Kartel Kopje (Groot) by Adéle du Plessis still-life painting

Kartel Kopje (Groot) by Adéle du Plessis still-life painting

Kartel Kopje (Groot) in the exhibition: Drawn at Home.

Kartel Kopje (Groot) 2020 is new tempera painting by contemporary South African artist Adéle du Plessis. It is part of her Drawn at Home exhibition. During March and April 2020, Adéle sketched and walked every day with her daughter artist Nicole Sciarone in Delft. From this drawing exercise, Adéle painted a series of paintings. She plays with Plato's philosophy about art and Mimesis. Plato didn't like art. He argued that it does not belong to an intellectual society. Art was too far removed from reality to be of any value. Adéle has played with her sketches and Plato's ideas about art in her paintings. Too read more about Plato's argument about art and how Adéle plays with his rules about art, read the exhibition: Drawn at Home.

Kartel Kopje

"Kartel Kopje" is Afrikaans and Dutch for a cup with grooves in it. Kartel is a word that is seldom heard in modern Afrikaans or Dutch. It is a word that immediately transports me to the idea of an Afrikaans farmhouse in the 1960s-1980s. An older woman would be sitting opposite you and ask you to fetch a cup for some tea. "Die Kartel koppies, kind". The Grooved Cups, child. You would have no idea what she meant, but it would be in the general direction of the cups with grooves, that are only used for visits. The air will be hot and dry. But the kitchen would be cool and dark. Your eyes still adjusting from the blinding African sun in noon. The woman offering tea is something I can imagine from a glimpse of an old rerun of an Afrikaans drama from before my time. Their Afrikaans thick, and untouched by English and other language influxes. Almost alien to the way I speak Afrikaans. Almost alienating me from my mother tongue. The dry heat and cool kitchen is something everyone knows in South Africa. As for the Dutch equivalent. I don't know. Does the word "Kartel" evoke any response from you?

Left: Kartel Kopje (Klein) in Tempera over textured coffee background on Board

Right: Kartel Kopje (Groot) in Tempera on Canvas

Inspiration for Kartel Kopje: Sophia Emma Grout

Studio Emma Sophia's sold out collection of "wobble cups" serves as inspiration for the Kartel Kopje sketches that form the basis of the final still-life painting.

Emma Grout makes functional hand-thrown ceramic pieces in her studio in Breda. Her studio is housed in an old prison building. These beautiful, sturdy dishwasher and oven safe hand made. The beauty in each piece is the composition of several types of clay in each functional earthwork. From experience I can tell you, your coffee will stay warmer longer in this type of mug she creates.



She studied Art at Willem De Kooning in Rotterdam and started pottery after she graduated from the prestigious art school. Sophia is a trained artist, whose functional ceramics are the perfect combination of determined living, beauty and functionality, which makes her ceramics interesting as still-life subject for Adéle's series of drawing. The item fits well into the grey areas of Plato's argument. A craftsman makes the ceramic, but the craftsman is also an artist.

This still-life painting in your home
Kartel Kopje (Groot) is a beautiful pastel painting. It is as much a study of light as it is a study of technique and material. Adéle's pictures are always soft, playful and always teases Art History and Philosophy. It is bringing art to every day of our life. It is a relatively small painting that can fit in a hall or a sidewall.



It can be framed. Ideally in a thick wood frame. What do you think?

This still-life painting in your home

Kartel Kopje (Groot) is a beautiful pastel painting. It is as much a study of light as it is a study of technique and material. Adéle's paintings are always soft, playful and always teases Art History and Philosophy. Bringing art to the everyday of our life. It is a relatively small painting, that can fit in a hall, or a side wall.

It can be framed. Ideally in a thick wood frame. What do you think?

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