Carmen Brander exhibition

Appalling statistics on child-headed households compelled Carmen Brander to paint alongside vulnerable children, and today her canvasses are inspired by those kids. Don’t miss the artist’s new body of work, “In the beginning”, which manifests the joy of art through the abundance of colour and simplicity.

Carmen studied Fine Arts at the University of Natal before working in advertising and publishing. She managed to work her way to the top, becoming director for an art magazine, but something was holding her back and she decided to open her own design studio. She soon started inviting children from the Thandanani Children’s Foundation in Pietermaritzburg to her studio to play with paint.

Carmen had no intention of teaching and only hoped to provide a happy space for the kids, and they seemed to thrive. Slowly but surely, the kids started painting happier images in brighter colours.

Through this process, the artist realised that her own paintings lacked colour and positive emotion. She began painting with the children of Thandanani in mind – no longer did she try to reproduce what her camera does better and no longer did she labour over her canvas.

Since then, Carmen’s works have been sold to collectors in South Africa, New York, China, Switzerland and Australia.

The new collection is on show at the Lexus Helderberg showroom in Somerset West until 4 May. Contact 021 422 5822 or see www.aigallery.webs.com for more information.