Chris Auret
The Journey Men, 2015.
Statement:
I was born in Springs on 21 January 1988. Since then I have lived on a farm in George, before moving to Cape Town in 1999. I attended Rondebosch Boys Primary and High School, matriculating in 2006, under the artistic and influential guidance of Andrew Putter, Kevin Jenkins and Priska Newham.
I studied Visual Communication at Vega Brand School, Cape Town, where I completed a BA in Creative Brand Communications (2007 – 2009). Leaving Vega, I found work as an art director at two separate advertising agencies over 2010 to 2011. At the end of 2011, just as I had officially moved into a friend-run studio called Everybody Love Everybody, I underwent an emergency stomach operation. It was during my time in hospital that I decided to leave my “real” job and “risk” pouring my creative energy into my own projects, thus starting a career as an artist.
Yang, 2012.
I make for myself first, and then others, with good intentions embedded in each brushstroke, film frame or sewn stitch.
I make to explore my own personal experiences. And I make to explore myself in relation to others.
My work aims to portray some sort of energy-filled capsule of a moment. An “object” still possessing life, simply because life went into it.
Seeking Light, 2015.
In this way the moment becomes a little more tangible than just a memory. I can look to my work as reminders of things worth celebrating or remembering. These things or thoughts can leave my subconscious and work their way into my conscious mind simply with the process of painting or creating the piece itself. When I paint, I explore with colour and the vibration created by one against another. My body moves fluid with each stroke. There is some sort of release and intake.
My inspiration can range from portraits of people I’ve come into contact with or would like to come into contact with, to landscapes and animals I respect and admire, to a more surreal representation of personal realisations and the action of story-telling, not forgetting the abstract which arises when lost in the Making process.
Manenberg, 2015, mural, in cooperation with Martin Lund, Skubalisto and Ralph Ziman.
Currently I’m very interested in creating artworks in the public space, predominantly painting murals. I’m interested in the public voice, what people want to talk about, what truths and frustrations exist and in possibly being a conduit for this voice. I’m interested in doing right to wrongs. I’m interested in how far I can take myself and therefore other things.
Constania Nek, 2015.
I also love to make music and surf.
And I love you.(text website artist)