Charlayn von Solms

Charlayn von Solms

Researcher and artistCape Town, South Africa
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Charlayn von Solms

Charlayn von Solms

Researcher and artistCape Town, South Africa
About me
I’m a sculptor and researcher specializing in translating aspects of ancient oral poetry into contemporary assemblage. As a creator of visual metaphors my expertise lies in analyzing the various narrative and compositional techniques employed by ancient poets like Homer and Hesiod, and then devising visual means to relay their unique artistry to a modern audience. I combine abstraction with everyday objects and elements to make something that is foreign familiar.
Projects
  • A Catalogue of Shapes
    A Catalogue of ShapesA Catalogue of Shapes is a collection of twelve sculptural assemblages exploring the notion of 'Homer' as a compositional system (as opposed to a specific individual author).
  • Powell's Patterns 2, 11, 20, 25
    Powell's Patterns 2, 11, 20, 25Powell’s Patterns 2, 11, 20, 25 is a collection of nine sculptural assemblages constructed as an exploration of the allusive potential of Homeric catalogues. A compositional format where narrative is less dependent on a clearly identifiable plot than the establishment of patterns.
  • A Homeric Catalogue of Shapes: The Iliad and Odyssey Seen Differently
    A Homeric Catalogue of Shapes: The Iliad and Odyssey Seen DifferentlyThe creative process described by scholars for the Homeric epics shares many key attributes with the modern visual art-forms of collage and its less familiar variant: sculptural assemblage. A Homeric Catalogue of Shapes describes a series of twelve sculptures that together function as an abstract portrait of Homer: not a depiction of him as an individual, but as a compositional system. The technique by which the artworks were produced reflects the poetic method that scholars termed oral-formulai
Work history
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    Web Content EditorFaessler Media GmbH
    Cape Town, South AfricaFreelance
    Prepare and edit articles for websites
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    honorary research affiliateThe University of Cape Town
    Cape Town, South AfricaFreelance
Skills
  • Sculpture
  • Literary Criticism
  • Abstract Art
  • Academic Research
  • Collage Art
  • Conceptual art
  • Reasearch
  • Narrative
  • Historical Research
  • Iconography
Education
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    PhDThe University of Cape Town
     - Cape Town, South Africa
    A Catalogue of Shapes: a Composite Object Portrait of an Oral-Formulaic Homer. This was an interdisciplinary study across two fields - Sculpture and Classics that explored the synthesis of form and content achieved by the reorganization, manipulation, and transformation of pre-existing components in the theory of an oral-formulaic Homer by means of a practical application of sculptural assemblage. The final submission took the form of an exhibition of twelve sculptural assemblages and a dissertation.