Where Light Meets the Brush 2015 | Association of Arts Pretoria

An exhibition that invites the viewer to stay/walk in the light

Corné van Eck is inspired by the Impressionists whose work is characterized by the attempt to depict transitory visual impressions, often painted directly from nature, and by the use of pure broken colour to achieve brilliance and luminosity. They were in essence painters of "light".

It is this essence of light that Corné wants to capture in her depiction of journeys through different Southern African landscapes.

Her landscapes emphasize the changing effects of light by using loose and spontaneous brushstrokes of highlighted colour. ("Each minute an ever-changing light transforms the atmosphere and beauty of things" - Monet.)

Corné's painting process is either one of starting plein-air drawings in pen and ink, or working from photographs to translate the images into oil paintings (some oil and collage) with vigorous brushstrokes. She also implements the fan brush to achieve a blurry effect like the work of Gerhard Richter and Michael Biberstein to create mood and atmosphere in the scenes she depicts.

There is a strong emotional value in Corné's work in the sense that she urges the viewer to appreciate the character of light. Corné emphasizes that the focus on life must be on the mental lightness of being we create within ourselves. We are the painters of our own life dramas... eventually - the light will shine upon us... because she believes life can only be good when mental isolation and escape from gloom becomes possible.

This exhibition serves as a reminder to block out all pessimistic and negative experiences in our daily existence. We can learn to celebrate the positive in the midst of darkness. Corné invites the viewer to walk with her and experience Divine Light.

"And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not" John 1:5