The Ballery, Germany
27 February – 23 March 2019
The Portrait of Water
In the last minutes of Gus van Sant’s black comedy “To Die For”, Nicole Kidman’s face appears in the water under a layer of ice that still looks so beautiful and young in death, while at the same time symbolizing malice, perfidy and lies.
Art uses water as a mirror for the play between abstraction and reality. Whether at rest or motion, colorless or iridescent – water triggers emotions. Water widens the view to the horizon and into the depths. Even in a drop, images can be created as in a whole ocean. Underwater is space for associations and life. The water is documented and photographed time and again, whether by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Leni Riefenstahl, Jane Campion and countless others – and yet it is always different and – hopefully – never finite.
In his photographs, SaySay.Love celebrates the beauty of the water and everything that hides and reflects in it. What and whom the observers see, they decide themselves. In SaySay.Love’s photographs, movements and colors meet, meet, attract, or fall apart. Shapes dissolve or re-emerge. And they can just be beautiful, hold on to a moment worth living as a photograph. The viewer can participate in the play with the water as in an erotic game.
SaySay.Love amplifies the moment in which he changes light or shadow with the possibilities of the Iphones, he turns on garish or pastel-colored elements, he changes reality like a painter until it corresponds to his experienced moment.
The artist thus crosses the boundaries of photorealism, his works approaching abstract painting. On the border between realism and abstract art, photography and painting, an ideal place has been created for artistic mediation, catharsis and enjoyment.
“My art highlights water as our most precious natural resource, I hope that it evokes thoughtfulness and awareness.”
Vernissage
Artist’s Prints now available
If you are interested in acquiring exhibited artwork, please contact our representative at the gallery or visit our online shop
More about SaySay.Love
Saysay.Love is a visual activist who spends his time between Cape Town and Berlin. He has made a name for himself with the series entitled the ‘Gift of Water’ which brought attention to the water crises facing the Western Cape in 2018 and will see him present a new body of work in 2019 touching on themes such as “Faked Perfection”, “intimate loneliness” and “Sex with Things”
SaySay.Love shares his unique way of seeing the world through the work he creates. Born with an optical disability that affects his ability to see the world three-dimensionally, SaySay.Love has a different perspective which comes across in his suggestive and provocative work.
His photography is layered with symbolism and based on his emotional experiences and reflections on the social issues. SaySay.Love is passionate about education and the role it plays in social change, supporting a number of charities with the proceeds of his work.
ABOUT THE VENUE
The Ballery presents an independent collective of artists and performers who have stepped out of the main stream to follow their own personal path, and whose artistry comes from a keen observation of the world. Consisting of artists coming from all parts of the world, visual arts, dance, music, film, or literature, each medium is an equally important part of a more global work.