...Not unlike those ancient cave painters that had returned from the plains to recreate the animals or scenes that they had witnessed that day...

Karl Gietl. 2004

The painting of Karl’s entitled ’Untitled Titles’ which won him the Absa Atelier Award of 1998 has been part of my life since I acquired it just before he left to take up his residency in Paris. I find in Karl a kinship in that we are both ’outsiders’ to the mainstream of academically trained artists. He paints unencumbered by the structures of curatorial opinion and with the freedom of an organic artist. His subject matter is timeless in that he records his own experiences, small histories of everyday life and to use one of his sub-titles in ’Untitled Titles’ ..... The way things are.

Norman Catherine, artist, South Africa

‘Down Town Jozi’ (137 x 185 cm) oil on canvas. 2004

Karl was "artist in residence" at the Brussels MOBA Art Gallery in 2001. I organised his one-man show "Neither Here Nor There" at the gallery and another exhibition with Karl’s work in Antwerp (both in 2001). The African tradition in storytelling and the human conditions in urban environments inspired me most in his work. MOBA is also a tribal art collectors gallery, it was new to show contemporary african with primitive art pieces. Very successful !

Walter De Weerdt, galerist, Bruxels, Belgique

‘The Holiday Makers’ (137 x 185 cm) oil on canvas. 2004

Karl Gietl’s inspiration stems from his ability to observe and analyze the human environment. He does a superb job of capturing human situations on canvas. Karl’s unique painting style, his sense of composition and feeling for colour give his paintings remarkable character and noteworthy artistic value.

Dr Fred Scott, Art Patron, Jhb, South Africa

‘Paris in May’ (137 x 185 cm) oil on canvas. 2004

Karl Gietl is a traditional painter using traditional techniques and above that is extremely contemporary in his approach and understanding of the world around him. He manages to capture the vernacular and the changing African urban landscape with a fresh, humerous and sometimes dark approach. The paintings are like historical moments of a country in perpetual change, and the will to succeed against all odds, regardless of the past devastating history, the paintings have a sense of hope and acceptance of the now and a will to progress . As a painter Karl is highly comitted to his art and a quote comes to mind TRUST THE ART NOT THE ARTIST .

Wayne Barker, artist, Jhb, South Africa

‘It’s a Jungle out there’ (90 x 120 cm) oil on canvas. 2002

Karl Gietl’s work makes you want to have sex in the pub, to drink red wine until your teeth turn black, to go surfing in Durban, to chase lions through the streets of Jo’burg... in short, to live life to the absolute maximum. His colourful explosions of excitement appeal instantly to the artistic philistine in all of us, simply celebrating the joy of life while still being the product of a disciplined and gifted artistic genius. That Karl Gietl was meant to be an artist is obvious to anyone who has met him or seen his paintings. To own one is a privilege.

Hagen Engler, writer, Jhb, South Africa

‘The Morning Café’ (55 x 45 cm) oil on canvas. 2002

The title of Karl Gietl’s exhibition at the Market Theatre Gallery in 2002 best captured his artistic ability to be equally at home in Europe and in South Africa, to appropriate space indefatigably, and to adopt new identities ceaselessly : You Can Get There From Here. It makes him the archetypal itinerant artist.

Wilhelm van Rensburg, Freelance art critic BEELD, South Africa

‘Metro’ (41 x 31 cm) oil on paper. 2003

Karl’s work looks at the vunerability and often the darker side of all of us. It often leaves you with a feeling of uneasiness. Possibly because one relates to it on an emotional level. Its strength lies in the fact that it is inspired from his own backyard... His life.

Jodi Bieber, Photographer, Paris, France

‘Postcard’ (41 x 31 cm) oil on paper. 2003

Prized possessions sometimes come to us through the strangest routes. Karl Gietl, the artist, was my neighbour in Beryl Court, a sweet, bohemian, deco building I lived in for many years in Troyeville. When Karl invited me to an exhibition he was having at the stables, I went more out of solidarity and to support an artist and a friend. I was a freelancer living from hand to mouth, hardly the kind of person who frequents art exhibitions with a view to buy. Within minutes of walking into the stables I spotted ’Man hole’, a painting of four municipal workers clustered around a manhole in Johannesburg. Something about the painting captivated me immediately ; it speaks to my native Joburg soul, it is a scene I’ve seen a million times in passing. I ended up paying for it with an embarrassingly large amount of post-dated cheques, all of which Karl accepted with good grace. My timing was perfect because shortly after I’d handed over my wad of cheques to Karl other patrons began crowding around the painting wanting to buy it. I bought ’Man hole’ instinctively, it moved me in ways I dont quite comprehend, and it continues to bring me joy. It is the first thing I see when I open my front door and it remains one of my all time favourite pieces of art. I own it thanks to artistic solidarity, and the fact that for once the frugal penny-pincher inside of me bowed down to an instinctive and unquestioned surge of love for a work of art.

Gail Smith, feminist writer, Jhb, South Africa

‘Hotel’ (41 x 31 cm) oil on paper. 2003

I was back from one year in Africa -Benin- when I first met Karl Gietl in Paris, in 1999. I enjoyed his "European" way of treating African themes, which I was used to, such as daily living, city life or hunting scenes in the jungle. A mix of concrete vision, tainted with his delirious touch.

Everything in Karl’s work is exaggerated and real at the same time. Pictorially, as well as humanly. We got lost in the same infamous spots, from the most obscure pub in the middle of the mountains in France, to the hip clubs in Cape Town. Anywhere we were, Karl kind of mentally photographed the instant moment, To put it, then, as a glimpse taken from his experiences... Unless it was just a dream...

Thomas Rodrique, collector, Paris, France

‘Last Rounds’ (41 x 31 cm) oil on paper. 2003

Karl Gietl was born in the Cape province of Woscester in 1970. He was schooled in Benoni and in Johannesburg. He first began exhibiting in 1994. Since then he has exhibited extensively, both localy and internationaly. The Pretoria art museum and the contemporary museum of modern art in Santiago, Chile, both in 1995. In 1998 Karl Gietl won the Volkskas Atelier Award which gave him the opportunity to live and work in Paris. Between 1999 and 2002 Gietl lived, traveled and exhibited in France, Holland and Belgium. After a short stay in Spain, he returned to South Africa at the beginning of 2003. Karl Gietl now lives and works in Troyeville, Johannesburg.

www.karlgietl.com

karl_gietl@hotmail.com

Tour 2005

09 April : Mitchell’s Plain
05 May > 24 May : Cape Town
June : Port Elizabeth
July : Durban
August : Maputo
September : MBabane
October : Soweto
November : Pretoria

Article in Business Day ART - March 05