Creative Block exhibition at GFI Gallery

CREATIVE BLOCKS currently on exhibition at the GFI Gallery in Port Elizabeth give gallery visitors access to exceptional and affordable original Southern African artworks. The experience of a curated collection of 300 Creative Blocks by different artists, displayed together as a ‘single work’ is a remarkable, diverse and moving expression of contemporary South Africa. Don’t miss it!

CREATIVE BLOCK is a long-standing artist-career development programme managed by Spier Arts Trust and supported by three integral patrons namely Spier, Nando’s and Hollard. Over the past year, the GFI Gallery in Nelson Mandela Bay has collaborated with Spier Arts Trust to extend the reach of this artist career-development programme to the Eastern Cape, creating an incredibly positive and empowering experience for artists in the region selected into the CREATIVE BLOCK programme.

CREATIVE BLOCK has provided a long-standing opportunity for established and emerging artists. Professional artists selected for the programme receive small blank blocks that they transform into original artworks, using any medium. Regular hand-in days take place in Johannesburg, Cape Town and, most recently, Port Elizabeth, at specified locations.

Artists are encouraged to attend the monthly hand-in day in person. Many are self-taught, and it is through the curator's individual critique – similar to master class feedback – that artists develop further. When work is accepted by the curator, artists are immediately paid a set price per work. With monthly hand-in dates and reliable payment, the CREATIVE BLOCK programme creates the potential for artists to earn a steady income while enabling them to focus full time on their artistic career.

Each CREATIVE BLOCK bears the same standard price tag according to size, thereby creating a rare opportunity to purchase accessibly priced works by renowned local artists. The currrent exhibition opened in December featuring work from artists from the Eastern Cape and beyond, and has been such a sell-out success that Spier Arts Trust has installed more beautiful CREATIVE BLOCKS at the GFI Gallery, bringing in repeat buyers, as well creating an inspirational experience for new visitors.

CREATIVE BLOCK | Until 26 Jan 2018 at the GFI Gallery. 30 Park Drive, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth. www.gfiartgallery.com @gfiartgallery #CreativeBlocks