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Clockwise: Skull in Silicone, Luscious Lips, Masai Mara and Tear Drop in Silicone.
For unknown artists, taking the decision to make a living from their art, come what may, is a brave and possibly foolish act. But youth bestows both courage and foolhardiness and David Staude has taken the leap from salaried employment to the life of a true artist.
Born in Middleburg, he matriculated from Lowveld High School and lived with his mother and two older brothers in a household that was “arty and musical.” Although he has no formal art training, he qualified with a BTech in Multimedia as a means to gainful employment. But for the creative soul in David, that road led to hell. “I was bored out of my bracket,” he says. A working holiday in the United Kingdom was to lead him to Finland, where he settled for several years with his Finnish girlfriend.
“I learned the language but, because I wasn’t eligible to work, I focused on making art.” At 28, he set up a studio in a tiny room in an apartment block and set to work. His choice of silicone as one of his mediums was informed by a stint as a bricklayer and handyman in the UK. “I literally used it every day and got to know its capacities really well. I always saw it as an artistic medium with amazing technical capabilities – it shines, it’s malleable, tactile and strong.”
Staude’s work arouses immediate tactile curiosity in the viewer. This is deliberate. “I want the work to relate to the five senses and it’s very important to me that the viewer be allowed to touch the work.”
His design for a light fitting, titled Tear Drops, is one such
piece. Taking its influence from the street crafters in the Cape where he now lives, Staude used a wire frame to support the silicone exterior, which gives the piece its multidimensional impact. Similarly, the silicone spikes found on several pieces invite the viewer into a physical experience with the art through touch.
Whilst living in Finland, he began experimenting with coffee as paint. “I spent hours and hours in cafés waiting for my girlfriend to get off work and I’d always order espresso. I started fiddling with coffee and toothpicks, just playing around with drawings. As time went on I added Indian ink and I liked what it was giving me.”
The burnt sepia, monochrome effect is striking but not easy to work with. On his return to South Africa in 2010, he used the mixture for a commissioned wildlife canvas. “Coffee is an unforgiving medium,” he says wryly. “There’s just no room for error with it. It took me two weeks to prepare the canvas for Masai Mara and two days to complete the artwork.”
Another of Staude’s quirks is his dislike of brushes. “I prefer to use different applicators such as syringes, nozzles, bottles and pipette droppers for both silicone and ink,” he says. This freethinking approach to art stems from being self- taught. He has little, if any, fear of doing it wrong – and that’s the magic the Everard Read Gallery recognised in his work when they recently picked up several of Staude’s pieces.
INFO www.facebook.com/DavidoArtwork; @DavidoArt; instagram.com/p/qjsDzRyAT6
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