Current Exhibitions:
- ALEXA MAKE SOME ART 18 May to 15 June | Artist’s Statement
André S Clements (1973, Pretoria) integrates a broad spectrum of contexts and modalities in his practice, striving for a balance between the traditional, especially atelier-based disciplines and contemporary technological affordances in artistry.
André is a husband, father, artist, developer, occasional activist, programmer, photographer and facilitator.
Having exhibited in Johannesburg (South Africa) and Bordeaux (France) his work features in various private and corporate collections both locally and internationally as well as featured in multiple arts and culture publications, most recently in Herri 7. André also hosts Life Drawing Randburg.
“I make pictures.
I also like layering, integration, hybridisation, and things like ontological integrity, sensitivity, kindness, skill, connection and creativity; which I understand as nurturing new or different relationships between previously un-, or otherwise related elements towards desirable outcomes. Figuring out, finding… the last part of that definition, the ‘what is worth pursuing?’ is the hardest part, the most interesting to me and arguably the most valuable. Sometimes, in some ways, perhaps that is what art is about – the appreciable manifestation of creativity.
What is desirable?
Vita-socio-anarcho: life, communion, non-domination
or love.
I believe that aiming to incorporate vulnerability, authenticity, honesty, and humility into a art-making process can and does lead to more meaningful and impactful art.
I define art as “the appreciable manifestation of creativity,”; that art is something that can be perceived and appreciated, and that it is a product of creativity. I define creativity, as mentioned above, as “creating new or different relations between elements… towards desirable outcomes”, arguing that art is not simply a representation or expression of the artist’s subjective experience, but rather something that arises from the dialogue of elements, the relationships between them, within-, and in relation to-, a larger context.
I also wish to understand more about how others integrate and realise values into their art practice and work and how it contributes to more wellness and meaning in our world and it’s many woes.