Judith Mason

Judith Mason is a painter and graphic artist of symbolic and mythological landscapes, figures and portraits. Mason works primarily in oils and pencil but has also incorporated various graphic media and found objects in her work as well as making a number of artists' books.

Judith Mason's work is drawn or painted in reaction to her world: political events, comments that she has read, snippets of history or poetry which have caught her eye, or the experience of particular people or animals which are usually used in a symbolic context.

Depending on the impulse which drives the artwork, her images may be expressionist (The Furies"), or classical ("A Dante Bestiary'), simply representational ("Citrus Shadows"), humorous ("Listening to Beethoven") or symbolic ("The Man who Sang and the Woman who Kept Silent"). Christian or Hindu mythology is an undercurrent in many of her works ("Gethsemane", "Shiva Slowing Down").

Judith Mason's early work tended to be more abstract than her current work. At present she uses trompe l'oeil and delicately detailed passages as a contrast to paint washes and splash marks. In recent years she has attempted to destroy the 2-dimentional nature of the canvas by using juxtaposed hexagons or layers of traced splash marks to create a matrix suggesting movement and depth, and in which objects are held in an ambiguous, flickering space. Mason's characteristic of heightening the emotional impact in her work leads to images, which move the spectator, often in a strong way.

Artists statement:
" I paint in order to make sense of my life, to manipulate various chaotic fragments of information and impulse into some sort of order, through which I can glimpse a hint of meaning. I am an agnostic humanist possessed of religious curiosity who regards making artworks as akin to alchemy. To use inert matter on an inert surface to convey real energy and presence seems to me a magical and privileged way of living out my days"
Judith Mason 2004

After completing her Fine Arts degree at The University of the Witwatersrand she went on to teach drawing, painting and history of art at Wits University from 1964 to 1978. Mason also taught temporarily at the Michaelis School of Art (University of Cape Town) and at Pretoria University. Taught at Scoula Lorenzo de Medici, Florence, Italy from 1989-91 and has acted as external examiner for under-graduate and post-graduate degrees at Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Natal, Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities.

Judith Mason has exhibited extensively throughout South Africa and has participated in exhibitions in Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, West Germany, Switzerland and the USA.First solo exhibition at Gallery 101, Johannesburg, in 1964 after winning second prize in U.A.T competition 1963. Since then has exhibited regularly in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Stellenbosch and George. Goodman Gallery, Chelsea Gallery, Association of Arts Pretoria, Association of Arts Cape Town, Hout Street Gallery, Strydom Gallery, Dorp Street Gallery, Art on Paper, Karen Mackerron Gallery. Exhibited lithographs, oil paintings and drawings at Ombondi Gallery in New York in 1990.Represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale, 1966, Sao Paolo Biennale 1973,Brazil, Valparaiso Biennale 1979, Chile and Houston Arts Festival 1980, USA.

Solo exhibition at Pretoria Art Museum 1975, guest artist with Marguerite Stephens at Johannesburg Art Gallery 1978, Solo exhibition at RAU.
Retrospective Exhibition 'A Prospect of Icons", Standard Bank Gallery, Gauteng, 2008

New lithographs 2008

Artists Statement:

As I am about to enter my eighth decade, I decided to create a portfolio of eight prints to celebrate(!) the occasion. A portfolio, which would explore some of the themes that have tantalised me all my life. Then followed a few happy weeks of collaboration with the printers who patiently proofed my work and its numerous corrections, and made me feel that I knew what I was doing.
Judith Mason, September 2008

The Muse Series, lithographs 2006

Lovers' Knot (1994)