An intriguing art exhibition opened on the 4th of December at the Artvark Gallery in Kalk Bay. The public got the opportunity to see the works of a mismatched couple who share a common impulse, to honour the original. Theresa Wessels is a Pretoria woman, an art school graduate who has exhibited in South Africa and Paris. William Peteni is an African man, raised in the Eastern Cape and living in the Vrygrond. He received some craft training in Port Elizabeth and hawked his work on street corners until the day that he walked into Artvark. William walked in with a polished crocodile, too commercial for Artvark, but Theresa recognised something in William, an artistic conviction akin to hers. William speaks Xhosa. Theresa speaks none. But the two have developed a strange hybrid of languages and a mysterious system of signs to create art that carries the power of the perfect impulse. Theresa handed William an angle grinder and, from Artvark’s factory in Muizenberg, their spontaneous energy materialised into wood and metal forms.   

Thousands of Capetonians churn out stretch giraffes and lumbering rhinos, so similar that they seem to come from the same herd. Theresa and William understand that technically, “anything can be done these days” and they rebelliously, deliberately shun bland perfection. Theresa says, “Artists should create their own mythology…Look with new eyes and be free of inhibitions.” William uses the freedom of dreaming to see his subjects. He says, “When I go to sleep, I see a picture. And then I know. That is my next work.” William has dreamed up fat bellied fish, deep-sea creatures hewn from dense chunks of wood. They hold, in their state of stillness, both a primal drama and a surprising grace. He has also dreamed up massive “sitting ducks,” their scale so startling that they instantly upend the image of ducks as complacent, comical birds. 

 Theresa beats, cuts and bends metal to create clever silhouettes, sculptures that often make people laugh. She has shaped a skateboarder, dressed in a suit, with his tie flying over his shoulder, and a casual cigarette in his hand. He is set on a spinning base, so while speeding to work, he does duty as a weather vane. She has sculpted a life size socialite, chatting on her flexed calves. Theresa’s candle sticks of folded metal follow the fluid form of utter simplicity. At the launch on the 4^th, she will show her version of the Venus de Milo for the first time. 

Theresa has a strong attraction for old, painted wood. She and William carve out ancient symbols, lilies and aloe-like forms on beams and panels, showing the clean wood beneath. They are designed as lintels, headboards or decorative panels spanning windows or doors with something rediscovered, raw, yet made beautiful. 

Theresa and William’s work is like a silent demonstration against formula art, each piece a surprising expression of unusual beauty. Artvark has already proved that the unusual sells well. Theresa and CP’s brass, copper and pure silver cutlery is well celebrated . They combine the rough with the smooth to create pieces that are exported all over the world and regularly appear in books on craft art. Artvark is now adjoined by an authentic Greek restaurant, “Zouzou.” “Zouzou” is Greek slang for “cute little thing,” and its Greek restaurateur, Angelos Panourgias is, well, … you’ll have to see for yourself.