Blue Mountain School is pleased to present an installation of furniture by Galen Löfstedt and paintings by Jan-Henri Booyens.

Galen Löfstedt is a South African sculptor, carpenter and photographer working out of his remote farm in rural South Africa. He creates furniture pieces which hold a deep connection with the spirit and the beauty of his natural surroundings. Sourcing local materials such as sweeping cuts of London plane and 125 million-year-old dolerite rock, Löfstedt’s work is born from its environment. Smoothed, soft edges of wood echo the erosion-smoothed pebbles found at Löfstedt’s favourite spot to reflect and fly fish. Pieces become places of contemplation in themselves, with forms referencing traditional tribal chairs, intended for deep thinking in solitude.

Jan-Henri Booyens is a South African artist whose practice explores the balance between representation and abstraction. His chaotic, gestural compositions are born from the Abstract Expressionist tradition of automatic drawing, which sees his repeated expressive gestures create textural, layered oil paintings. The element of chance within his work evidences his interest in the shifting moods of the South African landscape and weather, echoed in his use of glitch art techniques. Digitally-abstracted photographs are often the basis of his works and the use of pixel drifting and data mulching invite similarities to his painting style, as layers of paint are unpredictably warped and destroyed.