Marian Bantjes

Monday, October 29, 2007

This is the time of the year when India celebrates her goddesses, as Durga, who symbolises the strength of good over evil, as Laxmi- goddess of prosperity and wealth and as Saraswati, who embodies and blesses all learning. It is she who lends us powers to create and manifest.
So in the season and spirit that we venerate the strength and power of the 'woman', let me share with you Marian Bantjes's work. Whose work more than anybody elses to me holds and weilds the spiritual and the mystical. Her sweeping swirls and intricate precision instantly take me back to the work of the great Moghul artisans and calligraphers.
So the next time you go to the Taj and look at the walls and regret that no one can produce work of such beauty, think of Marian Bantjes.
Do click on the images to see a larger version.

"It’s printed in silver and gold (and other colours), and the theme is “The Future,” so of course it has to have space ships! It also has 18 wishes for you for the future. I won’t tell you what they say, as it would spoil the fun of reading them. Perhaps in the future, I will reveal all." -Marian Bantjes

"Like most of us, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer. There are days when these voices from the internet seem to ask for so much from me. Caught between seduction and hard sell, I hesitate. Are these lost opportunities, or merely invitations to broken promises?"-Marian Bantjes

"A single page in the Gilbert Cotton swatchbook, the story of this is somewhat amusing (to me). Gina told me that they wanted to engrave a security border, to allude to the paper’s use on certificates etc. My first sketch turned out looking oddly like a pair of devils, so I thought, “Why not? Devils need security too. And so the Security Devils were born; snuggled up and clinging to each other in deep companionship, as devils are wont to do.” -Marian Bantjes


"I made this for the cover of Superinteressante magazine, out of Brazil (Adriano Sambugaro, Art Director). It’s about the power of positive thinking, made of little plus signs and happy all over."-Marian Bantjes

This one is my personal favourite- her influences.
"This is a map or diagram of all of my significant artistic influences to date (or all that I could think of), my styles of working and materials. It was created as an assignment to a design class I took this past summer (August 2006). I’m too pleased with it to let it sit in a drawer."-Marian Bantjes




"For 3 years now I’ve adopted Valentine’s Day as my time to make contact with people. This year I got the crazy idea to draw each one by hand. I liked the idea that each person would get something unique, with their name on it, but that there would be a larger whole that they would also be part of. " -Marian Bantjes

" 'I want it all' ... well, because I do. and because my peonies were wilting and sighing, and I decided to immortalize them, on a whim, one sunny afternoon.
Bonus: the room smelled of peonies all day." -Marian Bantjes

And this is just parts of her phenomenal body of work. You can see the rest here.

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