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Lees in Afrikaans.

An installation at Spier in the Stellenbosch winelands is a reminder that you don’t have to visit a gallery to be exposed to art. The large-scale piece by Marco Cianfanelli features a mosaic image set on nine tall columns and takes art into the realm of architecture, giving it a functional quality and inviting viewers to submerge themselves in the work.

The Dying Slave by Marco Cianfanelli sits at the junction of two footpaths on the Spier wine farm. Like Marco’s acclaimed Madiba sculpture, the work features columns that together create the completed picture.

Marco based his large-scale image on Michelangelo’s well-known figure of a male slave in the throes of death. It was created digitally, using a photographic source, and then digitised into lines of pixels, which were created in mosaic by artists from Spier Architectural Arts, working in conjunction with the Spier Arts Academy to offer employment-based training in contemporary mosaic.

“Initially, I was concerned that the roughness of stone mosaic used would not be conducive to achieving a slick digital effect,” says Marco. “After seeing the first sample created by the studio, I realised that the richness of texture and the intense colour of glass added an incredible dimension that made perfect sense with the concept.”

www.spier.co.za/thedyingslave/index.htm, spierarchitecturalarts.com

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Based in Union House – a building inhabited by various creative industries including the Spier Arts Academy, the Creative Block project, an architectural practice and a graphic design studio – the room is an instant talking point among visitors.  

John Blignaut, who heads the Pulling Rabbits graphic design studio, and his sister Jeanetta, who is in charge of the Spier Arts Academy, together recreated the floor from Jeanetta’s project for her master’s degree in art. 

“Books were a big theme in Jeanetta’s work,” John explains. “She had the whole gallery floor laid out in books for her final project. It was so effective that we decided to recreate it in our previous office and now in Union House in Commercial Street.” 

John says the old fabric bindings, illustrations and debossing techniques on many of the books on the floor have filtered into the pair’s design language. 

Pulling Rabbits 021 465 8778, www.pullingrabbits.co.za

Spier Arts Academy 021 465 9029, www.spierartsacademy.co.za

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