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What stood out the most between gallery co-director Brett Bellairs and represented artist Christiaan Conradie was the familiarity and ease with which they spoke to each other. The atmosphere at Woodstock-based 131 A Gallery is informal and approachable, both for art collectors, enthusiasts and artists. As a gallery, they aim to showcase both established and emerging South African artists, of which Christiaan Conradie seems to slot somewhere between the two categories. Conradie has participated in dozens of international art fairs and has been represented by galleries both in Spain and France, but after years of living abroad in Mexico City, the artist is having his first solo show in South Africa titled ‘Against A Narrow Heart’ that recently launched at 131 A Gallery.

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How did 131 A Gallery come into being?

Brett Bellairs: I’ve always wanted to own a gallery and always thought that it could also be done differently in practice. Being friends with a lot of artists gives you real insight into how the art industry works and it can sometimes be a dark place for an artist, let’s just put it this way, it’s not as glamorous as it looks, more often the not, the gallery holds most of the power in the relationship and artists can be completely at their mercy and taken advantage of, this is something I always took to heart and pledged to do differently if I ever had a gallery. My philosophy has always been and always will be that an artist can exist without a gallery, but a gallery cannot exist without the artist, and bearing that in mind the gallery should always respect the artist and the huge sacrifices that they have made to follow their calling and showcase their work to the world.

In 2019, my business partner Michael Philippides, a successful Cape Town architect and huge art lover and collector redeveloped and moved into a building located slap-bang in the middle of the art strip in Woodstock. In the current economic climate he was struggling to let out the retail units below his office, so he toyed around with the idea of making one of the units into a pop up art space – so I approached him about getting involved to get it off the ground. We held one or two really successful group exhibitions and decided to register a business and turn it into a bonafide art gallery called 131 A Gallery.

How was the gallery able to deal with the pandemic in 2020? Was the gallery able to successfully exhibit artworks online?

Brett Bellairs: 2020 was a really great year for the gallery surprisingly, we had to adapt and do so quickly as we didn’t really have any online presence up until March. For the first 2 days of the hard lockdown in South Africa, I locked myself in a room and built a website in our typically minimalist fashion – our main objective was to have our full inventory on there and to make it easy to navigate. We had two solo shows that ended up taking place during the lockdown and we had to make sure that they were well promoted and showcased the artworks properly. We found that our platform worked perfectly and we actually sold 85% of Olivié Keck’s solo ‘In Bloom’ in 5 weeks all online which gave us the confidence going forward. Our online sales have been really good since then and now make up most of our sales.

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Is your collector database mainly local or international?

Brett Bellairs: When the gallery initially opened, for the first few months all of our sales were local art buyers. Over the summer prior to the lockdown, we made some really good connections with foreign buyers and this has helped carry us through this period thankfully. Even Jodie Foster walked into our gallery. So we seemed to grow very quickly and now we are up to about 700-800 collectors on our database. I would safely say that our database is currently split 60/40 local and foreign buyers. 

How many South African artists does 131 A Gallery represent?

Brett Bellairs: We have approximately 10-12 artists that we represent including Conrad Botes, Michael Amery, Anton Karstel, Daniel Levi, Olivié Keck and many others. This year we have about 5 solo shows and 6 group shows – this is the first year we are adopting a proper calendar and some actual structure. With every artist that we represent, we look for a strong artistic identity and that is what we love to find. That is mainly what I look for when I find a talented artist whose work the gallery can exhibit. We are very excited about Christiaan Conradie’s work and we are happy to be hosting his first local solo show in South Africa. The exhibition is titled ‘Against A Narrow Heart’ and features 21 oil paintings and mixed media works.

Can you tell us a little about your solo show titled ‘Against A Narrow Heart’? 

Christiaan Conradie: The show is made up of approximately twenty works, all different sizes and a variety of mediums from works on paper to canvas. The smaller works were a bi-product of lockdown when I was in the Eastern Cape and that format was all I had access to. I was not sure if the works would be powerful enough in the small size but I am happy with the way the works came out.

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How has your body of work evolved over time? 

Christiaan Conradie: I have been painting full time since 2010. I would say that my previous work – before my time in Mexico – was more muted and not quite as confident as it is now. The work is always evolving pretty quickly but I like to establish an idea or way of working well – so the work is not changing drastically even though it is changing in small steps all the time. 

How do you create/conceptualise new works? 

Christiaan Conradie: It’s quite intuitive. I have an idea – more a feeling than anything else – and the anchor in the work is always a figure. I know what I want it to feel like. What I find fun and interesting about it is the balance between more serious elements and colourful and light, in terms of emotional tone, and to see the way those things contrast and sit together. It’s never too much one way or another.

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Mixed media seems to play an important role in your work – can you tell us a little bit more about this? 

Christiaan Conradie: I use mixed media to add something extra to the work itself. What I always keep at the front of my mind when making a work is the marriage between the artwork itself and additional three-dimension elements – I also try make sure that it is not too jarring. That it is read together as one image. It is important that it reads coherently as one piece. I was inspired by all of the ribbon I saw in Mexico, there is a lot of ribbon on Mexican dresses and hats, so I associate it with Mexico and with ritual. It’s an object that offers a lot for me. 

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As an artist living and practicing in Mexico, how did this influence your work? 

Christiaan Conradie: I loved working in Mexico. There are lots of artists and galleries. I was struck by everything in Mexico City – I would describe it as being very full. Everything is so distinct with traditional music, dress, food and culture. All that fullness worked its way into my work, which allowed it to be much denser. 

You often paint the same model several times, do you always paint people who you are familiar with? 

Christiaan Conradie: I know a lot of the models but I transform them in some way. I never paint them in the way I know them. I just take their form and create a new character. I will paint the same model several times but in my mind, they will always be different characters.