Berlin, 7 June 2011)

Portrait of a Dog

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Bolle

In his fearless quest to protect my brother and father on the farmstead, Bolle, the dog pictured above, has killed several snakes during his life. Unfortunately during his last fight with a vicious black mamba, he got bitten so badly, that unlike previous times, he did not survive the venom and died in September 2010. The loss of the dog was a very sad event for my brother, as he has raised Bolle from being a tiny puppy and the two were inseparable.

For my brother’s birthday this year, I have painted this portrait of Bolle from a photograph which I had taken some time ago. Through the artwork, at least the memory of this special dog can live on in a “physical” form.

Although I have painted many dogs, it was a personal challenge to paint the portrait of Bolle. This was not just any dog and it was meant as a gift to my brother – so it had to really look like him and hopefully also somehow catch his spirit and nature. I am happy, that somehow, while I painted, the trusted magic has happened once again and my brother was overjoyed with his gift. The painting was done on an aluminium printing sheet, which was used to print newspapers – that explains the text which shimmers through the background ;o)

My brother with his painting

Many people know me as “the artist who has painted the red dogs”, due to my firstpublic success with winning the Standard Bank Namibia Biennale with the “Bitumen Dogs” in 2001. I have often worked with images of dogs, usually as a metaphor for different human relationships, most notably for my “Power & Politics” series. I like painting and drawing dogs, they have interesting and versatile forms and shapes. And yes, I love dogs, but not more than other animals. And no, I do not have a dog myself. I am more a cat person. (Click on the links above if you like to view more dog artworks.)