Essence of Perception

curated by Arno Taljaard

2025

Essence of Perception explores the relationship between vulnerability, perception, and transformation.

Through figurative and abstract elements, this body of work considers the human condition as something neither fixed nor fully resolved.

A figure becomes a space of possibility — shaped by experience, observation, and changing perspectives.

Interested in the idea that openness is not weakness but a condition for growth.

Just as our understanding of the world changes through closer attention, our understanding of ourselves remains fluid and capable of reconfiguration.

Rather than presenting transformation as dramatic reinvention, these works reflect quieter shifts — moments of reflection, uncertainty, adaptation, and becoming.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider vulnerability not as exposure alone, but as a willingness to remain open to change and to the possibilities that emerge through it.

Artworks

"Ritual"

Installation art

Ritual examines the quiet routines that shape identity. The installation brings together two seemingly separate worlds: the artist’s full-time work as an electrician and the disciplined practice of painting.

Electrical tools lie scattered beside brushes, sketchbooks, and studies of classical sculpture. Practical labour exists alongside artistic inquiry, revealing that both demand patience, precision, repetition, and years of dedication. Although their purposes differ, each is built upon the same commitment to mastering a craft.

At its core, the work reflects the vulnerability and malleability of the individual. We are continually shaped by the roles we occupy, the knowledge we pursue, and the habits we repeat. Rather than existing in opposition, work and art become part of a single ritual through which identity is formed.

Ritual invites viewers to consider how ordinary acts of making—whether wiring a building or studying the Old Masters—become meaningful through repetition, discipline, and the willingness to remain open to change.