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FRANCOIS SMIT - SERIES 1 (Please click on a work below)

The first of a series of exhibitions of illustrations by Francois Smit was held at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, January 2006. The next exhibition is scheduled to launch at the University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery in May 2008.

The images selected as artist's editions were chosen out of more than 500 works originally conceived by Francois Smit for the The Sunday Independent newspaper. Produced weekly over a period of 10 years, the work is a visual record of news and views from South Africa and abroad. During the past decade many of these images instantly became iconic references in the visual discourse surrounding South African and international editorial and journalistic art.

Exhibition curator Vivian van der Merwe says of him:

"Francois Smit is one of those exceptional artists; his art somehow manages to balance on that almost impossible edge between sharp conceptual narrative and beautiful visual forms. Perhaps it is his extraordinary cultural background and personal experience, offset by a profoundly idiosyncratic sense of the contemporary world, which merge in a remarkable and unique vision. It is not often that we see imagery that engages complex media issues and yet is able to stand alone as compellingly good art."

As is customary with print and illustration exhibitions, the artist and curator have selected a limited number of artworks available to art collectors as limited editions of signed artist's prints. The 54 original artist's proofs have been executed under the direct supervision of Francois Smit on A2 prints on 100% cotton rag fibre paper with Epson ultrachrome archival pigment ink, and are attributed by the artist's signature, illustration title, number and date. Each work will be limited to an edition of 12.