As part of an ongoing series of solo shows by recent Masters of Fine Art Graduates, the Michaelis Galleries are delighted to host the exhibition
The Printer’s Grey, by Darren van der Merwe.

As part of an ongoing series of solo shows by recent Masters of Fine Art Graduates, the Michaelis Galleries are delighted to host the exhibition The Printer’s Grey, by Darren van der Merwe.

Positioned within the fine arts practice of printmaking, The Printer’s Grey is an investigation of the liminal, in-between processes of printmaking in terms of alchemy and ritual through the figure of the printmaker. In drawing attention to the in-between processes during the act of making the artist asserts both its instrumental role in the creation of the print as well as the importance of the process as a site of thinking through the visual. Specifically in relation to printmaking, The Printer’s Grey speaks to and seeks to draw into the gallery space aspects of the in-studio process of making a print – aspects which often remain hidden when viewing a print. The Printer’s Grey is therefore a remediation and reaffirmation of the aura of the printed artwork by drawing attention to the labour, skill and complex thinking processes vested in the making of a print as an autonomous creative act.

In his cathedral and laboratory of printmaking, both as sites of homage to and inquiry of the discipline, it is the act of journeying between moments of contemplation, as well as the interconnectedness of individual experiences, which underpins the thinking process of the project.

Darren van der Merwe completed his BA Fine Arts at Stellenbosch University in 2010, where he first explored the idea of printmaking practice as an embodied thinking process in which the studio experience of printmaking is of equal importance to the final product. Van der Merwe completed his Masters of Fine Arts at Michaelis Art School in Cape Town in April 2013, with distinction.