Five illustrators contemplate the end of summer

The exhibition Summer’s End bids farewell to summer in the Southern Hemisphere and simultaneously welcomes new gallery The Drawing Room to the Cape Town art scene. The exhibition features the work of five South African artists.

Summer’s End is a nostalgic celebration of the retreating season, and many of the exhibited artworks explore the blurring between life and death that occurs during the autumn months.

The five artists – Carla Kreuser, Maria Lebedeva, Adrie Le Roux, Marli Lyon and Lucy Stuart-Clark – use a variety of media and techniques including collage and illustration.

The owners of The Drawing Room are Derek and Candice Allison, a photographer and a curator from Durban who met while living in London.

“We found [in London] that the idea of a mixed-use space has become essential for alternative galleries and creative venues to survive in the current economic climate,” says Candice.

The Drawing Room – located in Observatory – will be a social and creative space, a café and a gallery offering a platform for different art forms.

“We are motivated by collaboration and have been inspired by the amount of interest we have received from creative entrepreneurs who have seen the space and the potential it offers,” says Candice.

As the name of the gallery suggests, drawing is at the heart of its operations and its exhibitions will focus on celebrating contemporary illustrating, drawing, graphic design, printmaking and the humble sketch. The Allisons are planning film screenings, workshops and informal illustration classes as well working with Open Studio Entertainment, which will be hosting creative “Show and Tell” events every second Friday.