Dion Futerman

ARTIST STATEMENT

Celebrate, celebrate having been blessed with eyes and vision
Dream, dream at night and daydream
Celebrate your dreams and above all celebrate your Creators creations
And find inspiration therein
- Dion Futerman 2008

Having felt a profound connection to the natural environment since early childhood I find inspiration in my emotional response to nature, the landscape, as well as to music and poetry. I do not view my art as fitting into any specific genre as my style is not a label, but much rather an effective tool to express myself and I have journeyed through many phases of expression. Whenever he was stuck for inspiration, Ted Geisel - aka, Dr Seuss - would open a secret cupboard and pull out a hat. He would wear one of his hats from his collection whilst he wrote. Like Dr Seuss I wear different hats, but they reside in the 'creative side of my brain'. I may approach a blank canvass or sheet of paper with a 'realist' hat or an 'abstract expressionist' hat one day, and the next wear a 'surrealist' or a multifaceted carnival hat. Never a 'cubist' hat - I do not wear one of those. I do not like labels, categories or little boxes. Society is comprised of 'little boxes'; we live in little boxes, we work...

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1955, Pretoria, South Africa. Lived and educated in Pretoria and Durban, and relocated to Cape Town in 1995, and later Israel, then returned to Cape Town.

Extract from 2008 interview with American/Israeli journalist D. Rhodes :

When was your interest in making art first kindled?
"I recall at a very early age the family was on vacation. My parents had gone out for the evening and the childminder had fallen asleep. When my parents returned to the apartment they found that I had 'painted' every wall with the contents of my mother's make up bag; so my first ‘painting’ was a 'mural'. My father no doubt was furious (and had to have the entire apartment repainted) but I do recall my mother stoically saying "I think he wants to be an artist".
 
What medium do you have a preference for?
"I explore all mediums, but drawing I am driven towards with a constant obsession. Actually as a very young child I imagined that all of history and the past were in black and white! The newsreels at the cinema and somehow my impressions of the world during my early youth were in black and white; and I love the drama of greyscale and black & white more than colour, but I do also get passionate about colour when painting.
...

1973 - Collection 72 - Group Show - NPA Exhibition Hall Durban, South Africa.
1975 - International Artists Group Show by invitation (with artists from England & France), Madden Gallery Sandton City, Johannesburg, South Africa.
1976 - Solo Exhibition by invitation - Friebel Gallery Durban, South Africa.
1976 - Solo Exhibition by invitation - Shepstone Building (Dept. of Architecture) Natal University, Durban, South Africa.
1970’s/80's - Annual Members Exhibitions - The S.A. Association of Arts (Natal) N.S.A. Gallery, Durban, South Africa.
1987 - 16 Jewellers Exhibition - Group Show - The S.A. Association of Arts (Natal) N.S.A. Gallery, Durban, South Africa.
2018 - Tiny Treasures V - Group Show - art.b Gallery (The Arts Association of Bellville), Belville, Cape Town, South Africa.