Looking out from Reservoir (Warm day, overexposed)

Selwyn was hugely inspired by Claude Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series in which he repainted the same facade forty times during different seasons, different weather conditions and at different times of day. The subject matter is cropped and obtuse, making it clear that it was stripped of all symbolic and contextual meaning in favour of just being a surface allowing for the study of light. For this exhibition Selwyn hoped to emulate the essence of this act in a way which was specific to this particular show in the RESERVOIR space in Cape Town. But being based in France it was impossible for him to create plein air paintings on site. He enlisted RESERVOIR director, Shona van der Merwe for help, to use three point and shoot disposable cameras to document the same corner in the RESERVOIR space on different occasions. The artworks were inspired by Brian Eno and the ambient music movement’s attempts to create music that is akin to atmosphere quality. The resulting paintings aim to register the vast array of changes in atmospheric quality with the subtlety of Eno and the process of Monet. The last of the three paintings was based on an overexposed photograph. For Selwyn, it was a way of staying true to the fact that he could not be in the locale and embracing the use of film photography, even if not 100% effective for the task at hand.