Colijn Strydom | Crepuscular

‘Crepuscular’ is Colijn Strydom’s second solo show at 99 Loop. Strydom is a visual artist living and working in Cape Town. He received his MA (Visual Arts) from Stellenbosch University in 2008.

Strydom’s subject matter is diverse and draws from literature, history and popular culture. Despite this eclecticism, there is an interrogation of and dialogue with his own masculine Afrikaner identity throughout his work. Additionally, Strydom likes to use humour and irony as tools in his art practice. The realm where spirituality and politics intersect interests him, as well as drawing and painting as subjects in themselves.

The show, 'Crepuscular', is the artist’s attempt to think through the figure of David Beresford Pratt, who unsuccessfully attempted to kill Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd in 1960. The following quote from Pratt’s court testimony forms the nucleus from which Strydom’s paintings evolved:

“The first stage of euphoria suddenly occurred when I was driving my car from Magaliesberg to Krugersdorp. It is difficult to describe. It was as though a light was turned on. I was quite out of breath… later they began in much the same way. The message was infinitely stronger… I had the same sense of mission – to give South Africa a particular message. I still took no action”.