Charlayn Von Solms

Cape Town based sculptor specializing in assemblage.

I bring the walking dead back to life. At least, metaphorically speaking: I create assemblage sculptures from used-up old things to make new sense of ancient concepts. Each of these sculptures were produced via a process of iconographic substitution to provide new visual formats to concepts and ideas that appear to me to be trapped in images and objects that have lost the ability to provoke curiosity.
My chosen subject for this re-calibration is archaic Greek literature, the equivalent of cultural wallpaper in most Western contexts. Here in South Africa with its mixture of African, European and Asian cultures, I have the advantage of experiencing the Classics through a different lens, as familiar and unfamiliar in equal parts. The complex artistry of the Homeric and Hesiodic poems is largely obscured by translations aimed at making these works as accessible as possible to modern readers. The result is an emphasis on content, character, and plot at the expense of form. An experience of the full mesmerizing strangeness of ancient poetics, both in terms of their composition and content, remains the preserve of specialists.

Masters in Fine Art, University of Cape Town
MPhil in Ancient Cultures, Stellenbosch University
PhD in Fine Art, University of Cape Town

4 solo exhibitions (Hermetic Heresies, The Tower of Elemental Memorabilia, A Catalogue of Shapes, and Powell's Patterns 2; 11; 20; 25).
Various group exhibitions.