Frikkie Cool Creative - Roelf Daling

HEEEEEEEY Snor City!! Whats a happening today?? Dis n MOER LEKKER dag in die Snor Baai!!! So... We know it has been a week without the usual Frikkie Cool Creative of the week, but do not fear, all hope is not lost!! We would like to present to you, Roelf Daling. An extremely talented P-Town local, who also happens to be a good friend of Frikkie Awesome. The following was written by Roelf specifically for todays post, so sit back, enjoy and let us know what you think! Roelf can be contacted on Facebook or Twitter if anyone is interested in commissioning him for work or even community projects!! Enjoy... 

“...remember that the absence of method is the best method.”

First of all I would like to congratulate Frikkie Awesome for being sooo Frikkie Awesome soos dit! At last we are starting to see a spike in the creative culture of Pretoria and South-Africa. Don’t get me wrong, South-African’s are very creative people, but we are a bit behind when it comes to technology and social media amongst other things. One thing that makes me negative is seeing different aspects of the American culture spilling over into South-Africa. I truly believe that we, as the next generation of creatives, are more than capable of painting an intriguing portrait of South-Africa for the rest of the world. I believe we are creating something so unique that people will stand in a queue to be a part of it. But we are not there yet, we must learn from these foreign influences, and apply everything we do and say to a South-African context. This way we are reinforcing the same pride we share amongst our culturally rich diverCITIES. Now connected in every sense, South-Africa is part of this intimidating global village, and we’ve got so much to show. Soon we’ll share so much that the world will start to wonder why they look like idiots compared to us. And Frikkie Awesome is on the front lines of a NeoAfrican cultural paradigm shift.

Ek is gebore in Pretoria en beoog ook om hier te bly vir die res van my lewe. Ek was nie altyd so patrioties oor Suid-Afrika en Pretoria nie. Ek het in 2004 vir ses maande in London en die Isle of Man gaan werk en het daar my liefde vir Suid-Afrika begin kry. Toe ek terug gekom het, het ek B.IS Multimedia gedoen vir twee jaar waarna ek na BA. Fine Arts toe oorgeskakkel het, en in 2010 my honeurs daarin gekry het. I majored in New Media art, which is an art movement that started at the dawn of the information age. New media art is the broad term used to discuss in essence anything from film, audio, projections, lasers, lights, computers, electronics, internet and many more.

After my studies I did some programming workshops in Frankfurt, Germany and was hoping to discover a whole world of new media art but was a little disappointed in my findings. After two months of baring the dystopic stench of a culture I wasn’t really welcome in, I realized yet again that Pretoria is the city I belong to. Check out this video on youtube: Our Place, My Space.

After two years of making art I didn’t have anything to show for it, because I never really made physical objects, it was all site specific interactive installation based projections. So I decide to come back to earth and work with one the oldest traditional mediums, and on the other end of the scale from new media, bronze casting. This really liberated my mind from the digital world and gave me new perspective for art making. I was fortunate enough to work in studio with Mr Guy du Toit, and all most learned more in a month than in a few years. Guy du Toit is an exceptional artist and will always be one of my mentors. Two of my bronze works made it into national art competitions, ‘Afval’ for Absa l’Atelier and ‘Africa’s Scepter’ for Sasol New Signatures. During this time I also made a Fogscreen, which I believe is the first one in South-Africa, for Rhapsody’s in Lynwood Bridge. Isabel Mertz worked with me at du Toit’s studio for a few months and recently won the prestige Gerard Sekoto prize at Absa l’Atelier. I recommend everyone to keep their eyes open for Isabel, she is going to show us many more creative sculptures. 

Recently I started painting in studio with Riegert Deetlefs, and hope to develop my style. I mainly try to focus on stencilling, spray-paint and acrylic pens as a medium. I think that every artist must paint at some stage in his/her life. There is something very special about getting your hands dirty with colourful paint. I’m very glad that I have the opportunity to work with Riegert, and together we function as a creative think tank. We are constantly looking for interesting ways to combine new media with traditional arts to create something contemporary. 

I’m also doing some research and development on a 3d scanning system for Angus Taylor. I’ll be exhibiting at the fringe exhibition of the Dimension exhibition at Fried Contemporary. This will show the work of Angus Taylor, Wayne Barker and Maria van Rooyen, and opens on 26 November 2011.

For the artists out there: Follow only your heart, and remember that the absence of method is the best method. 

You stay frikkie, Pretoria!