Zander Blom
1.16 Untitled
2010
Oil and graphite on linen
102 x 86cm

“There are few things as gratifying as waking up to the smell of linseed oil and paint, and stumbling through the chaos of torn-up books and empty tubes with a freshly squeezed palette of colour in hand. Figuring out your next move, brushstrokes staring back at you from the tussle of the night before. At home in Johannesburg my focus has shifted from making photographic works to working on oil paintings, having naturally gravitated towards a medium that I’ve loved from afar but previously only skirted around, flirted with and examined endlessly. Oil painting, which is not without its fair share of historical baggage, has finally ended up right in the centre of my life. In turn my house has evolved into a ramshackle painter’s studio. Now I find myself in my ever-changing swamp, knee-deep in references, smeared with paint, avoiding email, watching the paintings paint themselves, and seeing all the little degenerates pile up in the garage.

Within the chaos of the painting mire, which sees that nothing in my house retains its original colour, or value, drawings are creeping around in every corner as they usually tend to do. Undisturbed, they collect and pile up under the bed.

Every now and then I tear myself away from the house to visit different cities abroad, where I produce the different chapters of a new long-term photographic project: the first chapter done in São Paulo, the second in Berlin, with Antwerp, Miami and Istanbul on the way.”