RICHARD SCOTT’S ASSISTANTS TO EXHIBIT OWN WORK

Richard Scott’s assistants to exhibit own work

In 2004 Richard Scott decided to set up an art foundation to help other artists. His first step was to employ two assistants, Justin Stationway and Franscois Coetzee. As studio hands they started by learning the basics about preparing Richard’s artworks. As they became confident and skilled, their responsibilities grew and eventually it reached a level where they were given materials and time to create their own paintings.

These two young men will now for the first time do a collective exhibition of their work at the Worldart gallery in Cape Town.

Artists: Justin Stationway & Francois Coetzee
Venue: Worldart Gallery, 54 Church Street, Cape Town cbd
Dates: 11 January – 16 January 2010
Hours: Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm and Saturday 10am -1pm. Closed on Sundays.

Justin Stationway – My School
Justin was born in Moreesburg in 1987 and soon after his family moved to Atlantis.
After completing school, he joined Richard in 2005.

Atlantis is an industrial town on the outskirts of Cape Town and, according to Justin, not an ideal place to grow up in.
It is an environment where the realities of unemployment and related social problems are hard to escape from and it is in this context that going to school was a very particular experience for Justin. On the one hand it provided hope and dreams of a better future while on the other, it hosted the result of a very anti-social environment. It is in this context that in Justin’s paintings one will find the roughness of a playground bully but also the colourfulness of promised opportunity

Francois Coetzee – Bling Bling Alien
Francois was born in 1987. His family also moved to Atlantis when he was a young child. Francois joined Justin as an assistant in Richard’s studio in 2007.

Francois’ work is clean cut and contemporary. In this body of work, he mocks what he refers to as the “bling bling” society and how both privileged and poor people seem to prioritise the need to flash the impression of wealth. It also suggests that perhaps these people are mocking the very wealthy with their overstating of all that glitters.