The razing of the palace is a limited edition screen print of 25 available in A3. Colijn Strydom and 50ty/50ty’s Jeanne Legrand share more about how it came about here.

“We’ve always enjoyed his work, but his recent direction really caught – and held – our attention,” says 50ty/50ty’s Creative Director Jeanne Legrand. The Meet-in-the-making collaboration draws inspiration from artists’ sketchbooks and their creative processes during lockdown. “Colijns work, subject matter and approach presented wonderful overlaps in that vision.”

Here’s what Colijn had to say about this experience and how his process unfolds and continues to evolve.

Can you share some insights into your sketchbook project and how it evolved?

Beauty Terror Pentheus is the umbrella term for a project I’m engaged in that involves drawing, painting, photography, possibly ceramics and performance. I’m taking on Euripides’ classic play The Bacchae and weaving in elements of my own life. I wanted to find a way, through art-making, to think about gender fluidity but also, importantly, about whiteness (Ancient Greek and Roman culture are commonly regarded as the bastions of Western civilisation, and hence central to the construction of whiteness).

The performance photographs arose out of a need to situate myself within the play as directly as possible. I was surprised and encouraged by what arose and I’ve been developing and playing with the ideas since.

What was it like to collaborate on Meet-in-the-making?

It was a wonderful experience and an honour to collaborate with 50ty/50ty. I have so much respect for them as artists as well as master printmakers, and our conversations and interactions were very inspirational. Being an artist, one often works alone, and it was refreshing to my own practice to be able to engage with others in a creative process.

What emotions do your creations tap into?

The Bacchae is a rich text and the emotions in it range from love, lust, vengefulness and madness to tenderness, hope and regret.

What are you looking forward to next?

I am looking forward to developing Beauty Terror Pentheus to the best of my ability. It still has got a way to go, so for now, I’m staying focused on the path I’m on.

Keep up with the latest from Colijn on Instagram. To buy the limited edition screen print The razing of the palace visit the 50ty/50ty website.

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50ty/50ty is a new online collection of screen prints featuring local designers, artists and illustrators that are all available in editions of 50.

Run by Wim and Jeanne Legrand of Black River Studio, 50ty/50ty has created a platform for local artists to exhibit and sell their work. We chatted to Jeanne about the process.

What made you start this initiative? 

We run a production space specialising in screen printing for the art and design sector called Black River Studio. In collaborating with artists at the studio we recognised the absence of a platform for marketing editioned work. At the same time, we met loads of young people with a keen interest in contemporary South African art, but without the funds to make large investments just yet. So, we came up with the idea of an online platform to keep overheads down, and as a result, prices affordable.

The plan is to build a great online collection of emerging and established artists. We are not rushing to make work just to “fill up” space on the website. We’re curating work carefully, so clients also have the possibility to pair works together. For example, we keep the image area the same, so that pieces can work together when framed and hung next to each other – a good example are the prints by Michael Taylor and Mia Chaplin.

Who would you like to work with in the future? 

We release a new print every month. This month’s offering is Tiger-A by Elsabé Milandri. I cannot disclose all of the artists yet, but the line-up for the next few months includes Siwa Mgoboza, Gerhard Human, Julia Rosa Clarke, Jean de Wet, Liza Grobler, Swain Hogervorst and Marna Hattingh. Due to popular demand we will also release a second Michael Taylor and another Mia Chaplin.

What are the plans for 50ty/50ty?

At the moment, for logistical reasons, we work mostly with creatives based in Cape Town. We’re working on an artist-in-residence component, so we can invite and collaborate with artists from elsewhere in South Africa and eventually Southern Africa.

We recognise the need to have a physical presence too, so the local art fairs are an important showcase for us. The next big event we’ll take part in is the Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg in July 2016.

For more information and to browse work for sale, visit fiftyfifty.co.za.

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