Podlashuc, Alexander

Bobbie Burgers is a contemporary Canadian painter. Her lush and Expressionistic depictions of flowers teeter on the verge of abstraction, bursting with bright color and laden with thickly applied, textural paint. “Flowers, to me, are the opposite of still,” the artist has explained. “Changing from minute to minute, they are perfect symbols for life, death, yearning, and beauty. My brushstrokes are layered with my own internal charges, depicting anger, frustration, softness, wanting, and more.” Born in 1973 in Vancouver, Canada, she studied Art History at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her work has been exhibited widely at home and abroad, notably including Art Market San Francisco and Equinox Gallery. Today, her works are in the collections of the Berost Corporation in Toronto and the Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Burgers lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Podlashuc, Alexander

Born: 1930 Pretoria

A painter and graphic artist of landscapes, still life, figures and portraits. Works in oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, ink, wash, pencil and

in various graphic media.

Studies: 1946 Michaelis School of Fine Art under Melvyn Simmers and Edward Roworth; 1947 Continental School of Art, Cape Town under Maurice van Essche; 1948-52 Central School of Art, London under Keith Vaughan (b.1912) Victor Pasmore (b.1908), Gertrude Hermes (b.1901), Mervyn Peake (1911-68), William Roberts (b.1895) and Paul Hogarth, gaining a Diploma in Graphic Art. In 1972 he was awarded a Higher Diploma in Art and in 1982 a Masters Diploma in Technology.

Profile: 1958-64 a member of the Bloemfontein Group. 1953 a part time lecturer at the Pretoria Technical College; 1955-63 a part time lecturer at the Orange Free State Technical College; from 1964 a lecturer, senior lecturer and subsequently Head of the Fine Art Department at the Port Elizabeth Technikon. 1953-64 produced a wide range of newspaper and magazine illustrations in the UK,

The Netherlands and SA. June 1953-December 1954 worked for a press syndicate in Amsterdam drawing comic strips; 1955-64 a staff artist for the Magazine Publishing Division of the Argus Company. Has produced innumerable cartoons, illustrations and designs and in 1978 a series of poems and woodcuts entitled “The Passion of Judas Iscariot”. An art critic for the Port Elizabeth newspaper Die Oosterlig. Has lived in London, Amsterdam, Vienna and Munich. In 1973 spent six months in the Greek islands. Married to Marianne Podlashuc.

Exhibitions: He has held c.20 solo exhibitions from 1952; has participated in numerous group exhibitions from 1957 in SA, once in the USA in 1978-79 and once in West Germany in 1980; since 1961 regular joint exhibitions with Marianne Podlashuc; 1978 University of South Africa, solo exhibition of “The Passion of Judas Iscariot”; 1981 Republic Festival Exhibition; 1985 Cape Town Triennial.

Represented: Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet; King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth; National museum, Bloemfontein, Pietersburg Collection; Pretoria Art Museum; SA National Gallery, Cape Town; University of the Orange Free State; University of South Africa; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley.

References: Art SA; 20C SA Art; BSAK1; 3Cs; AASA; SASSK; LSAA; De Kat May 1986

Alexander Podlashuc

Limited Edition Print 77-250 Signed 34 x 23 cm