small.jpg)
Lynette Bester completed a Masters Degree in Fine Art (Cum Laude) at the University of Stellenbosch, 2002, majoring in sculpture under the tuition of Alan Alborough. In 2006 Bester was a double finalist for the SASOL New Signatures with HEART: DIMENSIONS VARIABLE and UNTITLED (Violin). Bester participated in a two-man show, WITHOUT MASTER at the AVA in January 2007, for which she exhibited LE MARTEAU SANS MAITRE ( The Hammer Without Master), which was selected as a Top Ten Finalist for the ABSA ATELIER of that year. She exhibits regularly in group exhibitions and has had two solo exhibitions, WHOLES CUT OUT 2002, The Cold Room, Cape Town and HEART: DIMENSIONS VARIABLE, 2005, at Blank Projects, Bo Kaap, Cape Town. In December 2005 she took part in the two week THUPELO workshop in Cape Town and in February 2008 participated in the DWAYER International Visual Arts Workshop for Woman in Alexandria, Egypt. Currently she is working towards her next solo exhibition and an international collaborative project. Lynette Bester is the Head of Department and lecturer in Theory and mixed media design at The Ruth Prowse School of Art, Woodstock. She has been a committee member and convener of the Selection Committee at AVA since 2004 and was a founding member of the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) from 2003-5.
“In this work,
Benchmark, I literally found a public park bench imbued with marks made by sitters over a period of years. The planks were removed from the bench, rolled up with ink and
printed as a wood cut, revealing layers of text, and striations in the aging wood. Benchmark reveals the memory of those who sat on it and made their mark, but also the memory of the object. Benchmark as a print is a record of time and people. However, a benchmark also alludes to a possible future.”
Sit here, and think which way, is a line from a poem, To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvel and refers to the found object of the bench placed in relation to the print. The bench was found in a public park in which Bester played as a child. For the purpose of making the print for Benchmark the planks had to be removed without causing alarm and replaced with new planks. The bench as art object now bares traces of its own existence as a public bench, as well as that of being rolled up with ink and printed. The title: Sit here, and think which way, is an invitation and a command, taking the emphasis off the object and back to the viewer as participator.
HEART: Dimenstions Variable is a volumetric puzzle, constructed by assembling flat puzzle pieces to create a complete three-dimensional object constructed on an ‘x’, ’y’ and ‘z’ axis. The pieces are cut from 16 mm super-wood at specific angles that interlock to create the three dimensional shape. The approach is simultaneously mathematical as engaging with the art-making/viewing process. It explores ways in which the object can be assembled, re-assembled and configured in different spaces.
small.jpg)
Lynette Bester completed a Masters Degree in Fine Art (Cum Laude) at the University of Stellenbosch, 2002, majoring in sculpture under the tuition of Alan Alborough. In 2006 Bester was a double finalist for the SASOL New Signatures with HEART: DIMENSIONS VARIABLE and UNTITLED (Violin). Bester participated in a two-man show, WITHOUT MASTER at the AVA in January 2007, for which she exhibited LE MARTEAU SANS MAITRE ( The Hammer Without Master), which was selected as a Top Ten Finalist for the ABSA ATELIER of that year. She exhibits regularly in group exhibitions and has had two solo exhibitions, WHOLES CUT OUT 2002, The Cold Room, Cape Town and HEART: DIMENSIONS VARIABLE, 2005, at Blank Projects, Bo Kaap, Cape Town. In December 2005 she took part in the two week THUPELO workshop in Cape Town and in February 2008 participated in the DWAYER International Visual Arts Workshop for Woman in Alexandria, Egypt. Currently she is working towards her next solo exhibition and an international collaborative project. Lynette Bester is the Head of Department and lecturer in Theory and mixed media design at The Ruth Prowse School of Art, Woodstock. She has been a committee member and convener of the Selection Committee at AVA since 2004 and was a founding member of the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) from 2003-5.
“In this work, Benchmark, I literally found a public park bench imbued with marks made by sitters over a period of years. The planks were removed from the bench, rolled up with ink and printed as a wood cut, revealing layers of text, and striations in the aging wood. Benchmark reveals the memory of those who sat on it and made their mark, but also the memory of the object. Benchmark as a print is a record of time and people. However, a benchmark also alludes to a possible future.”
Sit here, and think which way, is a line from a poem, To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvel and refers to the found object of the bench placed in relation to the print. The bench was found in a public park in which Bester played as a child. For the purpose of making the print for Benchmark the planks had to be removed without causing alarm and replaced with new planks. The bench as art object now bares traces of its own existence as a public bench, as well as that of being rolled up with ink and printed. The title: Sit here, and think which way, is an invitation and a command, taking the emphasis off the object and back to the viewer as participator.
HEART: Dimenstions Variable is a volumetric puzzle, constructed by assembling flat puzzle pieces to create a complete three-dimensional object constructed on an ‘x’, ’y’ and ‘z’ axis. The pieces are cut from 16 mm super-wood at specific angles that interlock to create the three dimensional shape. The approach is simultaneously mathematical as engaging with the art-making/viewing process. It explores ways in which the object can be assembled, re-assembled and configured in different spaces.
