Artists challenge perceptions of beauty. ‘Skin Deep.’ now open at Gallery One11

SaySay

Exhibition featuring Say Say.Love & Aniek Nieuwenhuis opened at Gallery One11, 111 Loop Street, Cape Town: February 11^th – March 9^th. 

The visionary German artist and social activist SaySay.Love once again poses the question, “What is beautiful?” in his upcoming exhibition entitled ‘Skin Deep’ showing from the 11^th of February to the 9^th of March at Gallery One11, 111 Loop Street, Cape Town.

The project is an exploration of the uncanny valley separating the visceral experience and the unbridled expression of our innermost fears and desires. 

Using an AI-assisted painterly approach in combination with digital photography the artist shines light upon the archetypal twins of the psyche, dancing on the edge of the raging chaos while moving gently to the tune of the tamed and civilized mind.

Each canvas shatters a dark mirror of restraint and breaks the window wide open into the wilderness of each subject’s soul, bringing it out to the shadow and onto the surface – a self-portrait of the unconscious.

‘Skin Deep’ is a departure from his previous body of work titled Intimate Loneliness: Sex with things as the artist is exploring the darker side to identity. In that body of work, he uses photographs of mannequins as symbolism of the world we currently live in, emphasising a disconnection from reality.

The new work aims at stripping yet another layer, to the core which is our distorted image of ourselves.

“Looking at these pictures for a moment, they take me on a journey into the deepest darkest parts of my psyche. The place where all the pain, anguish and dark thoughts, has at some point resided, the childhood bullies, the manipulators, the abusers, the people who willfully harmed for their own gain, my own dark desires, which at times are more fearful than living perpetrators. My voice roars, standing tall, upright and strong...As my roar ends, my eyes find the woman, light, pure, full of love and I’m reminded as always, that no matter how far I travel down into the madness, that there is always a chink in the darkness where life shines in; and I know with every fiber of my being, that love always wins, me a human filled with unfathomable love.. Equilibrium is restored” – SaySay.Love

South African artist Aniek Nieuwenhuis will be exhibiting some of her related work as part of this exciting exhibition. 

Say Say.Love says that he chose to collaborate with Nieuwenhuis because there is a special synergy between the work that they will be showcasing together. “The images that I have created for this project comes from a raw place. ‘Skin Deep’ digs into psychosomatic and fleshy layers of fear and pain. Aniek`s ability in expressing herself through deep alchemical dreaming, shines through in her art. On some unplanned level, her story, is also felt through the canvas of my creation.”