In Case of Emergence (follow the bifurcation) features five duplicated large world map drawings, the second of each drawing having been transformed into a three dimensional sculptural work.
Le Roux’s ballpoint pen drawings may be described as a series of obsessive, repetitive curved lines that form peaks and dales in imaginative land masses, or as concentric circles that resemble the year rings of hewn trees.
These apparently random drawings are often maps of the world, in which the continents have been randomly arranged.
The repetitive nature of the drawings is indicative of what Le Roux calls “a form of generative conceptual art practice” in which lines seem to emerge and evolve naturally or spontaneously, and then take on highly organised or “cultured” shapes.
Le Roux named these Deterministic Chaos Drawings, while the accompanying sculptural works he called Deterministic Chaos Objects.
The random is not a feature of Le Roux’s art, which can best be accounted for by invoking chaos theory, which holds that small differences in initial conditions yield widely divergent outcomes for chaotic systems.
Le Roux’s drawings contain many “initial conditions” that determine the course of each line of ink.
Also on exhibition is a series of minimalist new sculptures called Trob Concept Objects.
To create the term “trob”, Le Roux spliced together the words “trash” and “cob”.
“These brick-shaped objects, based on the modular unit of an ancient building technology known as ‘cob’, are a mixture of clay, sand, and trash,” he said.
The various shapes assumed by these objects can be likened to permutations of mathematical measurements.
Le Roux was born in Pretoria in 1985, and graduated from Stellenbosch University with a Bachelor’s degree in visual arts in 2008.
This is his second solo exhibition at Gallery AOP.
In Case of Emergence (follow the bifurcation) will run until 19 July at Gallery AOP, 44 Stanley Avenue, Braamfontein Werf, Milpark.
Details: 011 726 2234; www.galleryaop.com
