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Under Freeways Printmaking Exhibition

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Port Elizabeth artist, Alan Basil Grobler works mainly in the medium of linocut. The general focus of his work has been architectural.

Each linocut is hand printed, using a burnishing technique, and are produced in limited small editions.

Much of his current work explores various aspects of the modern urban freeway and our relationship with them, despite their everyday functional use. Life (represented by the bird form) is an integral feature of most of these works and is also intended to symbolize the element of unrestricted movement and passage which the freeway represents.

His aim is to interpret and portray the modern freeway as a continuous, habitable zone for both man and nature.

Geometric and monolithic structural design is interpreted through use of clear, black and white flowing line, bold shape and defined, open space.

Inspiration for these linocuts has been the photographic ‘Freeway Series’ by the American photographer, Catherine Opie, which explores the characteristic reality of current urban Los Angeles.

Alan Grobler was born in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Province. He studied graphic fine art (book illustration) at the Port Elizabeth Technicon (1975-1978) and obtained his National Higher Diploma with distinction in 1980.

He worked briefly as a commercial artist in advertising.

In 1995 he was commissioned as a freelance book illustrator for Heinemann Educational Publishers and in 2000 as a freelance book illustrator for Macmillan Educational Publishers. In 2008, he was invited to present a linocut printmaking workshop held at the KV Art School, Goteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden. In 2008, his research article Frank Pickford Marriott – A Post-Pre-Raphaelite, 1871-1935, was published in Looking Back, Volume 47, a journal of the Port Elizabeth Historical Society.

Grobler has exhibited on numerous local and international exhibitions – 1986 to date. His work is represented in collections at the Frolunda Kulturhus, Goteborg, Sweden; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley and artEC (formally Eastern Province Society of Arts and Crafts, EPSAC). His work is also represented by the South African Print Gallery, Woodstock, Cape Town.

Gallery Hours

  • Monday to Friday: 9am to 4pm
  • Saturday: 9am to 1pm
  • Closed Sunday and Public Holidays

The Under Freeways exhibition starts on 11 October and ends at 1:00 pm on Friday 21 October.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.