Opening Thursday, 27 June 2024, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Monotype and Paper Lithography with Chine Collé
Sheet Height: 49.5 x 45.7 cm
Printed in collaboration with printer Sbongiseni Khulu
Natalie Paneng’s interest in the Uncanny Valley lies in its potential to raise eerie, suspecting sensations, where worlds are blended and limitless. Uncanny Valley describes the discomfort that arises from the interaction with things that are recognisably human but undoubtedly, a little bit off. For Paneng, an artist who primarily works in the digital space, it seems natural to be curious about the interim of processing digital information and the ‘real’ – this curiosity has led her to lean into the theme of uncanniness as a prompt to create dreamscapes where the context and the ‘happening’ blend into surrealist loops. The artist motivates her intentions of place-making by creating, “[a space] where the thread of connection and memory is present but there are many levels of blurred accuracy and more than one gravitational force at play”.
Although brought to life through Paneng’s presence and performance, her characters are primarily fictional vessels that express a confident imagination, encouraging viewers to indulge in fairy-like feelings of whimsy and naivety. She returns to the freedom of the inner child through her world-building, intending to share this energy with the viewer while also using her process as a reflective act on self-navigation.
“With each piece Natalie takes us through a journey of self-perception similar to that of Alice In Wonderland, Alice’s shape, size, environment and perception of time is ever-changing, thus her notion of self is constantly in question and as a result self-awareness is brought to being by overloading her, much like when a vivid dream turns lucid and suddenly, you’re awake.” – Sbongiseni Khulu
Join us on June 27th at 17:30 pm
Address: David Krut Projects, The Blue House at 151 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
Parking is available at the Parks Centre opposite the Woolworths Entrance
Contact info-jhb@davidkrut.com or call +27 (0)11 880 4242 for more information.
About the Artist
Natalie Paneng is a Johannesburg based multidisciplinary artist. Paneng received her BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in 2018 and was awarded the Leon Gluckman Prize for the best piece of creative work. Paneng draws on her theatre background and self taught digital skills to create multidisciplinary digital art/new media. Paneng describes herself as a world-builder and sees her growing practice as a way to navigate, share and archive imagined and alternative realities brought to life through digital artistic process.
Paneng was introduced to our operations after being selected as an artist in residence with the Leipzig International Art Programme (LIA) in association with The Centre for the Less Good Idea, who put out an open call to South African based artists from across all disciplines with a focus in digital media output, to apply for a collaborative print-making residency in Leipzig, Germany. David Krut Projects assisted LIA and the Centre with the selection process in Johannesburg and offered the artists a chance to wet their feet in the printmaking world before embarking on their 3-month residencies overseas.
Read More:
Workshop collaboration: Natalie PNG in Wonderland
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