CAPTURED

Mariane Ibrahim Gallery is delighted to present, Captured, the first solo exhibition dedicated to mixed-media artist and sculptor, Seán Slemon opening April 7 2016 and running until May 08, 2016, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 07 from 6 - 8pm.
'Captured' comprises of three works created over a period of five years. Each work departs from an origination point synonymous with the core of Slemon’s practice: making the intangible solid and physical. Each piece in the show breaks that principle down even further by exploring the themes of nature and its relationship to humans, the ability to revert objects to their original, natural form and meditations on light and how it can be manipulated.
Firstly presented in Johannesburg, the main site specific installation, “In the red/ in the black” emulates notions of redemption and resucitation of a once living tree, now dead, ornamented with gold leaves. Slemon draws linkages between the natural and material conditions, man’s eradication of our natural environment, and man as the master-mind of his own destruction. The gilded and suspended tree resembles man made religious statues, which are suggestive of man’s ability to sanctify rather than destroy. Slemon’s practice is an ongoing exercise in bringing to the fore the social-political aspects of his body of work through an examination of equal access to natural resources and what that means for different countries and cultures.

Seán Slemon (b. 1978, Cape Town) is a South African living and working in Brooklyn, New York since 2005. He is recognized for addressing socio-political issues pertaining to the commoditization and distribution of natural resources. His examination of how land, light and street trees are co-opted to create advantage or discriminate underscores the active and passive decisions we make as a society. The result is an intense interrogation of public versus private property, ownership, and the impact this distribution can have on people’s lives.