Gathering Around the Fire | Pieter Lategan
Watercolour on Paper
29 May 2016
A2 (Folded to A4)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Archive No. PL-SM-EW-2016-0529-001
Style | Pre-Silent Monumentalism or Early Studio Work
There is a growing challenge facing artists today.
Many homes, offices and commercial spaces are filled with mass-produced prints, anonymous wall décor and digitally generated images, while living artists often struggle to place original artwork into the environments where people live and work.
At the same time, AI-generated images are becoming increasingly common. Millions of images can now be produced in seconds. That does not reduce the importance of human-made art.
For me, it means the opposite.
Human authorship matters more.
The hand matters more.
The sketchbook matters more.
The dated note matters more.
The physical surface matters more.
The artist's process, decision-making, archive, certificate and provenance matter more.
I am developing a new Pieter Lategan | STUDIO direction called the Real Art Access and Value Standard.
It is both a studio philosophy and a practical framework for documenting, presenting and placing original human-made artwork.
The aim is not to make art cheap.
The aim is to make real human-made artwork easier to discover, trust, document, collect and place in homes, interiors, furniture spaces, offices, lodges, guesthouses and business environments.
This system begins with my own studio work.
Every principle will first be tested within my own practice before being expanded further.
It grows from Pieter Lategan | STUDIO, Silent Monumentalism and Gravitas.
My work is concerned with structure, silence, weight, space, material presence, balance, distance and human presence. These concerns are not only visual. They also influence how the work is documented, presented, placed and understood.
Real art needs more than an image.
It needs:
- the artist's name
- title
- date
- medium
- dimensions
- process notes
- archive number
- certificate of authenticity
- provenance record
- clear photography
- a link to the studio archive
- a thoughtful explanation of why the work matters
This is where trust begins.
I do not believe that real art should only exist behind the walls of a few galleries, museums or elite spaces.
Galleries remain important, but they should not be the only route between artists and the public. Contemporary art also belongs in the places where people spend their everyday lives.
There should also be a stronger bridge between artists, interior designers, furniture stores, architects, homes, offices, boardrooms, lodges, guesthouses and everyday environments where people live and work.
A person buying furniture should also be able to discover original artwork.
A business designing a boardroom should also be able to consider real contemporary art.
A home should not only be offered anonymous prints when living artists are producing original work with genuine authorship and documented provenance.
The Real Art Access and Value Standard is my way of beginning to think through this challenge.
It asks:
- What makes an artwork ready for public sale?
- How can a collector know that an artwork is genuine?
- How can an artist document process without giving away the private studio?
- How can original artwork become more accessible without becoming cheap décor?
- How can artists build sustainable income through authorship, documentation, quality and trust?
- How can contemporary art enter interiors and business spaces without losing its seriousness?
This is not a finished system.
It is a studio direction.
It is a working framework.
It begins with Pieter Lategan | STUDIO and will be developed carefully through sketchbook pages, studio notes, original artworks, documentation, archive records, certificates, website pages and selected public posts.
The first step is not to flood the market.
The first step is to document properly.
To photograph properly.
To title properly.
To archive properly.
To explain properly.
To price carefully.
To build trust.
Real art should not disappear in the AI era.
It should become more human.
More documented.
More physical.
More traceable.
More present.
That is the direction I am committed to developing through Pieter Lategan | STUDIO.
- Pieter Lategan | STUDIO
Silent Monumentalism | Gravitas
Pretoria, South Africa
About the Artwork
Gathering Around the Fire
- Pieter Lategan
Early Studio Work (2016)
This watercolour was completed on 29 May 2016 in Johannesburg shortly after I left my position as an in-house designer to begin developing my own independent studio practice.
Although created before the development of Silent Monumentalism and Gravitas, the work already reflects interests that continue throughout my practice today. It explores human presence, gathering, shared space, movement and relationships between figures.
At the time, I was considering a solo exhibition that never took place. Rather than seeing this work as an unfinished chapter, I now recognise it as an important document within my studio archive. It records an early stage in the development of my artistic language and preserves a moment of transition between employment and independent practice.
Today, this painting also illustrates an important principle behind the Real Art Access and Value Standard.
Original artworks carry histories that cannot be separated from the objects themselves. Their value lies not only in the finished image but also in the documented process, authorship, date, place of creation and continuing archive.
This work therefore remains an active part of the Pieter Lategan | STUDIO Archive and contributes to the ongoing record of my practice.
Continue Exploring This Project
Read the Studio Notes → click here
View the Original Sketchbook Pages → click here
