On show throughout May, Port Elizabeth-based oil painter Jaco Benade presents his latest exhibition, Lustre, at Lizamore & Associates gallery in Fairland (near Northcliff), a mesmering collection of luminiscent portraits. 

Benade's radiant style of oil painting positively glows, as he draws his viewer into the work to explore the many subtle complexities of emotion. To create his distinctive works Benade uses portrait photography that he has collected over the years as a starting point and a guide, and then imposes new thoughts and experiences onto these portraits.

As the artist explains “the way one person views another can be completely different from someone else’s perspective. When I see someone, their whole appearance is changed by the influence of emotion and experience. When I paint, I draw from issues in my own life and mirror it in the portrait.” 

Benade explains that while he paints in a traditional way, by bringing together elements of portrait study, still life and landscape together in an unconventional way, his works have "an almost storyboard feel".

Also showing at the gallery during the same period is Thelma van Rensburg's I exist in multiples - a journey into the shadow self.

Sat May 8 from 11:00-14:00 Exhibition opening event.