Imagine the Country 2006

October 2006 Exhibition at Tina Skukan Gallery

The profusion of pastoral images from daily living in the Eastern Free State countryside explodes in colour in this latest series of landscapes and still lifes by Michele Nigrini.

This is Nigrini's second exhibition at the Tina Skukan Gallery since her relocation to Rosendal in 2004. The previous exhibition explored her new surroundings and the focus of her work tended toward the landscape and the varied structures within. Her latest work still concerns her surroundings but now it is predominantly the visual moments of everyday country life she captures – offering us a view into this new milieu she has made her own.

Says Nigrini, "A small town stimulates one in a very parti cular way. Life moves to a different rhythm. It allows you to experience your soul and to find happiness in simple things like geese taking delight in the soft snow, a double rainbow, farm animals grazing, the dynamics of a vegetable garden ... These images seduce the eye and present themselves anew every day." With broad brush strokes, Pollock-like spatterings and boisterous colour combinations she creates a vibrant world where anything is possible – allowing each observer to recognize and interpret her/his own mood.