Ernst van der Wal

Thrilled to present my new work, Fever Dream, with @ebonycurated at the @investeccapetownartfair this week. __ While I carve these pieces, I think of flames. Mostly flames. And then of billowing cypress trees, or strands of hair. I think of deep-time organisms that once grew on the ocean floor. I feel things growing, transforming, shifting — in register, form, and meaning. A slab of marble becomes a sprouting, spurting thing. I grind and sand away; things slowly grow less as a form takes shape. Fine clouds of marble dust billow, set loose, coating everything, clinging to me like ancient fossilised pollen. Otherworldly messengers from another realm. __ On show at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Booth: Main | A4 Dates: 20-22 February 2026 Fever Dream (2026) Marble on birchwood stand 1100 x 1200 x 600mm

I'm happy to share a new marble installation, 'The Lick of the Flame', on display in an exhibition curated by Reservoir and Strauss & Co. for the Woordfees. Many thanks to the amazing @heinrich_groenewald and @shonavandermerwe for including me in the show, and to @slater_studio for his photographs of the work. Title: ‘The Lick of the Flame’ Medium and Format: Marble Sculpture Dimensions: 62 x 56 x 42 cm (Dimensions Variable) 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘶𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 - 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘤𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺.

‘Deep Time’ curated by @ernst.vanderwal photographed for @oude_leeskamer ✨✨✨

Join us for a panel discussion this Saturday (24 May) from 11:00 to 12:30 with Ernst van der Wal, Eckard Smuts and Lize van Robbroeck, as they unpack the philosophical and artistic implications of deep time. The panel will delve into the artworks on display in our current exhibition, ‘Followed By Nine Zeros’, and discuss how we understand time, especially those cosmological and geological time scales that exceed our own. Click the link in our bio to book! Entry is free and all are welcome. 📸: @slater_studio Second Slide Artwork Detail: Gerhard Marx, ‘SUBTERRAIN (IN PARTS)’, Reconfigured Map Parts on Board, 2024.

Join us this Saturday at 11:00 for the opening of our next exhibition, ‘Followed By Nine Zeros: Experiments in Deep Time’, in collaboration with Ernst van der Wal. How do we understand time, especially those cosmological and geological time scales that exceed our own? In answer to this question, this exhibition explores our understanding of time and scale, featuring the work of visual, olfactory, and sonic artists who engage with deep, expansive timeframes in their creative practices. The exhibition takes as its title the numerical representation of deep time, commonly understood as a geological timeframe spanning roughly 4.6 billion years, or 4.6 followed by nine zeros. Deep time challenges our ideas of permanence; what seems unchanging from a human perspective is only a brief moment compared to the lifespans of mountains or stars. It lies far beyond the parameters we typically use to comprehend our own lives, which are measured in years, days, and hours. The concept of deep time provides fertile ground for creative engagements with and imaginings of time and place. While scientific engagements with deep time offer rich material for contemplation, this exhibition is also sensitive to more embedded, mythical and poetic engagements with the topic. The participating artists examine their personal connections to deep time, considering how it shapes their understanding of history, existence and artmaking. Artists: Abdus Salaam, Gerhard Marx, Jean Brundrit, Water Dixon, Michael Bräuer, Georgia Munnik, Gerhard Roux, and Antoni Schonken.

Following on from our incredible current show, we are thrilled to invite you to the opening of our next exhibition on Saturday the 10th of May at 11:00. Curated in collaboration with associate professor at Stellenbosch University’s Visual Arts Department, Ernst van der Wal, ‘Followed by Nine Zeros: Experiments in Deep Time’ is a group exhibition in which artists are invited to create work(s) around the theme of deep time. This show takes as its title the numerical representation of deep time, which is commonly understood as a geological timeframe spanning roughly 4.6 billion years, or 4.6 followed by nine zeros. We are interested in the way that deep time is referenced (be it in concept, outcome, or process) in contemporary visual and sonic art and ask participating artists to respond to geological and philosophical understandings of deep time. Deep time speaks to cosmological and geological temporalities that lie beyond the Anthropocene, which provides rich ground for creative engagements with and imaginings of time and place. Participating artists: Michael Bräuer, Georgia Munnik, Water Dixon, Gerhard Marx, Jean Brundrit, Abdus Salaam, Antoni Schonken and Gerhard Roux. Artwork: Michael Bräuer, ‘Untitled’, Ceramic - Saggar Fired, 13 x 25 x 17cm, 2024.

I am so honoured to have the most generous and talented @stella.viljoen write about my work for the latest edition of COLLATERAL – Online Journal for Cross-Cultural Close Reading. Her essay, titled 'An Apologetics of Scale', is available here: /index.php?collision=110

I'm excited to share a new iteration of my marble book project, which is currently on display at EBONY/CURATED in Franschhoek. This collection features a selection of marble books and folios, each crafted by hand. The project pays tribute to an ancient folk tradition of carving books from stone, a practice used to honour lost loved ones or serve as tokens of affection. In my interpretation, I've chosen to depict various manifestations and phases of the book. Some of these are thinly carved sheets of marble, weathered to a shine as if they've been paged for centuries. Others find their form as lovers and families, with books resting side by side.  Thanks to @marcstanes and the @ebonycurated team — it's such a pleasure to work with you! #marble #marblesculpture #stonework #bookart #ebonycurated

There are a few days left to visit our current exhibition, ‘Sculpting Textual Bodies’, which concludes on Saturday the 21st of September. Kindly note we will be hosting a Polaroid Emulsion Lift Workshop in the gallery on Saturday morning from 10:00 to 13:00, but please pop in nonetheless! We wish to express our deepest thanks to our artists, Ernst, Sivan, Oliver, Amy and Sitaara, for partaking in the show and to all of you who visited! Up next is Woordfees with Strauss & Co, who will be exhibiting some extremely rare and unique artworks. Watch this space!

My time in Berlin has been fruitful in so many unexpected, beautiful ways. I’ve started with a new body of sculptural work, each piece hand-carved from alabaster. Also known as onyx-marble, alabaster is a terrestrial limestone that forms around mineral springs or grows in caves. From my first introduction to the medium, its porosity and translucency fascinated me - how it seems to capture and hold light. The ancient Egyptians used it for canopic jars to embalm human organs or store fragrant oils, while medieval Byzantine churches often featured alabaster windows. I've also drawn inspiration from early Etruscan votive offerings (pictured in the 4th photograph in the series). Usually made from terracotta, these anatomical offerings date back to the 3rd century BCE and were thrown into pits, buried in graves, or stored in caves and temples. Their function: to support the living and accompany the dead on their afterlife journeys. I love the logic behind these objects! Struggling with impotence? Sorted, we’ll throw a willy down a well. Your favourite aunt passed away? Send her off with a votive ear to stay in touch. Broken hearted? We’ve got you covered, sis. These objects are so moving in their simplicity and care - the way they are invested with the power to negotiate on our behalf in times and places where we feel at a loss. Weeks of experimentation have led to a diverse collection of alabaster work, the shape and final format still to be determined. These pieces have become ever more amorphous and mutant, which seems to be an inadvertent leaning of my work to date. The process started with a demure foot and concluded with post-apocalyptic appendages - votives for the shapes we might take and desires we might foster in years to come. Carefully ‘embalmed’ in bubble wrap, they are ready for the long haul back to South Africa. Titles I’ve been playing with (for I love the taste of ideas on my tongue) include: Cathexis, Phantom Limbs, After Bodies, Ancestral Anxieties, Detached (I Used to Be More), Safe Travels, and Swollen Glands. #stonesculpture #alabaster #votives

Im excited to show some of my most recent experiments with alabaster (including mutant testicles, phantom willies and other fertile body parts) at the Monopol open studio this coming Saturday from 14:00 onwards. The @schoolofsculpture has been my creative home for the last five weeks, hosted by the amazingly talented @raphael_sculptor and @tobiasilvotti , whose knowledge of anything stone-related is so inspiring. I’ll be hammering and filing away in the sculpture garden at the back of the Monopol complex. Swing by and say hi if the mood strikes you! #stonesculpture #alabaster #monopol