AbstRacT – Synchrony Revealed
Timed Online Auction, 4 - 23 July 2025
AbstRacT – Synchrony Revealed
About the SessionIn 2024, the Rupert Museum presented AbstRacT – The Hidden Synchrony, an exhibition inspired by Oscar Forel’s Synchromies series - close-up photographs of tree bark that transformed the familiar into bold abstraction. These works were paired with South African modernist paintings from the museum’s collection, creating surprising visual harmonies and fresh interpretations.
Building on this concept, AbstRacT – Synchrony Revealed is the result of the museum’s third Open Call, which received over 300 submissions. From these, 41 artists were selected to showcase their work in a group exhibition - now part of an exclusive online auction in collaboration with Strauss & Co.
The auction offers collectors a chance to discover new voices engaging with themes of ecology, memory, materiality, and abstraction. Each work reveals a dynamic interplay between natural form and artistic expression - where chance, structure, and symbolism collide.
During the period of the online auction the exhibition is accessible to be viewed at the Jan Rupert Art Centre, 41 Middle street, Graaff-Reinet.
Collection of the artworks will be available once the exhibition closes on 16 November 2025.
Please contact Eliz-Marie Schoonbee to arrange collection/delivery
tel: 021 888 3261
email: eliz-marie@rupertmuseum.org
About this Item
Notes
This artwork responds more to Forel’s approach to his subject than to any single piece. It invites a deep engagement with the natural world – to look closely, and to draw out the innate beauty that may be discovered.
The beauty that became Obelisk was found beneath the surface. The smoothed and polished exterior pierces the form, revealing the rich, swirling woodgrain within – a striking contrast to the outer surface, though no more (or less) compelling. A scar left by a branch that once tried to grow, and ultimately rotted away, marks both the interior and exterior of the form. This serves as a reminder of the artwork’s natural origins and offers a counterpoint to Obelisk’s abstract geometries.
Synchromies #27, however, did influence the exploration of multiple facets that emerge in Forel’s work, and ultimately in this response to it. Surface, texture, and natural pattern became the primary concerns in the making. The materiality of the wild pear itself suggested form and texture throughout the organic and instinctive processes of carving and finishing.
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