Gail Catlin
The inescapable power and vibrancy of Gail Catlin's work has earned her a reputation as one of South Africa's most spirited and compelling artistic innovators. Her work is represented in all the major public art museums and corporate collections
in South Africa and she has been invited to exhibit in France, Russia, England, Germany and America.
Gail is the first artist in the world to exploit Liquid Crystal as the basis for her artistic creation. This highly sensitive, scientific, substance responds immediately to changing intensities of temperature and light with dramatic shifts of colour, reflectivityand sheen. Thereby it has enabled Gail to create a constantly changing, live pictorial surface. Its dynamic chromatic
and luminary mutations inject added visual drama and excitement to the artists chosen themes the life of the isolated African desert, the burning sun, the landscapes, the huge variety of wildlife and the endless cycles of hunting, killing and devouring.
Gail's personal contribution to world art is that her works have achieved a kind of metastasis the ability of the artwork
to escape fixity and to constantly transform itself like a kaleidoscope. She has achieved this by simultaneously being
an alchemist, scientist, magician and artist.
Gail has produced a unique body of work, not only in terms of her abstract imagery and dramatic chromatic effects,
but also because of the lively responsiveness of her artworks to the viewer. The paintings literally 'dance', reaching to body temperature or a passing cloud, the effect as the crystals warm and cool is mesmerizing. It refracts the light in different directions akin to a brilliant faceted diamond. Her canvas of choice is glass, which enhances the translucent quality
of the crystal. Working mainly from the reverse side, Gail builds her mirror image layer by layer with the dexterity
and confidence of an accomplished artist who is at one with her medium.
Text: Gail Catlin
AVAILABLE WORKS
Archival Hand Rendered Prints on 310g Hannemule Paper and Untitled, Mixed Media
ARCHIVED WORKS
Bird, Mixed media on paper 280mm x 250mm
Bird, Mixed media on paper 280mm x 250mm
Bird, Mixed media on paper 280mm x 250mm