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 captures a close-up of dried agapanthus flowers, frozen in a moment of quiet beauty and decay. Once a vibrant bloom bursting with shades of purple and blues, it now reveals its skeletal elegance. The intricate details of the dried flowers are brought to life by the interplay of light and shadow, highlighting the delicate textures of the brittle husks and the soft, earthy tones of beige and brown.
Each petal and seed pod is slightly curled and cracked, a testament to the passage of time and the inevitable cycle of life. The background is softly blurred, offering a muted palette that allows the withered flowers to take centre stage. This contrast draws attention to the fine lines and subtle imperfections of the agapanthus, emphasising the fragile beauty found in its decay.
The viewer is invited to contemplate the beauty of impermanence and the quiet dignity of nature in its final stages. It transforms what might ordinarily be overlooked into an object of visual and emotional significance. The image evokes a sense of nostalgia and fleeting time, urging viewers to find grace and meaning in the ephemeral.
Through its lens, the dried agapanthus becomes a poetic metaphor for life's transience, a gentle reminder that there is beauty in every stage of existence, even in the moments of fading away.