Myfanwy Bekker

"“In this show I want to talk about light and a type of fine tensile strength, perhaps a feminine strength, seductive but tough.""

"I chose to force myself to look here at what it means to be a white South African woman artist in America and such far flung places for thirty odd years."

"It has always been the same refrain, really, the struggle to meld two selves, two deep senses of awareness, to make an acceptably sane harmony of the two (or three or four ...)"

"With the use of the organic juxtaposed with the hard edge, I want the pieces to balance and create their own zing .... and comfort me."

"I am naturally drawn to light - like a plant I will inadvertently find myself turned towards the light. I have always done this, even as a child. Hopefully I will continue to do this and perhaps one day simply disappear in a flash of light.”"

"Just as there are many ideas and concepts one has to share, so there are many media and forms to choose as vehicles. It’s sort of like a visual conversation, different audiences, different languages, different places. One decides upon the most efficient and pleasing ‘fit’."

""We, as artists, go along, searching for our own truth and so our collective creativity becomes our personal and cultural history. We are simply visual communicators.”"

"“Myfanwy Bekker’s work has been as consistent and heart-felt as any artist I have ever known. In the twenty four years I have known her, she has continually included observations on her surroundings, her South African heritage and her love of nature in every artistic endeavour. She is spontaneous in her application of paint, giving her images a soul - filled with emotion. Her understanding of materials makes it easy for her to translate ideas into paintings or sculptural work that capture the sentiment she wants to convey. She often includes neon in organic configurations that intertwine with clay, twigs, actual canvas or other structural elements that she has painted. Myfanwy’s South African background is ever-present in her work. Her love of the country and her upbringing are inescapable trademarks of this wonderful artist!”"

"“Myfanwy Bekker, the artist, the woman, is a source of light. She uses pencil and paintbrush with more immediacy and ease than most use words to tell the story of their lives. Her art is lyrical and soulful. There is beauty and delight, while also commenting on the severity of our human condition. Myfanwy’s experiences of South Africa, Texas, New Mexico and California, the landscape of the earth and the hearts and minds of each place’s inhabitants are all blended in her paintings...”"

""Bekker’s diverse artworks capture metaphorically her passion for transcending boundaries and revealing both the strength and fragility of the human condition.”"

"“ ...her extraordinary versatility in whatever medium she chooses, be it paint, clay, wood or glass projects her ability yo meld the cerebral with the emotional and the visual .....”"