WINDHOEK– You would have to have lived a considerable amount of years or at least would have been exposed to a couple of history books with illustrations of course if Elke Le Roux’s art exhibition is to transport you back in time.
The exhibition, Time Machines currently on show at the Art Shop in Maerua Mall, can easily be considered a glorification of old building, with reason of course, because in this state of despair many of these ruins still present a colourful era. Most of the exhibited works are original freehand pen, ink or pencil sketches with one or two with a colour strokes and splashes of paint.Le Roux studied Fine Arts in Stellenbosch, and has taken part in several exhibitions and competitions such as the Sasol New Signatures. However, this is her first solo exhibition. This exhibition has been inspired mainly by the old buildings, abandoned yet towering structures across the country which, as Le Roux puts it, “adorn the Namibian landscape”.
The showcase of paintings feature, amongst others, the Okahandja train station in its 1903 glory, the Swakopmund Train station dressed for the 1950s as well as an Abandon Oil Rig in Toscanini. The artist was born in South Africa where she grew up in Belville, and is now in Namibia working as an architect in training with a local architects company.
By Jemima Beukes