EPHEMERAL STREAM

EPHEMERAL STREAM a solo exhibition by Rina Stutzer

Walkabout: 25th October - 10:30am 

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Ephemeral Stream

(Transformative qualities and the transient sublime of nature)

Each artwork is, for me, an offering of gratitude for the transformative power of the natural world. The countless hours I spend painting are acts of care and devotion, each piece becoming an ode to ecological systems and natural forms — their fertility, abundance and shifting energies. This journey is both celebratory and unsettling, reminding me that the world is beautiful in its fragility and resilient in its strength.

My practice grows from direct observation and exploration of the environments around me — whether close to my city studio or further afield in the veld and broader African landscapes. In these spaces I trace signs of interconnectedness, watching how streams converge into singular flows that bind us all within the ebb and surge of life.

The materials I choose embody impermanence. Patina on copper shifts in colour as it oxidises and erodes, while transparent paper paintings hold an inherent fragility. These choices reflect the vulnerability of ecosystems and the imprint of human presence.

The visual forms that emerge often appear as mirrored landscapes or fractured waterways. Shimmering ribbons of foil or translucent washes act as both celebratory markers and troubling intrusions — metaphors for our complex relationship with nature, at once sustaining and contaminating. In this way, the paintings invite reflection on how deeply entangled we are with the environment.

Through this work I have come to recognise not only the urgency of an environment under threat but also the nourishment the natural world continues to provide. Moments of fleeting transformation — the transient sublime — remind me that nature exists both around and within us. My paintings seek to create such moments of reconnection, offering a glimmer of relief and insight into the fragile, transformative beauty that shapes our shared world.

Rina Stutzer explores the ephemeral nature of ecological systems through a range of fine art media. To deepen the connection between her artistic practice and humanity’s relationship with the natural world, she completed formal training as a field guide through the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa. She applies these insights in her studio at Dionysus Sculpture Works in Pretoria, where she also serves as a creative advisor to the foundry. Expanding this creative collective, she established Curious Little Press in 2021, a fine art printmaking studio.