KNYSNA NEWS - Klein Karoo sculptor Freek Steenberg will next week open a very special and personal exhibition to Knysna, through which he hopes to bring his sculptures from the Klein Karoo to the Turbine Hotel in the Garden Route from 4 to 10 December.
Steenberg lives on a farm in the Klein Karoo between De Rust and Uniondale. "Here, in this vastness, I live and practise my trade as sculptor," he said.
For his sculptures, Steenberg mainly makes use of wood and other organic material which he harvests himself from fields, valleys and mountains on the farm.
"An old work bench under a tree is my basic studio. Here, in my open air studio, I spend most of my days, from dusk till dawn."
And when time comes for the sun to set or for rain and cold, Steenberg hunkers down and takes shelter inside the old farmhouse.
"Here I read, I read about art, philosophy, science and my Bible. I found so much fulfilment in reading because as an artist my biggest asset is myself, my mind and my psyche.
"My concepts and perceptions, the way that I see life, influence the way I create art."Steenberg found his way to the farm in the Klein Karoo five years ago while searching for a new form of life.
"A form in which I could exist and evolve. What I found was pure and real, something authentic. I found space, living, breathing, walking space.
"I found real beauty, gentle sensitive beauty, but also powerful and expressive beauty. I found time, time to experience and time to contemplate."
But, despite this newfound life, Steenberg still yearned for a bit more. "I wanted to become part of this freedom, this beauty, this space. I wanted to be authentic, to be pure and real.
One of Steenberg's stunning sculptures.
"The Klein Karoo did indeed change me, it changed my way of seeing reality because it created a new reality for me to see.
"It acted as a stimulus to find space, silence, time and beauty inside of myself, in my own being. I could live simply for the sake of living." Steenberg says he found a freedom in which he can be art and let art be.
"That is precisely what I'm looking for in my own art. Can art change people and by implication change the reality that we live in? The matter of this unique place is beauty in itself but it also lent itself to become a medium for sculptures. It is organic, authentic and have immense beauty," Steenberg said.
"Things like the Wild Olive, Koeniebos and Gwarrie trees, the stones, dry bones, old termite mounds and even the invasive prickly pear can all be transformed in this new form of life called sculptures.
"Sculptures that are fine, gentle and still - they are fragile and need shelter, while others are powerful and expressive - they are free and live in open spaces. My sculptures are the fingerprints of my soul."
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