Renowned artist and Bloemfontein local, DuPreez Strauss, will debut his latest solo exhibition at the Du Monye Art Gallery during its official opening tomorrow evening.
The event will feature an address by the Chairperson of the South African Academy for Science and Art, Prof HP van Coller, as well as a piano recital by Strauss. The exhibition showcases the artist’s charcoal works – originally created in 2021 during a time of personal tragedy.
“While I am originally from Bloemfontein, I have never worked here, and very seldom in South Africa,” Strauss told Bloemfontein Courant. He is well-known for conducting The Lion King musical in South Africa and abroad, and has also worked in production management for television programmes in both Australia and Germany until recently.
“South Africans will most likely recognise me as a television personality, but that is only a small part of what I do,” he explained.
Strauss has now chosen what he calls a “soft retirement” in Bloemfontein. “I recently realised that I need to take it easy, but I do have this exhibition that has been in storage for nearly five years, and that has never been seen by anyone.”
“When I opened the works for the exhibition, it was like opening a time capsule from almost half a decade ago,” he said. At the time, he was facing hardships – losing his partner, their home, and, due to Covid, a large part of his career.
“Though my life felt like it had burnt to charcoal, I started looking at myself in the mirror in my studio, and began taking the metaphorical charcoal that my life had become, sketching what I saw in the mirror.”
Strauss explained that while many of the works may appear chaotic at first, each contains a focal point reflecting what he saw in the mirror – representing his determination to keep going and not give up despite his circumstances. “That felt like an extremely liberating exercise – meeting the true version of myself. Losing everything is a purifying exercise, like burning something into charcoal, and what remains is the version of yourself that no one can take away from you.”
Strauss is also an advocate for young South Africans to pursue art as a career and as a means of wealth creation. “There is a massive gap in the arts in South Africa,” he said. “Especially in terms of what it takes to create art, and to create wealth through art.”
‘Seeing in the Dark’ will be on display at Du Monye until 1 October before moving to Australia, Johannesburg, and Cape Town.
Warren Hawkins
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