"Through Jo’burg". Oil on canvas. 170cm x 120cm. 2011. (sold)

I have recently started a new body of work, “Through Jo’burg”. The works are inspired by a walk through the this (left) landscape.
While exploring the inner city Jo’burg a few months ago, I managed to get access into various buildings with some incredible views of Jo’burg. From many sketches and hundreds of photos , one stuck out.  A view from a building on Fountain Street, Fordsburg (left).
The painting is almost 2 metres high. While working on the piece, my mind kept zooming into the landscape and I imagined walking around inside it. Who are the characters in there and what are their stories? So I decided to find out, I walked from the foot of the building in the foreground, through the landscape, to the Telkom tower in the distance, sketching and taking photographs along the way. The route took me through Fordsburg, into Newtown, across the Nelson Mandela bridge into Braamfontein and to the Telkom Tower (I was careful, my experience was nothing but pleasant).  The images I gathered of people in cafés and shops to sky scraper street
scenes in this fascinating city will be the subject matter of the body of work.

Themes that I’ll be looking at:
-   Macro vs. Micro- zooming out (quiet, collective) and zooming in (busy, subjective).

-  The natural flow that exists in an energetic city.

-  Objective vs. Subjective. Everyone has their own perspective and way of experiencing things. What are the variations and what connects us?

Every few years Chamberley Wines produce a Shiraz. A South African artist is selected to create an artwork for the lable. For the Chamberley 2009 Shiraz, this painting (left) was selected.

The painting is of my sister, Kim.

You can purchase a bottle by emailing john@chamberley.co,za. The wine is delicious!

Painting of downtown Jo Burg.

Nicola Taylor, self portrait, whilst painting at the Tower of London.