Casper de Vries convinced the world on Thursday night that what started as a hobby and grew into a passion, is now a credible new direction for him. The popular comedian unveiled 46 of his paintings at the opening of his first art exhibition at Emperors Palace.
Introducing De Vries was friend and fellow comedian John Vlismas, who himself has been an accomplished artist and art collector for eight years. Calling De Vries “a true original”, Vlismas expressed his admiration for the comedy veteran’s accomplished investigation into a completely new genre.
Guests arrived inside the Theatre of Marcellus, the venue where De Vries had performed his one-man shows for the last 10 years, to find that all the seats had been removed, with paintings dramatically covered in cloth draping hanging around the side of the auditorium and on the stage.
Once De Vries and his beloved dogs had joined Vlismas on the stage to declare the exhibition open, the drapery was removed by ushers to reveal a riotously colourful, passionate body of work. Paintings of De Vries’s dogs charmed, alongside intimate family portraits and abstract works that reminded of Jackson Pollock here, early Walter Battiss there. But De Vries is the first one to say that he is not trying to emulate any other artist. “I started painting two years ago, for myself, and not with the idea that it would ever get to an exhibition. As more and more people saw the paintings, including my artist friends, I gained confidence and was eventually persuaded to show my work to the world. I am very young as an artist, and I am still experimenting with every style that interests me without trying to copy anyone else. It is an organic learning process that I am enjoying very much!”
The choice of paintings for the exhibition lay with the curator De Vries appointed, art historian Eunice Basson. “I am very impressed with Casper’s work,” Basson says. “As I went through the paintings I was struck by his instinctive grasp of colour, and his quick mastery of acrylic paint. But aside from the technique there is such as humanity about the way he approaches his subjects, he has a natural artist’s eye for composition and angle that make the work so charming. The selection I settled on is very eclectic, showing a bit of everything, because that is how it has to be for this introduction. Future exhibitions will no doubt be more focused on specific styles. He is still learning and growing and developing as an artist, and I am very excited about his future.”
Paintings have already started selling briskly. Art @ the Palace runs from 21 to 26 February 2014 in the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperors Palace. It is open from 3pm to 9pm daily, and De Vries will be in attendance daily.
