The Invitation

131 A Gallery is pleased to present The Invitation, a solo exhibition by Kirsten Sims

The online catalogue will be live from the 5th of November until the 30th of November and the works will be up on the walls in the main gallery from the 7th of November until the 30th of November.

We will also be showcasing a drawing exhibition alongside the main show, titled Prompt featuring a large selection of small mixed media drawings on paper. This collection was created over a year using prompts submitted to Kirsten via her followers on instagram. These will be available for sale on a first come first served basis at the gallery, so do make sure to attend the opening on Saturday.

We will also be running a silent auction of a drawing of Dolly Parton with a all proceeds going to Bookdash.

Please join us at the gallery for the opening of both of these wonderful exhibitions on Saturday the 7th of November from 11am to 1pm

If you see an artwork that you are interested in please click on the button below the work on the online catalogue to purchase it and we’ll send through the invoice asap to secure the work for you. NB All works are sold on a first come first serve basis.

The Invitation

I first read the poem ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah ‘Mountain Dreamer’ about 20 years ago, as a teenager leaving home for the first time. I hadn’t thought about it in many years, but then quite unexpectedly it found its way back to me just as I was looking for a text to work with for this show. I wasn’t immediately convinced it was the right fit, but the more time I spent with it the more I realised it was exactly what I was looking for.

I won’t get too caught up in how I interpreted the poem, but something about it gave me a feeling of permission. Permission to follow an impulse, to indulge a whim, to paint something simply because I felt like it or because it brought me pleasure. I became less concerned with coherence and more interested in following whatever felt good in the moment.

The exhibition is less about illustrating the poem and more about my own response to it, and the questions and feelings it evokes . The paintings became an eclectic collection of observations, memories, imagined scenes and ordinary moments.

I worked in pairs, which is something I’ve never really done before. They aren’t diptychs in the traditional sense, or two paintings deliberately designed to match or tell the same story. They’re more like a conversation between two paintings, with each one responding in some way to the one that came before it. Sometimes the connection was through colour or shape, sometimes a shared idea or theme, and sometimes the relationship was much less obvious. One painting might begin with a reference image, while the next would be entirely imagined.

The exhibition is arranged in these pairs, almost like the spreads of a book, in the chronological order in which I painted them. Each pair has its own little conversation, and I invite the viewer to move from one to the next, making their own connections along the way.

Inspiration from ‘‘The Invitation’ by Oriah “Mountain Dreamer” House from her book, THE INVITATION © 1999. Published by HarperONE, San Francisco. All rights reserved. Presented with permission of the author. www.oriah.org

THE INVITATION

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon, I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty, even when it’s not pretty, everyday, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

By ORIAH MOUNTAIN DREAMER

// How To Purchase

• Click on the button below the artwork you would like to buy

• We will send you an invoice to secure the painting for you, you will have 24 hours to send us proof of payment to make it yours

• Artworks will be ready for collection/ shipping when the exhibition is concluded

• If you based outside of Cape Town and require crating and shipping, we can get a quote for you from our preferred art logistics partners