AD-Reflex SOLO exhibition “Hindsights and Foresights” (2019)
Project Statement
“Of all the forms of wisdom, ‘hindsight’ is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving. With the benefit of hindsight one begins to search one's past for such 'turning points', and is apt to start seeing them everywhere.”
AD-Reflex
Artist duo, AD-Reflex, was formed in 2015 and consists of contemporary South African artists Johan Conradie and Karl Gustav Sevenster.
Exploring duality and unexpected juxtapositions of beauty and decay, their work resists and transcends perceptions of traditional boundaries morphing effortlessly between abstraction and representation.
The more abstract works celebrate the mimetic qualities of 'paint' as a medium (both in its traditional form and through digital painting), together with process-led abstraction. Through the experimental nature of their processes and the use of the oil medium with various binding mediums, the work borders on the ‘alchemical’. Mythological landscapes, drips and digital elements appear, then melt away in an endless mimicry, where no clearly drawn distinction between the painterly and the digital.
AD-Reflex undermine the idea of flawless progress in the contemporary moment, that the right direction is always known. Instead, everything can mix with everything; everything is possible and in perpetual transformation. Triviality mingles with glamour, banality with sophistication, and despair with beauty.
Hindsights and Foresights navigates moments of unexpected beauty in the mundane. Textured riots of colour pervade landscapes of rubble and plastics, plucking them from their solemn destiny. At once an ode to the Baroque culture of consumption, the body of work also draws parallels between the multiplicity of consumer goods that fill our daily lives, those who subvert them through their continuous plastic recycling efforts, and the triumphant spirit of transformation.
Following numerous international awards and recognitions including The Artbox Project Basil 1.0 (Switzerland, 2017), Alchemical Beasts - Miami Art Fair (Miami, 2018), Re:Artiste - Show Your World: Competition Winner (New York, 2018), London Contemporary Art Prize: Finalist (London, 2018), F the Art World: Fine Art / Mixed Media Competition Winner (New York, 2018), Nina Torres Art Award of Excellence: 2nd Place Winner (Miami, 2017), Highlights and Foresights is the first Ad-Reflex solo exhibition in South Africa.