A group exhibition

with Stuart Dods, Trude Gunther & Bastiaan van Stenis

6 - 29 June 2024

Permit me to weather on this cherry chaiere is a an exhibition about insisting on the space or freedom to be oneself. The word chaiere is from Middle English – a form of English spoken between the 11th and the 15th century – and can refer to a comfortable seat, a raised seat or throne, or a position of authority.

It features new paintings by Stuart Dods, Trude Gunther and Bastiaan van Stenis.

“In this body of work I was interested in exploring how to express a narrative (of feeling) visually through the materiality of paint and colour to transfer my feelings around a story. I discarded seeing the cherry red, cherry blossom chairs of romance and sweet honey pinks. I thought about parameters of boundaries between our internal and external worlds,“ says

Trude Gunther.

For Stuart Dods, it is “…humorous and also a bit scary to think that we now need a permit to paint freely on Table Mountain. For me the title of the show is a poetic statement about finding acceptance of some sort within an ever changing world."

Bastiaan van Stenis thought the title “… reflects the overarching theme of freedom. Intricate elements facilitate growth, maintenance, and eventual decay, much like steel or wood in its structure. The very fibres composing it will deteriorate, only to begin anew. Similarly, we as individuals share this cycle; we must grant each other the freedom to love, live, and ultimately make our own choices, even amidst the complexities of societal norms. Our emotions may seem like constructed beliefs, leading us back to primal instincts akin to a form of dementia. In essence, we, too, are like trees—subject to the cycle of life and deserving of autonomy.”

Permit me to weather on this cherry chaiere opens on 6 June and concludes on 29 June 2024.