Around the World in 80 Dresses

After so much winter I am back at the sunny Cape of Good Hopes. One of my first outings led me to my favourite art association. Rust en Vrede is the name of the historic Cape Dutch venue. What they do there is far from rest and peace. It is full of life and creativity. The vernissage was all about ceramics. Internationally renowned land arist Strydom van der Merwe obliged and contributed a magic circle of small ceramic pieces in earthy colours. Many of the other objects were not less intriguing. The installation of Karin Lijnes was as simple as it was inventive and skillfull. She had put together a square of black and white bottles which she had first slip-cast and then painted. They looked like readymade plastic bottles, thus turning Marcel Duchamp's strategy upside down. For my first sunny morning here I had chosen a sun coloured suit from Zara  and a night blue top from Stefanel as dark blue as the Southern sky at a clear night. It turned out that two of my lady f...

I fell in love with the electric blue bolero before reading the label. May be, the mother and daughter team Helena and Melissa Ross located in Cape Town’s Northern suburb Durbanville are as avid gardeners as I am. Since then I look out for the yellow flower with the dark eye and the beautiful name and not only in garden centres. Thunbergia alata , the Black Eyed Susan , is native to South Africa and so is the brand. When I am in Cape Town I like to buy Proudly South African .                                             

At my favourite art gallery  Rust-en-Vrede in Cape Town' s Northern Suburbs I saw a painting of a bold young woman looking at me as if to say Here I am . What's the price of the world ? I bought it on the spot. At the vernissage I was lucky to meet the artist. Elzabé Kritzinger invited me to her studio in Hout Bay and I had the privilege to see the bulk of her art work. She mainly paints women. I paged through her paintings and dozens of young girls, old women, black women, white women emerged. A fascinating female world. One of them found a home next to her sister in my apartment. They are greeting me and making me glad every time I enter my lounge. Two more took over my bedroom. Some others are populating the internet art platform of saatchiart. Do have a look. My black-and-white jacket from Foschini is contrasting Elzabé’s jouyful colours. Her girls are to occupy centre stage.