Catch (19/20 left) Photograph - Limited Edition of 1

Born in Cape Town, Francois began taking photographs and studying the history of art at the age of 15 at Frank Joubert Art School. His approach comprises of classical black and white photography and thinking that lends lend almost directly from the miksang approach while his love for shape, form and strong contrasts are indefinitely Bauhaus influences. Bound in between this inseparable dichotomy he translates it as such: "I am prodded from both sides equally. The affection of subjects, and the absolute finality of shape and light. And without sounding like a smart-aleck, that dichotomy and the viewer (incl me) become the trichotomy. My works hold those reins: the heart and the eye, separate aspects woven together. Neither watered down, 100% visual and 100% soul." His works a visually "simplistic" - no need for complication, that portrays creative in-completion / under-development to him. "As your self confidence grows, it changes your perspective on art, and life - the need for complexity disperses - a yearning for simplicity overtakes. One of the hardest parts is overcoming the disillusion that we cannot alter this perception from within." Simplistic also because he refuses to budge an inch to trade off anything for his idea of authenticity: 'beat', creative/pop culture, 'arty' - anything using alternative methods to capture audiences is easy, pointless and considered a creative weakness to him. "I will never photograph a guys head pinned on a tv in a barn - it makes no sense. Id rather capture ten people that grasp this for a lifetime than 5000 of them that don't for ten minutes - that would mean a complete waste of time. My art is a means of communicating with the more developed minds. Stare at it and see - Im not afraid to showcase my thoughts." He avoids any socialistic or journalistic influences - and strongly agrees that real creative photography is an amalgamation of the human spirit and mind: a free spirit requires a free mind, and vice versa. Having those interlocked means there is little room for pure artistic expression outside those parameters, whereas sadness/negativity robs us of this symbiosis. He agrees that this is one of our collective and simple symbiotic goals, in contrast to the irony of our complex nature - to live, perceive and create from within this inner peace: "Letting the deep-conscious pluck the strings, press the shutter - imagine the picture.