COLIJN STRYDOM: Run

Run, a solo exhibition by Colijn Strydom.

Opening reception: Wednesday 6th August- 6pm

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Part of the 2025 Heat Festival line-up. 

During the month of August, Everard Read showcases the latest solo exhibition by Cape Town artist Colijn Strydom.

‘Run’ is about the act of running. On the surface it is a series of paintings depicting this popular pastime. Figures run, stretch, sweat and stumble across the surface in candy shades of blue, orange, green and pink. ‘Run’ arose from Strydom’s own experiences: “In January 2024 I started running again. I was looking for a way to rethink my relationship to my body, and running was refreshingly direct and physical. I saw my limitations expand and I became hooked on the endorphins and potential.”

Within ‘Run’, the delicate figures depicted hover somewhere between drawing and painting, balancing the immediacy of the former with the depth of the latter. This juxtaposition of methodologies emphasises the metaphorical aspects of running, the inner struggle, the physicality of creating, as well as the history of art. The artist explains: “I found that working with running figures inevitably required an environment for them to be in. Quickly, ideas around the depiction of space and landscape painting developed. Running became a kind of lens to engage with past and present painters. At times I embraced traditional Western perspectives and at others I moved towards more diagrammatic and decentralised viewpoints.”

Running is a loaded and relational topic, tied to language, access to space, societal pressures, aesthetics, inner drive and escapism. In these paintings, Strydom’s runners inhabit a world that is theatrical, mythological and contemporary. Many of the figures, like Daphne and Apollo, come from classical mythology, while others have been taken from images of people running races today. As viewers, we are invited to reflect on our own pace of life and consider how we navigate the world around us.

Born in Pretoria, Colijn Strydom now lives and works in Cape Town. In 2008 he obtained a MA (Visual Arts) from Stellenbosch University. His practice is focused on drawing but extends to painting, photography and performance.

His art engages with gender and whiteness, and he often uses humour and other self-reflexive strategies. Strydom’s subject matter is varied and he frequently finds inspiration in poetry, history and folktales.

Gil Scott-Heron “Running”

Because I always feel like running
Not away, because there is no such place
Because if there was I would have found it by now
Because it's easier to run
Easier than staying and finding out you're the only one
Who didn't run
Because running will be the way your life and mine
Will be described
As in "the long run"
Or as in having given someone a "run for his money"
Or as in "running out of time"
Because running makes me look like everyone else
Though I hope there will never be cause for that
Because I will be running in the other direction
Not running for cover
Because if I knew where cover was
I would stay there and never have to run for it
Not running for my life
Because I have to be running for something of more value
To be running and not in fear
Because the thing I fear cannot be escaped
Eluded, avoided, hidden from, protected from, gotten away from
Not without showing the fear as I see it now
Because closer, clearer, no sir, nearer
Because of you and because of that nice
That you quietly, quickly be causing
And because you're going to see me run soon
And because you're going to know why I'm running then
You'll know then
Because I'm not going to tell you now

Gill Scott Heron: "Running" Youtube