Stephan Erasmus

Stephan Erasmus is a text based South African artist, curator, educator and art dealer. His first job was as a gallery assistant for the Old Civic Gallery in the 90's and he has grown exponentially since then. Erasmus has participated in countless solo and group exhibitions, as well as being part of several collections.

Erasmus’s art production is evolving into an exploration of aspects of communication, specifically the strangely sublime communication that unfolds between a lover and his muse. Although the emotional strength captured in the writing of love letters are forgotten as time passes. This forgotten conviction and insignificance of the man’s power and strength in comparison with love and its partner, loss, that directs Erasmus’ traversing of this maze.

In his writing of these love letters, Erasmus ‘samples’ text from various sources such as poetry, plays, music lyrics and biblical text or uses these sources as a starting point. The use of existing text is significant in that it becomes emotional triggers that exist in the public domain and has links to specific emotional conditions or events. Thus giving Erasmus the opportunity to direct the work towards a receiver.

For Erasmus it is important that the selected text is transformed/translated into a visual format that breaks away from the act of reading or listening. Moving the reader into an experience of struggle and involvement in the detangelment of the text and the significance of the selected encryption method or construction.

The encryption/construction mimics a physical act of writing secret sorrowful love letters, sewing the letters together to become a web/net of words, in which the writer and reader can get entangled in. Leading both the writer and the reader into a self created prison of words and the power of their meanings (art.co.za).