‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019. Paintings, ceramic sculptural forms and etchings by David Bellamy. All furniture by LIM.
SCULPTURAL VESSELS, PAINTINGS AND ETCHINGS
David Bellamy launched his new ceramic sculptural forms, together with ink paintings and etchings, at a joint exhibition titled ‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’, alongside autobiographical ‘Journeys’ garments by Lianne Burton of Forge. The show ran from 15 to 19 October 2019, in a gallery created especially for the event, Upstairs at LIM in Kloof Street, Cape Town.
“I think of my making as a plotting or documentation of my inner life. I consider the ceramics to be drawings as well as sculptures — abstract and expressionistic, highly charged 3D materialisations… diary pages… thinking as making.
They become a system of autobiography, of journalling, whereby I process and extract deeply felt impressions, observations and emotions — often difficult ones — externalising them and alleviating myself of their occupation and intensity.
They are a record, a trail, of the story of my life... although they would not be so self-evident to others. I think of the process as the Rumplestiltskin phenomenon — whereby artmaking can turn the straw and chaff of one’s life into a kind of a gold, at least to oneself.
We live in increasingly anxious and crisis-ridden times, and I want to be able to look Life in the face, and have a true response to its actuality, without becoming paralysed, so strategies of enablement are required.
These works shown are a product of some of my mechanisms, whereby the intensity of feeling has been burnt off through the alchemy of the kilns, or transformed to a muted night-time regard that one can hold in one’s mind, as a constant — without being overwhelmed.”
— David Bellamy, October 2019
David Bellamy painting: ‘These are the orchids we did not bring to your wake, I’m sorry’ 1, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 50 x 70cm (SOLD) David Bellamy sculpture: Once, Icebergs, 2019. White Earthenware. (SOLD)
David Bellamy sculpture: Once, Icebergs, 2019. White Earthenware. (SOLD)
David Bellamy painting: ‘These are the orchids we did not bring to your wake, I’m sorry’ 1, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 50 x 70cm (SOLD)
‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019. Paintings, sculptural ceramic forms and etchings by David Bellamy.
David Bellamy Imaginary vessel — for the harvest of the late Spring light, blinding, spread upon the sea; a lighthouse on a rocky outcrop, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 29.7 x 42cm (SOLD)
David Bellamy painting: Imaginary vessel for when thinking about the Club of Rome — the limits to growth — impact, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 29.7 x 42cm
‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019. Paintings, ceramic sculptural forms and etchings by David Bellamy. In the foreground: After, a city, 2019. Black Stoneware. 28 x 10cm (SOLD)
David Bellamy painting: The night garden — White Leonotis, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 29.7 x 42cm (SOLD)
David Bellamy painting: The night garden — Pelargonium incarnum 2, 2019. Acrylic ink on Canson acid free paper. 29.7 x 42cm
‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019 / Paintings, sculptural vessels and etchings by David Bellamy.
David Bellamy etching: These are the orchids we did not bring to your wake, I’m sorry, (1). Aquatint and drypoint on Zerkall intaglio, 250gm, edition of 20. Paper dimensions 51,7 x 38,3cm. Image dimensions 29,5 x 22,8cm. Printed @warreneditions
David Bellamy etching: These are the orchids we did not bring to your wake, I’m sorry, (2). Aquatint and drypoint on Zerkall intaglio, 250gm, edition of 20. Paper dimensions 51,7 x 38,3cm. Image dimensions 29,5 x 22,8cm. Printed @warreneditions
‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019. Paintings, sculptural vessels and etchings by David Bellamy. In the foreground: After, a city 2, 2019. Black Stoneware. 25 x 8cm
David Bellamy ceramic painting: In a land in which there has been rain, 2019. 37cm diameter
David Bellamy ceramic painting: A storm, 2019. 37cm diameter
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: The prayers of the birds (to that which made God) 1, 2019. White Stoneware. 17.5 x 28cm
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: The prayers of the birds (to that which made God) 1, 2019. White Stoneware. 17.5 x 28cm
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: The prayers of the birds (to that which made God) 2, 2019. Black glazed Stoneware. 12.8 x 23cm
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: A flower fallen from the tree of life (two parts), 2019. Black Stoneware. 43 x 26.6cm
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: A Coraline vessel large, 2019. Black glazed Stoneware. 21.5 x 12cm
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural forms, 2019. Black glazed Stoneware.
David Bellamy ceramic sculptural form: A Coraline vessel large, 2019. Black glazed Stoneware. 21.5 x 12cm
‘Presence of Mind — A diary as making’ exhibition, Upstairs at LIM, October 2019. Paintings, ceramic sculptural forms and etchings by David Bellamy. In the foreground: After, a city, 2019. Black Stoneware. (SOLD)
All furniture by LIM , 86 Kloof Street, Cape Town.