Main Gallery

Imperfectly Perfect

Marié Vermeulen Breedt & Madeleine Henning
5 November to 27 November 2021

The Association of Arts Pretoria proudly presents a dual exhibition:  Imperfectly Perfect depicting the beauty of ravaged bodies by ceramic artists Madeleine Henning and Marié Vermeulen-Breedt.
 
Madeleine Henning states:  “The female figure as an object of beauty is an ageless concept in artistic depiction. The social standard of what constitutes female beauty changes with time and culture, but a constant theme of wholeness prevails.
 
“The physical loss and trauma caused by breast cancer treatment permanently tarnishes perceived physical beauty.  In my work female figures are only recognizable through the portions of clay that have been deliberately cut away and display perfect female beauty in its imperfect, broken form.  “My work is inspired by my own personal struggle with the permanent physical results of breast cancer treatment.  Clay gives me the opportunity to accept these imperfections by finding a way to identify and bring to life a different type of perfection through the imperfect.”
 
On the other hand Marié Vermeulen-Breedt declares:  “This exhibition is an expression of the raw emotion - foreign to me both as person and artist - that I experienced.  I have always felt in charge of my life, but had to come to terms with illness, amputations, a grandchild’s cerebral palsy, farm murders etc., all culminating in the Covid-19 pandemic.  Certainly I couldn’t continue painting only idyllic scenes.  “This theme -  Imperfectly Perfect  - is a combination of my experiences and an intense interest in the reliquaries of the 15th & 16th  centuries, the ceramics of the Della Robbia family  and books of the middle ages illustrating punishment for sins.  “The busts are my own saints, depicting illness or affliction; the vases are reactions to horrific events and the panels showcase my preoccupation with the loss of limbs or reason.  I use ceramics because it symbolises our fragile, precarious existence as it is such a fragile medium in itself.”
 
However, the exhibition Imperfectly Perfect is neither sombre nor depressing and promises to be a highlight on the artistic calendar.