The exhibition will run from 15 March – 10 May, 2025
GREEN IS NOT A COLOUR
A solo exhibition by Bruce Backhouse
For twenty years, my paintings have depicted the vast arid areas of the Karoo and Kalahari. About a year ago I moved from Johannesburg to literally greener pastures, the KZN Midlands, where I have a studio at the Old Mushroom Farm.
By stepping out the door I find not just the landscapes are my new subject, but also a new reality – a green palette. I am colourblind. Little did I realise how complicated I would find the colour green, with its hundreds of hues. Green does not exist on the Basic Primary Colour Chart (red, yellow and blue).And of the greens in the Midlands none are found in a tube of paint, so these landscapes are created by mixing yellows and blues into the various tones.
This show gives a taste of an artist’s transition from the arid Karoo to my studio at the Old Mushroom Farm, where I’m surrounded by a brand-new way of seeing and doing.
Biography
Bruce Backhouse, born in Pietermaritzburg South Africa 1950, is a landscape painter who lives in the Midlands, Natal. Bruce started out as a fine art student at Rhodes University under Brian Bradshaw, then enjoyed a successful 25-year career in advertising as an art director and creative director. He spent eight years managing Image Bank South Africa before becoming a full-time artist in 2004.
Throughout his career, Bruce has immersed himself in the vast arid interior of South Africa – the Great Karoo and the Kalahari. His landscape paintings are the consequence of his intense visceral relationship with uninhabited aridity devoid of human manipulation. Since moving to the Midlands, we see a significant shift to the green and lush landscapes of Southern Africa.
Preferring to work on location, never from photographs, he is a firm believer in the subconscious development of the artists mark with “time in the saddle”.
Please contact Glynis – (+27 83 457 4851) or Kyra – info@gallery2.co.za for any further information.
Fourteen Friesland Cattle, KarkloofNorth Coast sugar farm with Indian OceanSt. Lucia KZN. Estuary feeding frenzyKnuyswagendrift, near Ladysmith, Klein KarooMisty Day Nhlazela – SoldNieu Bethesda – SoldGlen Eland, Southern BergKaroo Stillness – SoldNkumbi Viewsight Kruger ParkDistant Karoo Storm (listen carefully)Four Karoo KoppiesGariep Dam Near Bethuli 1Gariep Dam Near Bethuli 2Albert Falls Dam from My Studio in Karkloof – SoldUnder the Canopy, Karkloof ForestWakkerstroom, Cosmos Season IOlifants Camp, Kruger National Park – SoldStettynsMidlands farmlands with NhlazaanA Different Aspect of Albert Falls Dam (view from my studio) Midlands Morning Mist Karkloof Valley, With SpitzkopKaroo StormNorthen KZNOutside Philippolis, Gariep Road, KarooKaroo Atmosphere Series VIIKaroo Atmosphere Series VI Karoo Atmosphere Series VKaroo Atmosphere Series IVKaroo Atmosphere Series IIIKaroo Atmosphere Series IIKaroo Atmosphere Series I12 Impressions Around Karkloof
