THE JOY PROJECT SOLO AT WORLDART BY KAREN STEWART 5-30 JUNE 2025
PAINTER AND SCULPTOR KAREN STEWART INVITES YOU TO HAVE FUN WITH YOUR EYES
Surrounded as we are by the whirlpool of negative media, world leaders trying to out-mad each other daily, local politicians pushing thorns in our side and Kokerbooms keeling over, artist Karen Stewart has picked up her angle grinder and paint brushes to create a few moments of calm and contemplation.
The over-arching theme of all Karen’s work in THE JOY PROJECT presented at WORLDART in Long Street, is to explore what heals and nurtures people. She believes that art has a valuable message to deliver – one that embraces the creativity, the positivity, and the joy of being human – despite everything.
Her work seeks to allow us to reconnect with our inner playful person. Have fun with our eyes in the hope that our bodies will follow through. This solo show combines steel sculptures – an enlarging and adaptation of a series of small clay works done during the artist’s treatment for an aggressive breast cancer in 2021/2.
The works are about maintaining control when things feels like they are spiralling. The meditative clay grounded and centered her in the health storm. Karen worked with CJ Morkel, a talented artist, welder and worker of steel with whom she studied fine arts at Wits. These works are a collaboration, as are many sculptural works.
The message and impact seemed to evolve over time. Sculpture is slow, so different from painting which feels like instant gratification in comparison and it is hard to communicate the hundreds of hours that were put into these works. The raw steel plates were welded into three-dimensions, graunched with an angle grinder, ground down with a sander, then sand-blasted smooth, patinaed with ungodly chemicals and finally sealed with auto varnish. The resulting three works all stand together, having the same conceptual base – how to build yourself up when things go wrong.
The painted works, framed in ash, combine abstract shapes and vibrant harmonious colours. Colour stimulates our brains and our imaginations and Karen says that she wants her works to inject life and vibrancy onto the walls of homes and working spaces. The shapes are like puzzles that we look at and try to work out in our own heads. The panels are suggestive and make you wonder whatever it is they make you wonder – she invites her audience to read their story into the works. This final collaborative act is what closes the
conceptual circle – when the audience connects with a piece and reads into it something that is personal and intimate. This is the moment when the JOY PROJECT becomes real.
WORLDART specialises in supporting African urban and contemporary artists. Established in 2004, and situated in Long Street Cape Town, South Africa.
This gallery has shown and developed several of South Africa’s now household names in contemporary art like Norman O’Flynn, Kilmany-Jo Liversage, Gavin Rain and Tafadzwa Masudi. The gallery remains committed to introducing new artists with a bright future.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
Walkabouts: Saturday, 7 h June at 11:00
All works for sale
Free Entry
CONTACT
Curator: Charl Bezuidenhout charl@worldart.co.za 082 901 5045
Artist: Karen Stewart studio@karen-stewart.co.za 072 719 6136
For details and updates please visit: www.worldart.co.za
Follow us on Instagram @studiostewart100 @worldartgallery
