Girls & Boys Ysterplaat: Slumber Yard, 2016 Mixed media on canvas

60.5 x 91.5 cm

GBP00116A R5,000

Girls & Boys Platform 1, Observatory, 2016 Mixed media on canvas

88.5 x 121.5 cm GBP00316A R10,000

Girls & Boys Nostalgia Near Stellenbosch, 2016 Mixed media on canvas

71.5 x 71.5 cm

GBP00416A R5,000

Girls & Boys Waiting at Observatory, 2016

Mixed media on canvas

100 x 100 cm GBP00516A R8,500

Girls & Boys Sunday in Harrington Street, 2016

Mixed media on canvas

120 x 100 cm GBP00616A R11,000

Girls & Boys Inside, 2016

Mixed media on canvas

76 x 91 cm

GBP00716A

R6,000

Girls & Boys No End, 2016 Mixed media on canvas 71.5 x 71.5 cm

GBP00816A R5,000

Girls & Boys Golden Arrow, 2016 Mixed media on canvas 101 x 126.5 cm

GBP00916A R11,000

Girls & Boys Salt River: The Blue Lady, 2016 Mixed media on canvas

101 x 127 cm

GBP01016A R11,000

Girls & Boys Subway, 2016 Mixed media on canvas 100 x 100 cm

GBP01116A R8,500

’Commute’ offers an exploration of the passage of time and its

impact on our frequented physical spaces. By combining fine &

street art, Girls & Boys attempt to capture and bring to life the

character of certain urban spaces before they fade in reality.

The collaborative is essentially concerned with the transience

and eventual decay of our physical surroundings, while also

pointing toward a deeper appreciation for the strange beauty

and historical value of places along paths we travel almost

daily.

Based in Cape Town and inspired by local architecture,

commuter routes and angles across the city, Girls & Boys was

founded in 2015 as a collaboration between a fine artist and

graffiti artists. ’Commute’ is their first exhibition.

Through their art they aim to capture places and scenes which

are often commonplace and overlooked, yet which are richly

inhabited on a daily basis by a great number of people. A sense

of emptiness within the body of work gives pause for reflection

on our own individual lived experiences within the city we

share. These places therefore offer a wealth of history,

personal as well as national. By painting scenes of lonely

Metrorail train carriages, railway tracks hidden away by lush

foliage, or a quiet corner café, the artists depict places as they

are before the onset of natural decay, before degradation

outstrips their usefulness or notability to local society. The

spaces shown in the artworks are given a certain permanence

on canvas, almost counteracting the inevitable ruin waiting in

time ahead.

The artists create architecturally inspired and graffiti encrypted

paintings of the otherwise unseen and lonely moments of the

daily commute. The canvases, which are experimentally layered

in paint, graffiti and glaze, are also bleached, scrubbed and

reworked to add elements of surprise, symbolising the ever-

changing nature of our urban landscape. Graffiti, which is by

nature impermanent, is added above and below the surface of

paint. We are then encouraged to have a closer look at the

subject matter, allowing us for a moment to consider the

effects of urban transience.